Quarry skinny-dipping

[Paradoxodarap]

Griffy Lake, just north of the IU campus, was another place townies and students went to skinny-dip. The lake was on city owned property but the police department made busting simple nudity a low enforcement priority which in practice meant the State of Indiana public nudity laws were never enforced. Perhaps the local powers-that-be reasoned that setting aside a place for exhibitionists to ply their proclivity would translate to fewer instances of indecent exposure in the community at large.

Anywhere along the north shore beyond sight of the causeway skinny-dippers spread their towels on the narrow strip of rocky shoreline. But all was not hunky-dory at Griffy; a city ordinance that prohibited swimming was enforced. Every day during warm weather, usually in the early afternoon, a Parks Department employee walked along the north shore to remind those in the water that swimming wasn't allowed. A first offense garnered a warning and the second offense and beyond, increasingly stiff fines. After the parks employee had departed, everyone went back in the water. This cat & mouse game continued for years.
During my four years at IU, I went to Griffy occasionally, just for a change of pace, but I preferred the quarries by a wide margin. But when Packinghouse became unavailable in July '81, Griffy was the only game in town.

The first two photos shows the rocky point that was the single largest place along the shoreline where people could gather like they did in the eastern slag pile at Sundown Quarry. In the first photo Tim and Laura are camped on the outcroppings and in the second photo, Henry had come along and spread his towel. All three were Packinghouse exiles.

Just around the corner from the rocky point, a small inlet had a few places to hang out. In photos 3 & 4 this couple was taking a break from swimming on a steep stone slope and in photos 5 & 6 these two women found a much better place to stretch out and relax. The small breasted woman on the right worked in a garden supply store I patronized occasionally when I purchased fertilizer for my cannabis.

I didn't have as many photographic opportunities at Griffy as I did at Packinghouse. Far fewer people were in attendance and the geographic layout made it virtually impossible to skulk in the woods on the hillside and see people sunbathing at water's edge. However, when they were floating on air mattresses they could be seen unless trees blocked the view.

To compensate for the deficiencies mentioned above, I did a bit of covert up-close photography. My Minolta SLR's bulk made it difficult to conceal in a gym bag and more than once the loud, mirror-slapping shutter release sound resulted in turned heads and questioning glances. Most of those photos were not worth keeping -over/under exposed, out of focus, crappy composition- but I did manage to snap two presentable pictures of Becky (last two photos) another Packinghouse exile. For the last two months before the quarries shut down, she was a regular visitor in the eastern slag pile at Sundown.

Well, I hope y'all enjoyed my presentation on Packinghouse as much as I enjoyed this stroll down memory lane. And again, I urge those of you who attended the Packinghouse quarries 'back in the day' to post your recollections and stories. All of those accounts will add to the historical record of this amazing place that for generations of skinny-dippers, both townies and IU students, was a mainstay of their recreational lives and a source of much joy.

[bbhubby]

I'm with you Hothabenaro. I can live with a neat trim or a landing strip but there has to be some hair there!

[solomans]

Paradoxodarap!!!
You wrote that you took those photos with Ektachrome film. These scans are great but with the help of a negative (diapositive) scanner the resolution will be enormous. The pics are so great that a scan from the original Ektachrome diapositives will give us, the audience, an even greater experience!!!

[exit222]

Originally Posted by Paradoxodarap

Over the years, thousands of IU students came and went at Packinghouse, so it's not surprising that on an internet forum nearly 800,000 strong, some of the members will see themselves in these photos. And my feeling is that many members who aren't featured in the photos attended the quarries at one time or another during its decades-long run. For those of you who fall into either category, I urge you to post your Packinghouse recollections and stories.

I have no firsthand experience with intimate female grooming. My wife belongs to the generation that never shaved, waxed or anything of the sort. Since her youth she has been furry and likely, always will be. And that's fine with me.

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These two furry girls were regular visitors and spread their towels at many different quarries. They always attended in tandem. I suppose they felt safer having a friend along. Over the course of one summer I saw them at Mill pond, Full moon and, in the first two photos, at Sundown on the clifftop. Sundown was situated such that hillside runoff flowed into the hole. Note murky water in the background. Ordinarily clear, the water had been sullied by heavy overnight thunderstorms.

In the last five photos taken on a different day, the pair is at Goldfish Quarry, hanging out with unknown dude.

I have a question for nudist girls who color their dark hair blonde: Why don't you follow through and dye your pubes too? This girl and a few other quarry women possessed the same two-tone hair fashion; light-over-dark. Seems to me if they wanted to look their very best, they would have paid attention to detail and made sure the cuffs matched the collar.

Although many skinny-dipped there, very few were privy to the quarry's underwater treasure. Goldfish aren't native to Indiana. Someone had to stock them. My best guess: an IU student, or possibly more than one, was leaving campus after commencement and couldn't take their aquarium so instead of flushing the fish, they put them in the quarry where they survived and thrived, all two dozen of them. While snorkeling in the depths amongst these docile creatures, some of which measured 12 inches, I was transported far away from the American Midwest; by all appearances, I was diving in a lagoon off some South Sea island paradise.
How fortunate for those fish to be able to live out their natural lives in total freedom. Every one of us should be so lucky.

Thanks for the memories. My wife and I were a part of this group and we are still mutual lifelong friends with most everyone in these photos. A few have them have since passed on God rest their souls. At the time we would have called you a peeping Tom now we are glad you were there. Good thing you did not hang out at the Icebox a lot because the girlfriend (now wife) and I did the nasty quite a bit there. Our next party should be quite interesting when our friends of this day and age see a slideshow of this. We will serve a lot of booze at that one.

