Twilight Scramble Among Boulders, 1960s Hiking Party

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Twilight Scramble Among Boulders, 1960s Hiking Party — Archive & Atlas

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Twilight Scramble Among Boulders, 1960s Hiking Party — Archive & Atlas

Unattributed 1960–1969

AA-2026-123D6D

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Four people pick their way across a jumble of fallen boulders just as the light gives out, which is the exact moment a 1960s hiking party always decided it was time to keep going anyway. Someone crouches low with a bag slung across the chest, the universal posture of a person deciding whether to jump or hand something across first. A stray red item left on the rock suggests somebody set down a jacket or pack and simply forgot it, confident the boulder would still be there later, which it was.

Nobody here is wearing anything resembling hiking gear. White pullovers and plain slacks were considered adequate outdoor equipment in an era before the outdoor-equipment industry convinced people otherwise, and the assumption seems to have worked out, since everyone is still upright. The scene has the loose, unhurried choreography of a group that trusts the trail more than the map.

The deep blue cast over the whole rockslide is not artistic intent; it is simply what dusk did to consumer color film once the sun dropped below the ridge. The photographer kept shooting anyway, on the reasonable if optimistic theory that a memory recorded badly still beats one not recorded at all.

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