After my 6'th adventure of the season, on Saturday, August 14'th, I wasn't ready to go again for roughly a week. But, when I heard that the hot weather was coming to an end mid-week, I had to get back to my Crescent Road pond while things were still hot! The forecast for Wednesday, August 18'th, was for sunshine and highs of 34˚C, or 93.2˚F. After that, temperatures were going to drop, and the wind was going to come up, with showers for the weekend. So, after biking into the mountains on my own for the first time this year, I was again biking up into the mountains for the second time, just 4 days after my first one! Last time, I enjoyed the sinks with little trouble with leg cramps, although there were some major ones when I entered Crescent Road. I had taken along one bottle of PowerAid along with my usual Kool-Aid last time, which had electrolytes in it, and perhaps that helped!
So, this time, I brought along two bottles of PowerAid, to supplement my Kool-Aid, and once again drank it during the climbing, the time when I sweated the most. This time, there were no cramps during the entire trip up! 
At the pond, I took along the items I needed, including my pvc pipe breathing tube, and retrieved my breathing hose from its hiding spot by the pond, noticing how more mud was exposed around the north end. I set everything in the shade of some alder bushes to the west of my sinking spot, and was happy about how nice and dark and thick the spot was. I just couldn't wait to sink into it!
I did notice that on the southwest corner, there was one water-filled hoofprint where a cow had stepped, but had fortunately backed off. I took a couple of picture of my bog:
I had planned on doing several videos, and this time, I wanted to get the picture quality right, and also not get them cut off. I had been using "Intelligent Auto" mode so that the camera would automatically adjust settings according to the scene. But, I decided to instead set the camera to "Normal Picture" mode, and set the exposure to manual, so I can adjust it myself. As for the recording length, I finally set my camera's movie mode to AVCHD-Lite, which limited the recording time to the size of the memory card (I have a 16 GB SDHC card), or the battery charge, whichever ran out first.
For this sink, I didn't want to do a simple jump and plunge, since my downward momentum always carried me instantly deeper than if I had gradually stepped into it. But, I would stretch my legs far out over the mud to reach the middle, and then stand up, I would initially plunge down a certain amount before the sink slowed down, but much less than by jumping in. So, for the video, the sink would have to start with me already partways into the mud. To remedy this situation, I had to make another short video nearby showing only my upper body moving downward, pretending to be sinking, which would then make up for the initial part. But, I couldn't do the pretend sink in just the meadow, since my last steps would have the sound of rustling grass, something that wasn't on my bog. Instead, I had to pick a bare but firm spot to do my initial part on.
So, I changed to my junk shorts, screwed my Gorillapod onto my Panasonic Lumix DMC TS2 camera, and wrapped its legs around my stick that I had been using. Here is a sample picture that I found on the web, of what the Gorillapod looks like, with a different camera attached:
After testing some spots, I decided on the bare patch of muddy ground further to the north, just adjacent to (just on the west side of) the location of Booby Trap.
I took a trial walk over the ground, only to hit a soft spot, sending me plunging to my thighs in farting mud!
I quickly got out, since I wasn't planning for the main sink there. After finding a more solid path to use just on the west side of that soft spot, I had to get my legs cleaned off before starting. I had set my camera's exposure to make the brightness of the sky on the lcd screen match that of the actual sky. With my glasses and T-shirt off and the "camera-on-a-stick" positioned appropriately, I did 3 takes, and settled on the third one, taken at 2:21 pm, deleting the first two. 
Now, it was time for the main sink!
I positioned my "camera-on-a-stick" to the south of the mire, making certain that its shadow wasn't going to be cast on the scene. I centered the scene, zoomed in, and chose the area beside one crack on the surface in the center for my sinking spot. I had originally planned on lifting myself with my hands on the north side, stretching my legs over the mire, placing my feet on the selected spot, and then standing up. However, the north side was all muddy, and it would have gotten my hands all muddy. 
