Real quicksand experiences

[maria]

Wondering whether members have had any real quicksand experiences, and ones perhaps where they have got into some trouble - being so stuck, in fear or even been seen and can't get away quick enough .

Be great to hear some of these if anyone has some they want to share.

[lonesinker]

Great question..a few years ago I was hiking in an area I explore a lot.I enjoy going off trail with a GPS and compass and exploring crown land which is what we have a lot of here in Canada. The *quicksand* that I see a lot is muskeg or swamp mud which can be super deep depending where you are of course. In the summer months a lot of these bog areas dry out or partially dry out and leave a lot of crack marks on the surface making it look dry at times. The depth of these spots are unknown,could be several feet deep of thick black paste mud. An early july morning I went out to this spot and walked near the edge of this dried out marsh bog ,the edges were moist but about a foot deep with a lot of tuffs of grass. I walked in maybe 7-8 steps on a bouncy mat or hardened surface than Shluup in I went to my waist into the thickest nastiest mud,at first thinking it was funny and interesting but did panic somewhat as I really couldn't move feeling glued in. I started to move forward but that was worse seemed like I was going in deeper and blackflies and around me,that part was awful, I sank to my chest and the only way I was able to get out was crawling backwards and trying to get on my back and slowly squirming backwards out of this stuff. I didn't feel any bottom and the suction of the mud was relentless,I felt my shoes were anchoring me in but slowly made progress to the edge which took a good 20 min. I lost one shoe and had lots of bug bites and my other leg cramped up bad after I got out. I was so dehydrated too and exhausted, Im fairly strong but that was a tough go. The funniest part was the mud noises and going home to my car was not so pleasant trying to avoid a few walkers on the trail not wanting to explain what happened.
After this one experience I was more prepared dealing with safety and clean up issues that you should have thought about before mud exploring. Things can get out of hand quick if you don't have a plan.

[quickman]

Several years ago walking along a beach and came upon a spit of land jutting out into the water. The edges of this sand bar were so soft it practically dissolved under my feet. Only two feet deep at most before it got thicker. It was actually fun to step in and my wife got into it too. I've been back there, but it has since washed away.

[Fred588]

Well I have one but it isn't going to be what you probably want to hear. About 17 years ago I was in the process of digging what became the clay pit at Studio 588. As my house there had not yet been built I was coming up on weekends. I parked on an old road on my property about 30 feet from where the pit was being dug. Five hours later I came back to the car and found one of the wheels had sunk about six inches into the ground. I had to get a neighbor with a truck and chain to drag it out. Not much of a story but its true.

[beachbum]

I think this is a great topic as I love hearing about real quicksand experiences!

I had one while running here in NJ. I like running along the trails here and my area is close to rivers and bays leading into the ocean. There is a trail I run on that goes along a shallow stream, but one day as I was running the stream was dry as it was low tide. I decided foolishly that maybe I could run across it to the trail on the other side rather than going completely around the stream.

As I jumped to go across, my one leg instantly sank thigh deep into the mud leaving my other leg partially out of the mud. Then I tried to get out pushing my other leg down and that made it worse sinking into the mud. I was now thigh deep with both legs and quite stuck. The problem was I have these big cushion running shoes and could hear them sucking on the water underneath the surface. So I did the worse thing possible by pumping my legs up and down to try and get out and I sank up to my waist until I stopped realizing I was making things worse.

On one hand, I was enjoying the fact that I was in the mud, but quite concerned that no one was around and I was quite stuck. There was no one around as it was later in the evening. At least I knew what to do at this point and leaned back to try and get myself out. There was no way I could get my shoes off. The mud was very sticky and was so thick it was an inch or two at a time trying to get out. I was glad I was not deeper I would be in big trouble. My huge problem was my shoes. I would pull out just a little bit and feel my shoes pulling up but then the suction would sink me back to where I was. I was now getting really worried about it getting dark and the tide coming back. I jumped so I was too far away from hard ground to reach.

So i just decided to wiggle one leg at a time slowly back and forth and then after 15 exhausting minutes or so, I broke free with my shoe and it was not that hard to get out after that. I did the same with the other leg which took some time as well. I then ran back to my car with muddy legs and almost dark, and took a good shower when I got home.

[bogbud]

I have never been in scientifically real quicksand.

My bad encounter did happen in a too watery bog when i was too eager going home. I had a nice sink and struggle in a patch of thick mud of the type lonesinker did explain before. After having my time i discarded the branch of some tree i used to haul myself out and chose to walk a quite different way back to civilization. The bog was of the "raised" type with patches of floating mats of grass/moss above bodies of water. Of course i noticed that the ground was quaking and shaking more and more, but i was confident in my experience. Suddenly the layer of moss gave way and i fell into a mixture of rotten plants and lots of peaty water. There was no mud in our sense at all. I was instantly in up to the rims of my chest-waders and barely floating. Grabbing the floating moss and grass just tore them apart and the watery hole became bigger and bigger. I could move my legs freely but this only did result in deeper sinking.
I realized i would never get out of this area staying dry and tried to bring my whole body into a more horizontal position to try to swim/roll out. Of course i completely swamped my waders but in the end i was able to get out by swimming and breaking the soft part of that mat until i reached more firm ground that allowed me to roll out. I had to step out of the waders and empty them because they were full of water. As far as i remember it was late summer, early fall, so at least the murky water was not that cold.
After that encounter i always keep my stick until i'm on safe ground and also wear an additional jacket above my waders to keep water/mud as much as possible.

