Quicksand Fans

Hello everybody, long time member, but I've never really posted at all, so here it goes.(For my questions you may skip to the bottom paragraph)

Recently this year I've been looking for mud in and around my town, little luck in the local rivers and creeks, nothing more than knee deep. A few months ago me and my girlfriend were going to take a vacation to a major city a few hours away, and she agreed that we could look at tidal mud while we were there(She has done a small amount of mudding with me, and seems to be indifferent about it, but trys to be a part of it) unfortunately the tides were during our free time, so that was a no go. On the way back at night I made a few stops at quarrys. One really stood out, there was no fence at all, and the clay pond was feet from the road, and it was an old farm road that had about a car per hour pass by, great spot, but my girlfriend was tired and I decided not to go and just continue home.

I had returned to this quarry a few weeks ago, I had bought some throw away clothes, little squirt top water bottles for clean up, and plastic bags to sit on the drive home. I walk up the small hill to this 750' x 1500' pit of clay, huge thing, its about 4am so its really hard to see so I carefully shine my flashlight down the embankment around the clay pond, and all I can see is water(Unfortunately this was all liquid clay, I just didn't know what I was looking at) so I back track and look at my map, which showed another part of the pit which looked to be higher up and not under water, so I moved to it and found what I was looking for, very sliding smooth clay, I walked around the edge of it, quite deep, a;ready up to my knees and I'm only 3 feet from the edge, its a feeling like I've never felt before (I've only been in mud with waders, no skin contact ever) I got a little too deep for my liking at that moment and decided to back out and wash up, I could hear the roosters crowing and wanted to be out before the farmers started working.

I had a massive urge to go back a few days after that outing, this time I took my girlfriend with me, we both bought throwaway clothes and cleanup water. Being the second time going down I figured that the first part of the pond wasn't actually underwater, so I went there first, but unfortunately our spot was ruined by the threat of a possible nearby home having a small outdoor drink off, so we moved to another side and returned to the part I had already been. She had fun getting her mudbath, while I was a little more concentrated on exploring, I went to the middle of the pit, walking as lightly as I could, plunging right in as the crust gave way, going immediately to past my waist in thick creamy clay, but I hit the bottom immediately, but I did study the layers of clay, it seemed like there was an inch or two of fresh liquid clay on top of a thick hard crust layer, about 4 inches thick(almost peat looking), back into creamy clay, while moving out of my waste deep spot the crust would hinder my progress of getting out/farther inland, kind of getting in the way, almost having to break it to move forward, it would break as I got on top of it anyway. So the GF got tired and we went to the hotel we rented and washed off in their big industrial shower.

We are planning to go back in the near future, and I want to go in the main pit, looking at google earth and the timeline you can scroll through, it looks at least 15 feet deep, could be dangerous if I don't know what I'm doing, I want to go under, I want to sink deep up to my face and submerge, but I want to do so without causing mass panic when I'm stuck, I've never done this before so please excuse me being skittish. I have PVC pipe as my stick(s) I plan to use to help me get out, as they have proven their worth as it is thick to move around in by itself once you've hit your buoyancy point. What do I need to bring, and what should I be ready for, what techniques should I use to go under for a beginner? What techniques should I use to get out? I feel like the clay crust would hold me in a small area to maneuver around in when I'm that deep, should I use that to my advantage and lay the pipe over it, or should I make sure its all broken up and liquid around me so I can swim out? Any and all advice would be helpful!

Thank you, and happy sinking
I've also added a small photo of what the clay looks like, if that helps anyone

There are quite a lot of threads with useful advice here in the General discussion-part of the forum. Everything about safety and also about going deep can be found there. The pipe will come handy for sure!

I would just like to add that going sinking in some active quarry is a bad idea, because this is illegal trespassing of private property. Who knows if there is a camera somewhere or the owner is working late or what else. Even when there is no fence no one would believe that you did not know it's illegal.
Bringing your girlfriend helps as an excuse (having some kinky fun and stuff.... ) but it's still a bad idea.

Trespassing issues aside it sounds like you struck gold! My usual sinking spot is a quarry not far from my home with similar settling ponds. The owner turns a blind eye to people using the place as an off road park on the weekends. I own a Jeep so I have good cover for what I'm really going there for.

I don't think you're in any real danger but be aware that clay pits like this can be tenacious. If you go chest deep or deeper it's going to take quite a bit of time (like 20-40 minutes) to work yourself free again. You will get out, but you just have to be patient with the stuff and allow your natural buoyancy to assert itself. Basically just lean back and wiggle, and eventually you'll float to the top.

I grew up within bicycle distance of an enormous sand quarry. Here are a few things I discovered while playing in the half-dozen pits strewn out in both public view and very private corners.

The place was under some serious mismanagement in the years I spent slopping around. One rule was that I only went there in the middle of the night. There were very few lights - only around the main processing plant. Bordering barbed wire fences were easily breached, and the landscape rarely changed. Happily, when it did change, it was to add new pits.

Attention needs to be paid to any evidence of sand mixed in with the clay. Clay itself is pretty easy to wallow around in, and easiest to drop neck deep. Getting out is easy, too. I just needed to stay calm and confident while I crawled toward the edge of the pit. Clay itself is the hands-down stickiest and messiest mud, and you will exit the pit looking like a melted chocolate bar. I was impressed how little water you needed for cleanup.