But, on the west side, there was a high clump of grass which I could set my hands down on without getting them dirty. So, I decided to go with the side-entrance! With everything all set and planned, I pressed the record button at 2:37 pm, headed to the west side, and stretched my legs out sideways over the mire, setting my right foot down first and then my left, as my right started to plunge down as I stood up, still hunched over. I immediately plunged to my upper thighs before the sinking slowed down, and I began my dramatic sink, trying to get out without success!
The mire on the quaking surface was now so thick that it cracked when disturbed, exposing the rusty brown mud beneath the blackish brown surface (the rusty brown mud turns dark once exposed to oxygen)! I very slowly sunk down deeper and deeper, really playing the trapped and sinking hiker quite nicely! Because I started off higher, I was able to extend the sink for a bit longer. Because it was thicker than last time, I was able to go down a little bit deeper before it closed over my face! But, to extend that part, I started digging away at the mud to keep breathing, while slowly sinking a little bit deeper, but just high enough to be able to quickly catch a breath each time I dug the thick sticky doughy smothering muck away from my mouth, before it closed over again. Finally, after inhaling one last time, I was sucked under completely, paused, and exhaled to make my breath fart at the surface, before climbing back up to the surface. But, I started to try inhaling too soon, before I was able to get all the muck away from my face, and almost got a mouth full of it! I spat it out at the surface, and then proceeded to work myself up higher, pushing the mud from my body as I went, and finally worked my way to solid ground on the north side. I cleaned my hands and forearms in some water, and then stopped the recording.I wanted to next mush up the surface off-camera, as well as do some enjoyable horizontal struggling there. But first, I wanted to clean most of my body off, especially my head, since I was more comfortable and warmer with cleaner drier hair, and I needed it clean for my next video later on. So, I headed into the pond where I cleaned off my upper body as well as my junk shorts. Then, I hung the shorts on some alders to start to dry slightly, returned to my things, and put on my glasses, since this session wasn't going to involve any submergences. I put my t-shirt on top of my "camera-on-a-stick" to keep it out of the sun.
I really enjoyed laying down on the stiffer undisturbed stuff and struggling, starting on the east side facing north, it feeling just like a warm solar-heated waterbed, all quaking around me, cradling and wrapping around my front. It felt interesting when I bent my knees and struggled, feeling the mire closing over my buttocks and lower back! I also straightened my submerged legs as well. I had my arms straight down, with nothing solid to push on, imagining that I was trapped and sinking. An airplane flew overhead, prompting me to quickly exit and hide amongst the alders!
Once it passed, I laid down on the stiffer undisturbed stuff on the south side, facing west, and continued to enjoy it, repeating the struggling with arms "stuck" straight down, with the quaking surface slowly rising towards my head as I laid down. Once my stimulating struggle was finished, I finished mushing up the mire to make its surface consistency more uniform, although it was still thicker around the edges and softer in the middle.I headed back into the water to clean myself better, finishing the job on the floating vegetation on the shoreline. Then, I had to wait to dry off, but I was happy that it was so nice and warm, that I dried off quickly, and felt comfortable, especially since my hair had been drying since my first cleanup.
I was now ready for my next video, where I was going to play someone who was lured into quicksand by someone else, who wouldn't lend a hand at all!
I am certain that it will appeal to peoples' darker side! But first, I had to take care of a little problem. The sun had moved around, causing the shadow of the camera and stick to move onto the southwestern part of the bog, and would continue to move eastward as time went on. So, I had to relocate my camera-on-a-stick further to the east, positioning it so that the shadow would be to the east or southeast of the bog, and move away. Once that was done, I was all ready! So, wearing my junk shorts, I clicked the record button at 3:57 pm, headed to northwest of the bog, and stumbled in, sideways. After not getting a helping hand from the viewer, I tried to stand up on my own, only to start sinking, pleading for help and struggling helplessly all the way, until the mire closed over my face, and my last escaping breath farted out of the doughy muck!