[SkyFive]

I'm sorry your swimming hole has disappeared. This is what happens when you take it for granite

[wannabe123]

I love this story! You bring back memories of when I started going to a river with similar rocks to the quarry. Many people swim and suntan nude and I did the same as you, took pictures but then would go hang out with the nude women. I learned it wasn't that big a deal to be naked with them; enjoyed it so much! Anyway, I like your story about Kate; wish you had been able to have a longer relationship with her. I love your pictures and I love her bush.

[joewad]

I was attending IU there in Bloomington 1976-80, it was an amazing time. The quarrys, the "natural co-eds, the cold libations and mind altering substances. Breaking Away was being filmed around the area and raced at the old Little 500 track where the not so safe chemicals were stored under the bleachers. I had friends, dormies, as extras and it feels kinda strange to see their 70s ugly mugs during the movie. Some of the race scenes at the old stadium would require the entire crowd that was there, say turn 3, to move to turn 4 for a different perspective. I had some great times there, took a few trips without really going anywhere, enjoyed the bra-less halter and tube tops. I'm glad I found this post, quite surprised actually, 40 years later.....joe

[Davidavin]

It's nice to see this thread bumped. What I'm realizing is that lots of schools have or have had at one time these local places where you can skinnydip. My school did, as I mentioned way back in this thread. Pics are rare, though. I don't think I've ever seen any from my schools spot, and I've surfed it all.

Anyway, bringing to light, either through stories or pics or maybe both, these college hangouts is rewarding but not without some risk of overexposure. It's a little like the campus naked runs. But I've wanted for a long time to know about campus skinnydip spots out in the northwest where I live. I know of a few, but have never found them rewarding. Are there others, and would a thread here, like this one, help in getting the word out? 40 year old reports and pics are cool, but not as helpful if the location has been shut down. But what's the aim here? To send occ voyeurs over to crash these places and sneak pics? No, that's not what it should be about here. So I'm a little in a quandry about this. Many of these campus skinnydip spots are well enough known off campus to have gained entry into lee baxendal's nude beach guide. Places like mazo beach, hippy hollow, etc. Some are mixed use i.e. students and non students alike go there. But my beach back in the 70s seldom had any non students, and I imagine there are scores of other spots little known to the general public.

So now, but if I wanted to solicited more reporting, I could start a thread down in the non fiction section, one similar to my nude beach reports thread. I wouldn't expect a lot of pics, so there it would go. And I'd let posters decide if they want to actually identify the location in their post. Posters can always be pm'd, and keeping reports non specific with regards to location might be a good idea.

But I doubt seriously that I would get a lot of reports. Threads in this forum get a lot more views, so I could as an alternative ask people to use this thread if they have any campus skinnydip stories or pics, and perhaps (with the thread authors permission) also rename the thread.

So, ill leave it at that for now. If this thread inspires anyone with similar stories from their college, let's hear them!
Ill never forget stumbling upon one of the most beautiful girls in my dorm totally stark naked in one of my trips to "the reservoir" as it was called. I'm sure many here can relate. Campus naked runs are cool, but skinnydip spots are better lit, and the fun lasts longer Maybe I can still get my fill of coed eye candy someday down at the U of Oregon, a big school which, curiously for the northwest, has no naked run..

D(K)

[Paradoxodarap]

Originally Posted by solomans

Paradoxodarap!!!
You wrote that you took those photos with Ektachrome film. These scans are great but with the help of a negative (diapositive) scanner the resolution will be enormous. The pics are so great that a scan from the original Ektachrome diapositives will give us, the audience, an even greater experience!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Solomans, that is precisely what I have done. I got a slide scanner that digitizes at 14 MP, much better resolution than the method I used to digitize the photos the first time around. The quality is improved but don't expect them to look like digital originals; the source is high-speed Ektachrome film, ASA 400. Zoomed in, emulsion grain is discernible.

I will include basic commentary for each repost and a few bonus photos not posted before.

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This is the same as post #1.

Sundown Quarry. A congenial crowd on the eastern slag pile. This hole was the most popular for several reasons: It was one of the largest in the complex, had multiple access points for easily entering/exiting the water and had dozens of prime limestone slabs sunbathing. The aforementioned eastern slag pile and another, smaller, on the west, provided space for bathers to gather in groups. Additionally, on the east end, an 18-foot-tall cliff allowed those inclined to dive into the deep.

Sundown. After diving off the cliff, this young lady's swim brief needed realignment. Had she gone bottomless as well, such bother could have been avoided. But clothing optional means just that: personal choice.

Sundown. At the eastern slag pile, getting ready to climb aboard an air mattress. Her left foot is on a very popular sunbathing rock.

Sundown. This girl attended three times (to my knowledge) before she summoned the gumption to take off her top. After that, never again were her breasts denied sunshine.

Sundown, eastern slag pile. The parking lot was about a quarter-mile from Sundown. Carrying a beach bag and wearing only sandals, this girl always hiked the distance nude. Those in attendance could see her advancing down the trail in all her natural glory and at day's end, her shapely bare buttocks returned up the same trail.

Sundown, eastern slag pile. Backgammon.

Half moon Quarry. Usually, this girl wore only a bikini bottom but on this day, she wore a black one-piece which she rolled down, creating an impromptu thong.

Sundown. The two individuals on the left had just finished swimming and were messing with their hair.

Goldfish Quarry. Climbing out onto her limestone perch. This was the last exposure on my roll of Ektachrome and I forgot to bring a spare. Damn! She and a girlfriend (unseen) settled down to sunbathe and all could do was curse my negligence.

Sundown. The rock this couple is sitting on is an island. The scene reminds me of Adam & Eve after the fall from grace. Downcast eyes tells the story; yes we have sinned.

[Paradoxodarap]

The same as post #5 only better quality.

First pic -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 longer lens. I never witnessed suited girl nude, not even topless. She didn't know what she was missing.