Estimating peak usage is difficult; people were scattered over 200 acres at eight different quarry holes. And some didn't swim. They just laid a towel on a stone slab in one of the dozens of slag piles on the property and enjoyed some peace and quiet and solitude. And for couples, some sought seclusion to do what lovers do.
Trying to estimate peak usage by the number of vehicles in the parking lot would have yielded inaccurate results. The quarries were a mere 10 minute bicycle ride from campus and many students, myself included, used pedal power to get there.
My best guess: on sultry summer weekends, somewhere between two and three hundred people were scattered about the property, a fairly young demographic, mainly twenty and thirtysomethings. And always, there was a roughly even gender split; it wasn't like some clothing optional venues where there's a hundred guys and two girls. At any one time, the largest number I ever saw at Sundown Quarry was around 80 individuals.
Since the quarries were so close to town, weekday evenings saw a spike in usage. For some townies, happy hour didn't involve patronizing dingy, smoke-filled taverns, quaffing discounted adult beverages. Instead, they went skinny-dipping in the fresh air and late-day sunshine.
The quarries were (and what's left of them still are) located in the American heartland. Dimfoy's comment suggests that he knows where. Dimfoy, 'back in the day' if you attended these quarries, did you snap any photos? If so, please post them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~
Full moon Quarry on a hazy, lazy August afternoon. Based on my observations, Full moon was the second most popular quarry. A wide ledge on the right in this photo, and another on the left (unseen) provided lots of sunbathing space and easy access to the water. And lots of stone blocks, on the right, provided additional towel-spreading space.
The guy and the suited girl were boyfriend-girlfriend and usually attended alone. But once in awhile, they brought their female friend. In this series, they're situated on the same promontory as in the first photo, just shot from a different angle with a more powerful lens. I never witnessed suited girl nude, not even topless. She didn't know what she was missing.
|