Quicksand Fans

I took a hike to a construction site in Mississippi at about 6:30 a.m. today. No workers and (cheerfully) no "no trespassing" signs, so I walked around the site. Off to one end, I'm guessing they had dug a bit of a trench, as part of the dirt had caved in just a little. With a few minutes foot-kneading, it turned into very sticky red clay, maybe six inches deep at start, but rolling like it was going to be at least 3 feet deep by the time I was up to my knees. If it hadn't been for the stiff mud that was on top, I'd have had real trouble getting out. I had to quit at that point, or I'd have muddied all of my clothes, and did not want to bother with questions from the folks I had been visiting as I washed off. (also, a return trip wouldn't work, as the site was just not private enough to remove the worry of having authorities called at seeing a fat old guy sinking deeply into mud at the construction site.

Anyway, here's the cellphone pic. The hole you see was filled with a peanut-butter-like mix of mostly clay with some sand.