Quicksand Fans

I haven't got around to testing this out in practice yet; but in theory, it should work (and may even be dangerously effective). It only applies to mud that is underwater at high tide, though.

Basically, the idea is that there is usually a difference between the 'depth' of, say, an expanse of inter-tidal mudflats; in terms of 'sinkability' (i.e, the distance you can wriggle down to), because of it's thickness, density, compactness, lack of gelatinous displacement, etc, and the 'potential depth', which is often 6ft or more in many cases, but simply too thick to submerge that far below the surface.

It occurred to me that if you arrived at the designated spot whilst it was still 1-2ft underwater, and with the tide going out, that you should be able to quite easily liquefy a waist/chest deep hole in the surface that is filled with sea water by just marching up and down on the spot (and using your hands to help dissolve the mud and refresh the water. Then, when the tide has gone out and revealed the surrounding surface, you'd be stood in a very deep puddle...

At this stage, simply continue to deepen the hole by emulsifying the base with the water available by churning it up with your feet, and as you do so, the water around you should slowly start to thicken up into a soup/custard-like consistency. If when you've reached the desired depth, the mud is still too watery, you can simply scoop some of the (much) thicker mud from the side-wall and mix it together with your hands until the desired thickness is reached. Going under vertically should also be easier (and getting out again) since the adjacent mud 3ft under the surface should be very thick and you can use your arms to pull yourself down or up by plunging them into the undisturbed, compact mud either side.

If anyone reading this decides to experiment with this method - please do take a small plank of wood with you to use as a mobile surface platform - you might need it!

yep I did this many times on mud flats in order to get a nice deep soft hole and it does work,. the only issue is it doesn't last long,.if you keep going back to the same spot every few days the potential is there to make it as deep as you like,. but buoyancy is the other problem you face,. even if its soft stuff,. your naturally boyant in it as its density is greater than your own body,..so it can still be a real struggle to get enough leverage down below to pull yourself under,.. the other issue is that if you don't go back to the same place for a week or so,. it just solidifies back to the thick heavy mud that it was before, with nothing but a small depression to make where it was. - keep it maintained though and it will stay soft

I used that technique on a couple of my sinking spots early in the season, while the water levels are still high enough to cover the mud. I would take it and rub it between my hands in the water to dissolve it. As I work the mud deeper, I use my feet to lift up each blob of thick mud to where I can reach it, before rubbing it between my hands in the water, or thin mud by then, to dissolve it again. It is a lot of work, but worth the effort. However, I abandoned one pit (Edwin Lakes area pond), because it was too much maintenance, and instead worked on enhancing my Crescent Road pond sinking spot, which contained mud of a different type, which never compacted late in the season. I did do the same loosening work on that spot a few times, but stopped, since it was unnecessary. It seemed to automatically expand and loosen by itself when the water levels rose and flooded the area seasonally, usually in the spring runoff, but sometimes also fall rains. But, I did expand it by removing some of the surrounding grass to expose more area (did have to do some mud loosening of the stiffer mud in the newly exposed areas), and also added mud to it from adjacent spots to raise its mud level so it would be exposed earlier in the season. Now, if only my knee pain would go away so I could access it to reap the rewards of my mud addition to it last September...

Found a nice thigh deep spot in a clay pond Only trouble was the water was waist deep above it I spent many happy-& exciting- times moving mud from the adjacent area into my chosen spot When the level dropped in late summer I had a waist deep mudhole surrounded by a "moat" of water I could wallow & get as muddy as I wished with a washing area beside for clean up Sadly I only used it for 1 summer as I had to move away but the idea is the same as deepening a spot to suit your taste