Quicksand Fans

..

bart1997 wrote:Of course the mud flooded into my chestwaders. Just as i was as deep as my armpits i became a bit sceptical and thought "hey Dude, what EXCACTLY are you doing here, you're stuck up to your arms in a bog, your waders are swamped, you have no stick or rope or whatever, the whole area around you is quaking and wobbling and your electronic car keys are probably ruined."

Guys do seem to be ever so much more impulsive than I am! I have never deliberately flooded my chest waders! Why, sometimes when I find mud, I don't even sink in it immediately!

I hope very much that you weren't wearing those waders against the cold. If you were warm enough even after the flooding, then no harm done, except to your electronic car keys and yeah, now you need to clean out the inside of the waders (or they'll really stink in a couple days!).

This was the most exciting sinking i ever did, and although i was not frightened all the time, i decided to treat these boglands with the respect and caution they definetly deserve.

If I had to pick a Supreme Truth concerning real sinking, what you have said right here sums it up.

People ask me all the time if I'm afraid to go out there. Do I worry about getting stuck or drowning?

The answer is no. Not at all.

Okay, so I crawl around real bogs and sink in mud. Why is that worse than rock climbing or skydiving, or those nuts who go tromping through the snow in gadzooks-a-million degrees below zero trying to walk to the South Pole?

The mud environment deserves a healthy respect, though. Things certainly can go wrong if you act stupid. But, ya know, if you speed and run red lights, you're also more likely to die in a car crash too.

Nessie

Have I ever had experiences like that? Boy, have I ever!

Never flooded chest waders, though. In a peat bog, that could be dangerous. As an FYI and safety warning, it's very possible for there to be nothing but black water under that floating mat of peat, and getting out of that with flooded waders could be interesting.

But as to the "WTF am I doing?" while sinking, and at the same time saying to myself "Just a little deeper, and then I'll get out. . ." that is very familiar.

I used to flood my boots all the time, roll my pant legs up to my knees and then get them muddy anyway, decide that I wasn't going to get my shorts muddy then end up waist-deep, etc. Was ever desperate enough for a sink that I "went for it" when there was snow on the ground! Brrrr!

nachtjaeger wrote:As an FYI and safety warning, it's very possible for there to be nothing but black water under that floating mat of peat, and getting out of that with flooded waders could be interesting.

I have encountered that black water stuff, and it's not that great 'cause it's not really mud. It's just black water. But you sure do go down fast in it, especially if you thought that because it was black, it was mud.

Until I know the bog very well, I never step into anything. I sit on the side and slip my legs into the pit. Then I lower myself into the mud with my arms on something solid. After I have confirmed that it's mud, real mud, thick enough for a slow descent, and will allow me to float around chest-deep and/or it has a bottom that I can touch, THEN I will step into the mire to enjoy the feel of sinking.

Nessie

Nessie wrote:

nachtjaeger wrote:As an FYI and safety warning, it's very possible for there to be nothing but black water under that floating mat of peat, and getting out of that with flooded waders could be interesting.

I have encountered that black water stuff, and it's not that great 'cause it's not really mud. It's just black water. But you sure do go down fast in it, especially if you thought that because it was black, it was mud.

Until I know the bog very well, I never step into anything. I sit on the side and slip my legs into the pit. Then I lower myself into the mud with my arms on something solid. After I have confirmed that it's mud, real mud, thick enough for a slow descent, and will allow me to float around chest-deep and/or it has a bottom that I can touch, THEN I will step into the mire to enjoy the feel of sinking.

Nessie

I know of one place where, in a meadow, beside some large willows, is a patch of thick mud that looks like just a spot where the grass was worn away from the meadow, exposing the muck. When you step into it, it feels nice and thick, and your legs slowly sink down deeper and deeper into it, rising up your thighs.

But, when it reaches your crotch, the mud suddenly drops away from under your feet, and they are left dangling in water! Now, you start sinking faster, and water starts bubbling up around you as you claw at the thick mud to keep from sinking down! The more you struggle, the more the thick mud on top turns watery!

For animals like cattle, it is a death trap, since they can't grab onto things, and simply drown in the peaty water, their bodies floating back up to the surface and decomposing, where animals scatter their bones around the area.

For people, you can crawl out, and the patch of mud is only perhaps 4 feet wide and 5 feet long, give or take. There is an adjacent spot on the (I think) south side of it that had a thin layer of grass with thicker mud, and I didn't find the water underneath, although I didn't get too far down in there, because of scratchy submerged willow branches. It was back in the 80's, and so I don't know if that treacherous spot is even open anymore , but I did have fun struggling in it before crawling out!

..

..

bart1997 wrote:Yes, i would also not recommend this by now, although i found out that they don't suck you down when they become heavy from all that water, it was still difficult enough to lift them up.

Yep, when I started using waders (mine are of the very thinnest neoprene) that was the first thing I heard from people who freeeeeeeeaked out at the clip I posted. Oh-my-God-what-if-those-things-fill-you-will-be-sucked-right-down-to-the bottom!

But thankfully it is a myth!

It is true that if they fill, you're now stuck dragging the extra weight out of the bog. But ya know, if anybody is in real trouble out there, if they have even one brain cell filled with common sense, common sense says that you slip out of 'em.

I mean, yeah, it's littering the bog but if you really can't get out while wearing them, you can't just stay there forever to keep them company either.

Nessie

bart1997 wrote:..

Could you possibly put up a youtube video or maybe repost the pics of this?