Adv's#17-19: Sinking Into High Gear Before Hunting Season!

[Boggy Man]

Adv #17: Continuing My Bog Expansion!

After my last bikeride, where I had expanded the size of my main sinking spot at the Crescent Road pond, I just couldn't wait to get back there to continue/finish the job I had began! I wanted to go as soon as I felt totally "recovered" from all the tiring activity from that day of biking, muddy work and mudplay. So, I eyed Monday, August 24'th, four days after my last bikeride! The forecast was calling for sunny skies with a high of 29˚C, or 84˚F, not quite as hot as during the previous outing, but still quite nice.

This time, my dad was able to give me a lift, with him dropping me off at the usual spot just past and over the main climb! I was glad his keyhole saw, which I had once again smuggled away in one of my saddlebags, was hidden. It would have been embarrassing if he had seen it, but then I could have made up a story such as that I wanted to use it for cutting peat for my bog garden. I was on my way some time around 8:40 am, giving me much more time to do things than last time!

I planned on spending the day widening the sinking spot further, transferring pailfuls of mud to the mud patch to raise it fairly higher to make it more easily exposed, not to mention thicken faster, and then have a nice sink in my new, improved mudhole (actually it was a hole in the mat of grass, exposing the bottomless gooey muck hidden underneath), helping to mix in the newly deposited mud!

I arrived at the Crescent Road pond some time around 9:37 am, 2.5 hours earlier than last time! Since it was so early in the day, and still too cool for working or sinking in the mud, I decided to first use the keyhole saw to cut the grass into chunks while I was waiting for conditions to improve. So, I grabbed the keyhole saw and a container of Kool-Aid, and was on my way to the pond!

I noticed that the grass was all wet from dew, getting my workboots wet. However, I knew things would dry out as the long morning shadows shortened and moved away. I just hoped that things would warm up nicely as the sunshine continued through the day. I retrieved the bucket I left last time from beside the large rotting log north of the pond, amongst the alders, near the tiny seasonal streambed that was around a foot wide, which was dry at the time. I noticed how the mud conditions around the pond looked the same as last time. I just hoped that my special sinking spot wasn't flooded from the lowering of the mud during the expansion last time.

When I reached my reshaped sinkhole, where the narrow western part had been widened to match the width of the main area, turning it into an elongated rectangular patch of bottomless, gooey, sucking ooze, I was happy to see that there were only small patches of water scattered on the surface, with the majority of the mud exposed! I set my things near the alders further to the west, and removed my workboots and socks, since I didn't want them to get wet. I also removed my watch because I was concerned about getting it muddy. Now, I was ready to begin my first order of business!

I started with the north side of the patch, and proceeded to saw through the mat of live and dead grass roots, with the cut being a curve, sticking out towards the north, so it would be the widest in the middle. I chose the sawing point such that it was past some small clumps of live grass. Once again, I noticed how grass seedlings were sprouting on the peaty mat of dead grass roots, trying to reclaim the bare ground. I would make certain that nothing would try to reclaim my sinking spot!

Once I sawed the outer edge, I then used the saw to divide the stuff inside the cut part into n-s strips, and cut those strips in half as I went, to make them more cubed, or at least in more easily manageable sizes. Once I finished the north side, I rested my arms for a moment, and then went to work on the south side, repeating the same thing, this time with that curve bending to the south in the middle, which would make my sinkhole somewhere between a circle and an oval. I wound up with some grass cuts on my hands, and took precautions to prevent further ones, such as stepping on the grass to direct it away from where I was sawing. With both sides cut into cubes and sizeable chunks, I cleaned the saw in the water, and put it down with my things.

Since it was still feeling a bit on the cool side, I decided to pass the time doing other things while waiting for things to warm up. It was some time after 10:30 am, and I made several trips to and from my bike (saw a garter snake disappear into the grass on one of the trips from my bike to my sinking spot) to do things such as get toilet paper so I could make like a bear and take a dump in the bushes, but without success. I also got the sunscreen and applied it to my shoulders and upper back so I wouldn't get burned again.

