Quicksand and Sinking Basics

[reisen55]

The attached represents a fine example of things the novice sinker should observe before venturing into a nice looking bog. Identifiers such as head, body and tail are of particular interest and should be taken to heart. I encourage a continuing series of such images if members have them.

Trust me, you'll live longer. LOL.

[Mynock]

Sometimes I'm glad I live in the Northeast....haha....I've run into turtles, snakes and frogs but never anything exceedingly dangerous.

[YerK]

Okay. Here's one for the Arkansas & Mississippi area:

[reisen55]

Hate snakes, but what amused me about the alligator photo was the caption and the arrows. Useful data. "NEED TO KNOW" with finger in the mouth.

[Nessie]

Up here in the Big Bad North...we've got...these!

They don't live in mud but they can get you on the way in and out.

I don't think the big kitty is too commonly met by humans around here although since I took the photo myself in a local nature center, they don't stuff anything for display that lives somewhere else. That means we've got the kitties.

This particular bear won't be a bother since I took that photo in a sporting-goods store, but yup, the bears are listed in my book of local mammals!

I wonder what happened to my snapping turtle picture? But all you can lose to that critter is a toe.

Nessie

[bart1997]

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[jagfiles]

Though I don't have any pics here to put up in my area I have seen bats, falcons, hawks and skunks all in a resadental area.
However in a flood control area though I have heard scuttlebut about rattlesnakes present though thankfully I have not seen any and want to keep it that way. Turns out that was near where I had my first sinking experience years ago.
One thing I've learned is to expect the unexpected.

[Boggy Man]

While I don't have the specific pictures, I am aware of a number of hazards. Cougars are opportunistic hunters, and if one happens by while you are "stuck" in a bog, with an extended extraction time, then you could be an easy meal! Then, there are grizzly bears, which are extremely huge and aggressive! Other things to watch out for are hidden logs/sticks, especially in the grass of meadows, or hidden beneath the surface of a bog you are jumping into! On the shoreline of Lake Winnipeg, I punctured one of my feet, between two toes, on a dead willow stick that had been sticking out of the sand, sharpened by a beaver! In some cases, there can also be sharp rocks. I cut the bottom of the odd toe on some sharp rocks on the bottom of some nice smooth mud, which took a while to heal. Then, there is the trash that people throw out, such as broken glass, or sharp metal such as cans or barbed wire! If you happen to be sinking in a slide area, where the ground (and everything on/in it) has moved and could very well move again, you have to make absolutely certain things are stable enough, and that you don't destabilize things from your own actions, since you don't want to become buried, or have a rock, tree or log crush/pin/injure you, or worse!

Then, there are the alkali sloughs/ponds/lakes, where the alkali kills most plants (although some, like saltwort, thrive in such conditions), preventing the best mud from being covered over and compressed by vegetation. While that mud was among the best and most extensive I ever sank into/crossed, the white stuff on top can actually slowly, painlessly, eat your flesh without you even knowing it! Brief exposure may not yield any problems, but prolonged contact, especially if there are any breaks in the skin, will result in sores surrounded by blisters, that spread out and deepen! Even unbroken skin will eventually get penetrated through the pores, or patches of skin will be affected were any flakes of alkali were stuck to it! After the areas are cleaned, ending the exposure, then over a period of a week, the flesh underneath the sores/blisters goes from pink to red to brown to black, and then you spend 5 weeks of healing worrying about whether the entire depth of the skin was killed, or if it will heal normally. In the end, if the entire depth of the skin wasn't killed, you will still get some depressions in the skin there, and the new skin, which may or may not have some scarring, will lack pigmentation, and show up white, especially when you have a tan. One more thing. I would hate to think what may happen if any of that alkali gets into your eyes!

[YerK]

Bart: It's usually pretty easy to avoid wild hogs. They tend to crap in the mud they use, and pig poo isn't a pretty smell.

[Nessie]

I've never encountered a stuffed hog in a nature center. Since they only stuff what they can get in their own area so that they don't give you any false impressions about what you might find out there on your walk, good news!

I don't need to worry about hogs.

They DO stuff other states' critters in the sporting-goods store, though. This looks mighty hoggy to me.

Nessie