Finding REAL quicksand

[fashionzombie]

I live in the Chicago area and wondered if anyone knew where to find some real quicksand? If not, how would I go about looking for some?

When I do find some, what should I bring?

Any tips for a newb?

[mudxdresser]

Ottowa, Illinois has a clay mine that sells kaolin clay and, at least in the past, had clay slurry ponds...

[Nessie]

One must ask oneself if one requires REAL quicksand or simply enough mud to play the role of quicksand. It is, by the way, much easier to find mud deep enough to play the role of quicksand than it is to find REAL quicksand.

Having had both, I do prefer mud deep enough to play the role of quicksand over actual quicksand. The REAL quicksand I experienced was a bit gritty and locked around limbs if you didn't move enough...which isn't that much fun.

The best mud I've ever had consisted of natural clay, which is not quicksand, and my second-best experiences are with deep natural peat bogs...which also are not quicksand...but both offered more pleasure and sinkability than the REAL quicksand.

I don't know much about Chicago wetlands so hopefully, somebody other than me has an actual site that's do-able for you. I don't know how to counsel you myself beyond the advice of "look for something wet and go there".

That is all I have ever done.

I get Google Maps, Google Earth, and regular paper maps and I look for anything wet (marshy is best) that's sitting in an area colored green for "parkland".

I go there.

And nine times out of ten it will not work out.

I tell people that it pays, big-time, to go ahead and scout for places in the off-season. I have learnt to tell what kind of landscape looks likely even when there is snow on the ground. I cannot tell precisely if there IS mud under the snow that should thaw nicely for me in the spring, but it sure isn't hard to rule stuff out. All I need to see is what kind of plants grow in the area. Cattails in patchy patterns mean possible deep peat bogs in the clearings. But tall grass? That means that the area dried out!

And since new places mostly don't work, I'm not all mad that I spent the time checking it out if it was too cold to sink anyway. I'm ahead, because I got my outside time and my exercise.

If it looks good, though, I put it on the hit list for future warmer weather. And the good news is, this is the third year I've been sinking in mudpits I found myself...and while they vary in conditions throughout the summer, I haven't actually lost one totally yet.

On Mudhunting In General:

It can go slow. It can be frustrating. If you don't enjoy exercise, Nature, or wilderness for its own sake, you won't get far with it at all because unless you're incredibly lucky (or a geology major?) it's not what you call an immediate gratification kind of activity.

But if you keep at it, you should score eventually. And OOOOOOH! When you DO!

What a feeling of accomplishment! Not to mention the gloating grin you'll crack when somebody asks YOU where they should go!

What you should bring:

It's hard to say without knowing where your mudpit even is. I don't bring much of anything but mine aren't far out.

If yours are, you'd want lots of water if it's hot out. Rope? I dunno, I never brought rope and neither did any of my mud partners...but...maybe? If you feel insecure, it can't hurt. A change of clothes, probably, if you have cleanup at the site and want to completely wash up after sinking. Put it all in a big backpack.

If you're in a humid climate...don't forget the bug repellent! A big swarm of hungry mosquitoes can drive you right out of your mudpit. I coat myself in DEET before I enter a marsh and I am thinking that if I rubber-band my camera to the can, it might even do double-duty as a tripod.

Uh, a cell phone if you're planning on going REALLY far out? Just to be safe? Yeah, it's embarrassing if you actually have to use it but it beats never getting out.

Nessie

[fashionzombie]

First let me say it's an honor to have you respond to me Nessie. I've only been an observer to quicksand sites for about 5 years and you are like a star in the industry, but I guess having such a rare fetish allows me to talk to pretty much everybody.

First let me clear something up, the location. I am looking for an area in in the central area on Illinois northern border and Wisconsin's southern border. Chicago is more off to the side of me but it is the largest location that everyone knows. I'm about 30 minutes north of Rockford which is quite a big city. I know there is some kind of Rockford Mud Group but I'm not sure if anyone from there knows of any DEEP mud/quicksand.

Second. No I do not care if it's mud or quicksand or clay or whatever. ANYTHING, as long as you can sink in it. Well, except water of coarse haha.

As for your advice Nessie, sadly I do not enjoy the outdoors. At all. Then again I am desperate so I will tough it out. I am also impatient and with the world wide web at my fingertips I figured maybe someone already knew of some locations or there would be some kind of site for reference.

I have tried Google earth and have come up with hardly anything. I am still going to check them out but I would like help finding places from people online along with me going out and looking. This way I can have twice the luck finding a place.

Thank you for your time and help. If I have more trouble I will ask so I hope I don't annoy anyone as I just want to get all the information I can.

[Nessie]

It certainly doesn't hurt to keep asking around. Perhaps you will find someone. These days it doesn't bother me to go it alone, but it was probably a very good thing that I had a mud partner for that first sinking in that REAL quicksand.

If you don't like to explore, though...

Alternatives to Google Earth and trekking through the marsh:

Look into renting Studio 588 or Trollwood, or consider working video shoots generally if you can't afford to rent. Yeah, you have to be reliable and trustworthy and all that...and let the models sink first, but not everyone thinks that's horrible.

If you got a "watcher" streak, it might be quite nice.

Nessie

[mudxdresser]

Not to make tooooo fine a point of it, but, mudpits are not located where we would like them to be located, they simply are, where they are, and, nowhere else. The narrow area you have specified is just not one of the few places where decent mud is known to occur or likely to ever be found...

If you just want a few inches of mud with all sort of organic material in it, well, maybe there's some in your backyard. If you want deep particle free clay, well, the best guess is that there are no more than about a hundred such locations in the United States and, many of those have not been located yet...

Another thing to keep in mind is the distinction between mud made of clay and mud made of silt. Both are made of fine particles, but clay has flat grains, is sticky and doesn't rub off readily, silt has round grains, is more watery and washes off much more easily. Silt is much more common, is what you often find around lakes and rivers, and, usually, doesn't rate as decent...

But, in case you're on to something, does anyone know of a bottomless clay lake no more than a mile from my house?...