Now, it was some time around 11 am, and so I decided to return to my bike to have an early lunch to get enough energy for the afternoon. Then afterwards, I returned to my sinking area with my swim goggles and breathing tube in case I did have an underbog sink, and finally felt ready to make like a bear, and take the dump in the bushes.

Finally, shortly after 12 noon, I felt that I was ready to begin my work in the mud, which would start off with a stimulating, non-submersion sink, since things were still a bit too cool for going under at this time of the day at this time of year. It was getting to be that late time in the season when things started to cool off more, making ideal underbog conditions occur progressively later on in the day. Anyways, after the stimulating sink, then I would begin removing the solid peaty chunks of live/dead grass root mat.

So, facing east, I carefully stepped in from the west side, and sunk up past my waist right away in the gooey creamy muck. Struggling in the gooey muck, I mushed it all around me to mix into the mud the little bit of water that was in patches on the surface, the slimy ooze slowly rising up my stomach towards my chest. But, after struggling for a while and sinking to my nipples, I decided not to go any deeper, since I didn't want to get wet too high up my body, since it felt uncomfortable in the cool wind. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get full stimulation , so I decided to instead get started with the widening of my patch of gulping mire!

I began on the east end of the north side, closest to where the chunks could easily be swept "under the rug", or to be more precise, pushed under the floating mat of grass and roots on the east and northeast side, where the mud under the mat was looser, due to it being closer to the pond. I would pull off some chunks, loosen and pull away anything that was soft from them (mud and some rotten roots), push the clods under the mud at the east edge, and then use my feet to force them sideways or diagonally under the intact carpet of live and dead grass roots and grass there.

For some reason, I found that my left foot kept getting a ticklish feeling each time I pushed the clods under. Perhaps my foot was getting poor circulation from being in cooler mud deeper down, but it wasn't tingly, just ticklish. I felt some sensitivity in my right knee when I used my right foot to push the clods under, but I tried to be careful, and my knee was okay.

I would hold onto the grass in front of me or brace myself against the grass I hadn't removed yet behind me to allow me to use enough force to work the clods under the outer edge. After several clods were removed, I then had to loosen the newly exposed mud, since it was being held rigid by an easily breakable network of roots. So, I would sink my legs into it, feeling the roots break up as I disturbed it. I would then work my legs up, which pulled thicker stuff up from deeper down, and then pushed my feet back down again in a different spot to loosen that.

I repeated the process until the newly exposed stuff was all loosened to well beyond the reach of the grass roots. Then, I would move on to removing more clods and pushing them under the grass to the east, and then loosening the newly exposed mud there. Once the remaining clods were too far away from the east end for me to brace myself against them, which happened fairly quickly, I had to grab and hold onto the grass mat in front of me and then push the clods underneath it with my feet. I also used my feet to pull submerged sticks up high enough for me to reach with my hands, although it felt uncomfortable getting my upper arms muddy due to evaporation in the cool air. It was nice to see swamp gas farting out of the gooey mire during the process of the clod elimination and mud loosening. Once I finished that side, I worked myself out, wiped the mud off my skin into the bog as I extracted myself, and took a nature break.

Next, it was time for the south side, where I pushed the clods under the grass and dead root mat on the southeast, east and northeast sides, where the mud was the loosest under the floating mat, because of the pond being to the east. I repeated everything for the south side as I did on the north side, and just loved how my newly expanding sinking hole was opening up! As I got more of my patch of bottomless gooey muck opened up wider, I began to find that maneuvering myself around in it without being able to hold onto the edge got a bit more challenging, or should I say, fun! I had to sit back, work my feet up high, and then move them forward before standing up in order to move myself forward.