I then resurfaced, and once I wiped the thick warm coating of mud from my hair, I could feel the chill of the evaporation on my head. I worked myself to the edge, wiping mud from myself as I went, and then exited on the north side. Once again, I cleaned my hands, and stopped the recording.With that video done, I wanted to do just one more. But, I was feeling a little bit chilled covered with mud that had moisture evaporating from me, but I was still anxious to get it done. This was going to be an extended underbog stay, wearing swim goggles, and breathing through a shop-vac hose. So, I didn't need to be clean for that entry, although I did have to clean my eyes so that I could put on the swim goggles. I also had to dry my eyes with my t-shirt so that the swim goggles didn't get fogged up.
For this video, I chose to orient myself sideways relative to the camera because if I had oriented myself facing the camera, the breathing hose would possibly wind up hiding the bubbles behind it from the camera. I could have easily oriented myself to face northward so that the breathing hose would be behind the bubbles, but I decided to go with the side view.
So, still shivering from the evaporation of the moisture of the mud on my skin and hair, I pressed the record button, and with the swim goggles on and my breathing hose in hand, I jumped in from the west side, facing east, quickly plunging to my stomach in the doughy mire. I set the breathing hose in front of me, and found with my feet the central soft spot I had worked deeply from all the underbog sinks there, and sunk to my chest. I grabbed onto the breathing hose and slowly sunk deeper, putting the hose into my mouth when the mire reached my chin. Then, inhaling through the hose in my mouth and exhaling through my nose through the mud, as I got sucked under, my escaping breath went from a hissing sound when I was close to the surface, to a phlupping sound as I sunk deeper. I lingered there for a few minutes, long enough for the video, since it could get boring if it dragged on for too long. I inhaled through the hose and exhaled through my nose, and raised my hands to the surface a couple of times before retracting them. Finally, I then worked myself back up to the surface, still feeling a bit chilled, tossed the breathing tube aside, and then worked myself out of the sticky mess, pushing the mud off myself and back into the bog as I went. Once I was free of the muck, I cleaned my hands off again, and stopped the recording.
Now, I was finished with the videos, so I pulled the camera-on-a-stick out, and set it down with my things, with the camera laying on my clothes. I had to take off the swim goggles to see clearly. Because I wanted to do another underbog linger, this time off camera, I had to go back and clean part of my face again, as well as my swim goggles, wiping them dry with my t-shirt again to prevent fogging. It was some time around 4:30 pm, meaning I had time to do the sink.
This time, I was going to use my pvc pipe breathing tube for the underbog sink. So, breathing tube in hand, I jumped in from the south side facing north, and worked myself back down into the gulping mire. I put it into my mouth before it closed over my head, and then started to breathe through it. Even though it was short enough for me to both inhale and exhale through it, I felt more comfortable exhaling through my nose instead. My escaping breath hissed to the surface at first, but then phlupped to the surface once I got down deeper. This time, it felt different. I was actually feeling more comfortable than last time, and lingered beneath the surface for some time. It felt really nice being in my own underbog world, the only thing keeping me alive being the breathing tube. I struggled briefly under the surface to help keep me warm, and continued to enjoy the experience.
But, I did feel some slight calf cramps trying to start, but they weren't fully materializing, allowing me to continue enjoying being sucked beneath the surface. However, there was some mud that somehow got into my mouth, which I spat into the tube a few times. After a while, there was a little more bit of mud that somehow got in, which I had to keep spitting away.Since I felt it was getting a bit late, I finally worked myself back up to the surface, and tossed the pipe aside. I wiped the mud from my swim goggles, allowing sunlight to reach my eyes. I then enjoyed the mud some more, working myself under a couple of times, where I would hold my breath, let it out to fart at the surface, and the resurface to breathe again. After finally finishing doing my submersions, I wiped the mud from my head, and removed my swim goggles. I then lingered there, neck to chin deep in the jellylike ooze, continuing to savor the feel, noticing that I felt more relaxed if my legs were bent a little, although I wanted to keep them straight. I could feel how nicely the mud had warmed up to me where it contacted me, and wished that I could stay there forever.