A lot of sand can get flushed out of the cleaning process along with the clay. You will want to get a sense of the sand-to-clay proportion. If the surface of the pit looks like a soaked beach, proceed with caution. I found it easy to judge based on how much moonlight reflected off the surface. Clay doesn't reflect, but wet sand sure does. The sand will act like true quicksand, which means it can create a powerful suction around your legs, hips and chest. It's that vacuum that will make extraction very difficult. I was once trapped for hours in ankle-deep quarry mudsand. That's why the "professionals" will advise carrying a walking stick to get a pocket of air around your feet.

The absolute best suggestion I can make is to remain calm and confident. Move slowly, and - when exiting - deliberately. Patience is your friend.

Alright guys thanks for the advice, its greatly appreciated
One thing though, my ears, I've seen it go both ways, ear protection and no ear protection. What are your guys thoughts?

I certainly wouldn’t sink any deeper than you know that you can escape from. There’s no need to rush into full submergence. Work up to that point and stay as safe as possible. It took me over 10 years before I was willing to sink completely under. So tell us however, how did you feel about having the mud finally in contact with your skin? To me, having thick, creamy, and ultra-sticky tidal mud encapsulating my entire body simply has no equal. I try not to wear anything heavy when I go sinking, as I prefer mud to skin contact. But then again, I don’t have any issues with cleaning up either, as water is everywhere around here.

Sinkman61 wrote:I certainly wouldn’t sink any deeper than you know that you can escape from. There’s no need to rush into full submergence. Work up to that point and stay as safe as possible. It took me over 10 years before I was willing to sink completely under. So tell us however, how did you feel about having the mud finally in contact with your skin? To me, having thick, creamy, and ultra-sticky tidal mud encapsulating my entire body simply has no equal. I try not to wear anything heavy when I go sinking, as I prefer mud to skin contact. But then again, I don’t have any issues with cleaning up either, as water is everywhere around here.

Of course I wouldn't want to go deeper than I can comfortably escape from, I'm gonna do a few trial sinks, I'm sure ill probably chicken out, but on the off chance I don't, obviously the more knowledge the better.

To answer the question about how it felt, I've always been a clean freak, so this fetish always was a give and take for me, bad combination. That's why I had the waders, didn't want to get dirty. For some reason my mind clicked and the fetish took over and kinda gave me an "Oh well" mentality. I'm gonna get dirty, might as well just get it over with and experience it. So I did, and man, it was really creamy, just imagine really thick whipping cream, and color it tan. It was quite interesting, because when you were out walking around with an inch layer of clay on you, it almost felt like there was nothing on you at all, you were just heavier. Quite odd, but definitely a odd enough feeling to make me want to go back.

I think waders ruin the overall experience because o don’t get to experience the full sensation of the mud. And when that happens to be tidal mud, that’s loosing a lot. I don’t really see mud as being something that’s dirty or disgusting. I’ll leave that for those who choose to go diving into cow and pig shit. That’s truly disgusting. But that’s because it actually reeks with harmful bacteria that can give us diseases like Hepatitis. Mud, on the other hand, is just made up of minerals. It’s ingredients are literally our ingredients as well. When you look at mud, you fail to see the tree, but if you plant a seed, it’ll grow, it’s roots reaching deeper and deeper into the mud as it sucks up the moisture and all those minerals with which becomes living wood. We may not have roots, but we still absorb those same ingredients by eating other plants or animals that had already eaten those plants, thus, passing those same ingredients on to ourselves. I’d say you don’t see people either, but given the chance, I’d be in the mud. Our bodies are literally made from the same materials that make up the mud we play in. So I don’t see it as being “dirty.” Many Spa’s offer mud baths. They’re literally no different than anything we’re doing. You won’t, however, see Spa’s offering up cow shit baths. Or opportunities to dive into pig shit. They’d be counterproductive to the experience that Spa’s are trying to offer.

Just about the "waders-thing":
For some folks here this is part of the fetish (me included), in fact i wear always lots of waterproof gear when sinking.
I get much more stuck this way but, hey thats okay for me, too...

More important: You stay mostly clean and dry while sinking. That vastly extends the time you can explore, play and sink in the mudflats and bogs. I go whenever i want to, the only exception is when the bogs are really frozen over.

Okay so I went back
Unfortunately the really deep looking part of the quarry was all underwater, so I was right the first time thinking it was water. So I went back to the area I've been before, and noticed it was starting to really dry out, I could walk all the way to the middle and would have to wiggle to break the surface. I brought with me silicone earplugs, a snorkel and goggles. I planned to submerge. I got as deep as I could, touched the bottom and decided to do a horizontal submersion. The clay was really dry at the top so I had to break up a decently sized area to lean back and do my sink. I ended up getting my legs under the crust to help me push myself under, using my arms and hands to push upward on the clay, and grabbing dry chunks to help me go farther under. It was insanely difficult. The buoyancy kept me floating so well it was almost impossible to work myself lower, every wiggle would make me float upwards again. I got to the point where I was mostly under, all that was above was my head, and I made the decision to just start dipping my head back and submerge that way. I think that was the most surreal moment I've ever had. Watching it climb up my goggles slowly into black nothingness. Of course I had to blow some bubbles while I was down there snorkeling(Some clay got in my mouth, felt like liquid sand paper ew), and I stayed under for about 5 minutes I think, before I decided to pack it up and go shower.

I think I'm hooked now, also, bug spray is an absolute must, I must never ever forget it again.