[quickman]

When I was very young and having just moved to a new section of town, I had a frightening experience. I was walking in the undeveloped "wild" area near my house. It had snowed recently and I didn't realize a ravine was in my path. The fresh loose snow had filled up the ravine and when I stepped in it I went down. I remember just being suspended in it, and as I moved, seemed to go down further. I got out by slowly crawling & clawing through the snow. I could have frozen if I didn't get out.
I guess you would call this "quicksnow"

[steve70]

When I was a kid I had several experiences that were not exactly as planned.

I used to have an old, widowed aunt who lived at the coast, I would visit with my parents and go out to the beach alone when I was old enough. I knew there was a chance of people there because my aunt had mentioned people getting stuck. One day I started to sink in what could have been quicksand, but could also just have been more like mud. But I was dressed for visiting a relative, not for sinking, so I had to try to get out quickly before I sank too far and got too dirty.

When I was a teenager, went on holiday with parents, went to a coastal town one night with them. There was warning sign of silt on an area of beach, decided to investigate but again it was a mater of being with family and not being properly set up for a sinking expedition. Got a bit dirty, parents were furious!

Finally, my cousin sank to his waist in quicksand when he was on holiday, his dad had to pull him out and try to get him cleaned up before his mother found out!

[curiousguy]

I think this is a great topic as I love hearing about real quicksand experiences!

I had one while running here in NJ. I like running along the trails here and my area is close to rivers and bays leading into the ocean. There is a trail I run on that goes along a shallow stream, but one day as I was running the stream was dry as it was low tide. I decided foolishly that maybe I could run across it to the trail on the other side rather than going completely around the stream.

As I jumped to go across, my one leg instantly sank thigh deep into the mud leaving my other leg partially out of the mud. Then I tried to get out pushing my other leg down and that made it worse sinking into the mud. I was now thigh deep with both legs and quite stuck. The problem was I have these big cushion running shoes and could hear them sucking on the water underneath the surface. So I did the worse thing possible by pumping my legs up and down to try and get out and I sank up to my waist until I stopped realizing I was making things worse.

On one hand, I was enjoying the fact that I was in the mud, but quite concerned that no one was around and I was quite stuck. There was no one around as it was later in the evening. At least I knew what to do at this point and leaned back to try and get myself out. There was no way I could get my shoes off. The mud was very sticky and was so thick it was an inch or two at a time trying to get out. I was glad I was not deeper I would be in big trouble. My huge problem was my shoes. I would pull out just a little bit and feel my shoes pulling up but then the suction would sink me back to where I was. I was now getting really worried about it getting dark and the tide coming back. I jumped so I was too far away from hard ground to reach.

So i just decided to wiggle one leg at a time slowly back and forth and then after 15 exhausting minutes or so, I broke free with my shoe and it was not that hard to get out after that. I did the same with the other leg which took some time as well. I then ran back to my car with muddy legs and almost dark, and took a good shower when I got home.

At least you didn't you lose your shoes

[Kipcicles2]

I might have put this one up before here on QSF, but it's one of the more terrifying ones. This happened quite a while ago but I seem to remember it so clearly - as if it is scarred into my memory :/

I was on a Saturday morning job when I slipped up on the wet ground and slid down a short dirty cliff (about 2 or 3 meters high) and down into a big mud pit! I went in straight up to about mid-thigh, but my simple movements from trying to turn myself around and adjust to my surroundings made me go down to my waist. I didn't know how to swim, which really didn't help!

I had sunk up to my neck in the pit (bearing in mind I still wasn't feeling the bottom), when I heard footsteps so I shouted out and waited for 3 guys, about 18 or 19 years old each, to peer over the edge of the cliff I had fallen down around an hour ago. One of them went home to get towels and blankets IF I made it out alive, one of them went to get some kinda tree branch to use to help me out, while the other just stayed with me. It was really, really cold...but that wasn't really the biggest thing on my mind. I thought I was actually gonna die! A few minutes later and I had disappeared completely. I counted in my head for how long I was under the surface - 48 seconds - before I felt movement from somewhere in the pit. Next thing I know, one of the guys is wrapping my arms around a big ol' tree branch to sort-of "tow" me out the mud!

Despite almost getting hypothermia, receiving treatment for foreign substances in my lungs, as well as a fair share of injections, I was relatively unharmed from that incident. I'm also real grateful tot he lads who rescued me - without their quick-thinking and simple good-will, I wouldn't be here to tell the tale!