But, all good things must come to an end. I felt it was getting late, so I worked myself out of the mire, wiping the mud from me back into the bog as I went. I checked the time, and it was already some time around 5:30 pm, the time I was supposed to be on the road, on the way home to arrive before dark!
I then quickly returned to the water to clean up myself, as well as my swim goggles, breathing tube, breathing hose, and junk shorts (or did I clean my junk shorts before my second underbog linger). I did a fast job, also removing the scum that stuck to my skin from the thick mud, leaving some other light sediment debris on my skin, since that stuff would fall off when dry. I also noticed some leech bites as well, and had taken a leech off earlier. I didn't spend too much time to air-dry, and so got dressed.With it getting close to 6 pm, I didn't have time to take any final pix of the bog, although I had already flooded my postings with many pix of it already. There was not even enough time to take any pictures of any other exposed spots, either. I put my breathing hose back in its hiding spot on a beaver lodge on the east side of the northern part of the pond, and put my stuff away on my bike. I left around 6 pm, and this time, didn't take my time getting home. I still got home well before 9 pm (can't remember if it was closer to around 8:30 pm), even though I left around 20 minutes later than last time, due to me not taking it easy the way I did last time coming home. I was glad there was no knee pain, and no more leg cramps!
I was glad my parents were away on a trip, since I did notice that my cleanup wasn't as thorough as I had hoped. There were some small patches of muddy scum on my back, which easily rubbed off. I didn't have time for a shower that night, but when I saw how much stuff was falling out of my hair, I had to wash it in the sink after 1 am before going to bed. When I looked at my undershorts, I discovered some blood stains!
I usually inspected my crotch area for leeches over and over again, but couldn't figure out how I managed to miss this one, which was now totally dried out after its last meal. I had to apply "Shout" to the stains to clean them off the next day. I guess that I should be more thorough in inspecting for leeches, especially before heading home, and perhaps I should look at either going further out into the pond, where the water is deeper, to clean my head, or return to the smaller pool to the south, where I could also easily clean my head. Or, if I got a haircut, then cleaning my hair would be much easier! Overall, it was a really nice day!
Vernon officially hit 35.5˚C, or 95.9˚F, while the Elkhart Lodge, a high elevation location between the Okanagan and the coast, hit 27˚C, or 80.6˚F, which reflected how warm the weather was at my bog. I was glad to have gone that day, because after that, temperatures started falling. In fact, for Saturday, we only reached 23.5˚C, or 74.3˚F in Vernon, cooler than it was in the mountains when I went sinking!I was happy with the videos I shot, and as glad I used AVCHD-Lite instead of Motion JPEG, since some were over the approximate 8m20s mark, and would have been cut off! In fact, the first main sink, excluding the extraction, was over 9 minutes, and would have surely been cut off! I was happy overall that most of the videos, weren't spoiled by the wind, all except for the breathing hose video, where the wind suddenly came up, and began to obscure the sound of the bubbles farting at the surface!
The camera was also shaking a bit in the wind. I had thought about turning on the "Wind Cut" feature on my camera, but was concerned that it might degrade sound quality. I was happy that the color and exposure was better, and with my manual exposure adjustment of -2/3, I wasn't as overexposed as before! Anyways, I will be releasing the videos shortly! Now, it seems that the showers this weekend are not as great as originally predicted. I am waiting for things to start to warm up again next week, but I don't know if I will be returning to the Crescent Pond then, because my parents are interested in taking me camping into the wilderness, and I will have a chance to go to a different area. If I choose Bridge Lake/Sheridan Lake, I have outstanding places to sink there, but the weakening warm spells are even weaker up there, with perhaps even more cloud. Also, there are severe fires in central BC which are creating the worst smoke up there on record! In fact, it is so bad, the smoke stretches all the way into Northern Ontario!
If I choose Sugar Lake, then I can explore for quicksand along the Shuswap River, and check out other new places in the area as well. Decisions, decisions… 
