Quicksand Fans

Sounds Intriguing
personally I would hike in the area a few times and try and judge when the traffic is much less, usually early in the mornings seems to be your quiet times...then after when you feel comfortable attempt a cannon ball or whatever suits your curiosity

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Try the rock test.

You begin by picking up the biggest rock you can throw that far. If it bounces when it hits the surface then you can at least mark that one off the list. If it disappears completely then you know you need to return after dark. Anything in between you're going to have to investigate further.

Duncan Edwards wrote:If it bounces when it hits the surface then you can at least mark that one off the list.

Yup, I'd say that if a rock bounces, that just may be a clue. But if it goes in with an inviting plop...?

I can't think of anything at all short of walking into it myself. The softest, sinkiest-looking surface in the world may only be six inches deep. Many a time have I stepped into something only to hit bottom before I'm in to the ankle.

If it's plainly visible from a path or a road then I guess you can't try sinking in it unless you want to try it at night.

But many mudpits aren't the only ones in the area. Perhaps there is something else in the same general area that's behind vegetative cover for you. I'd go over everything I possibly could around there. And I do mean everything.

Nessie

Even if the rock bounces, the stiffer surface may still hide softer stuff below. My Harris Creek slide area has silt that feels solid, where you can walk over it again and again without sinking, throw rocks on it, and they would just bounce. But, do some heavier stomping on that same ground, and it starts to quake and quiver, and suck you down!

Boggy Man wrote:But, do some heavier stomping on that same ground, and it starts to quake and quiver, and suck you down!

Actually, yeah, that's true...shoulda thought of it myself except that the ground that quakes and quivers under me is usually so covered with weeds (which have made that tougher surface over a bed of soft muck) that if you throw a rock in there, you can't see what happens to it at all.

Nessie