Partway through the work, I stopped for a moment in the softer original eastern part of my sinking spot, where I had done most of my sinks over the years, with it being very loose and soft deeper down. I stood still, facing east, feeling the slimy mud slowly brush upward along my skin as it slowly sucked me down on its own, which was a great feeling! When my descent slowed down, I moved my feet a little to keep it going, sinking a bit deeper up my abdomen, before I decided to get back to work.

Earlier on, I took a brief break from my work as well, and stood in the soft spot, facing west, and started struggling. I imagined that I was slowly being sucked to my death in the deadly bog, the feel of its creamy gooey grip on me, the surface heaving and churning with my struggles, rising up my body, all this raising my stimulation up to mild convulsions of ecstasy (the pressure of the mud where it counted could have been higher)!

For a while, I was thinking about how nice it was to see that the shadow from the trees to the west were far away yet. But, just shortly afterward, I noticed that a shadow had suddenly shot out into the meadow to the west of my sinking area! I removed the last few clods from the southwest end, moved them to the east end, and shoved them under the outer edge. When I went back to loosen the last of the newly exposed mud there to the depth of my legs or waist, the shadow had already reached that side, making me feel chilled from the lack of sun (I hate the approach of September)! I got that loosening done, and my major widening job was finished!

While I had been busy working on my bog expansion, in addition to finding the odd stick in the newly exposed mire, I was surprised to discover some tiny broken sharp rocks suspended just under the surface in some spots! I wondered how they managed to get there, since they were deposited high up in the mud, and there was no stream nearby. Perhaps they were thrown in when that spot was part of a bare pond bottom, before the level dropped, exposing the mud, which then got covered with grass.

I worked myself out of the pasty mire and waited for the shadow to move away so I could try for one more stimulating sink before cleanup. The sink would re-moisten some of the mud that had dried higher up my body, which would help with the cleanup. But, while the shadow was so fast to move over the mud, it was taking forever to move past it, instead growing larger as it slowly swept around to the east.

Once I began to see the sun finally start to move into the west edge, I decided to get back in and try for one last stimulating sink. So, I stepped into the middle, facing south, and began to struggle, with the solid ground completely out of my reach! But, I was feeling a bit on the chilled side from being partially in the shadow, and things felt like they were cooling off as the sun got lower. I struggled and churned the mud around me, the thick sticky ooze rising up to my nipples, the odd bubble of swamp gas rising up around me and farting. But, I wasn't able to achieve full stimulation, and decided to call it quits, because it was getting late.

So, I worked myself out, pushing the clinging mud off my skin into the bog as I went, until I was finally free! It was some time after 4 pm, half an hour earlier than I needed to quit, but it wasn't as warm as I would have liked to do any further sinking.

When I headed to the mat of weeds southeast of my sinking spot that I cleaned up in before, where it would sag down under my weight and the cleanup water would rush in over top, I was disappointed to see that it was now in the shadows! After trying to clean up there, I decided to look for an alternate cleanup spot that was in the sun. After searching and stepping though weak mats of tiny rushes and into the loose mud, I found one nice place northeast of my sinking spot. So, I was able to clean up there, with the dried up mud higher up my chest requiring a bit more rubbing. I felt something biting me, and pulled off a leech, tossing it back into the pond. I had to sometimes wait for the sediment to settle before continuing to clean myself off, but eventually I succeeded. When heading towards shore, I tested an open spot, and found it to be real soft mud, getting one leg muddy again, forcing me to clean it again. I did some final cleaning of around my feet in the area southeast of the sinking spot, air-dried, got dressed, gathered my things and headed back to my bike, putting the once again unused bucket back beside the large rotting log north of the pond, in the alders.

I was on the road some time around 5 pm, and snacked on my remaining Pizza Pop, chocolate chip cookies, and some cheezies on my way back. I also kept my eyes peeled for the plastic bottle I lost last time, watching the right side of the road like a hawk, but found nothing. I felt a bit on the cool side, but once I got into the valley, things felt warmer again, especially when I got back into Vernon. I got home some time around 7:45 pm, a bit earlier than my planned return time of 8:30 pm.

I was disappointed that I never had a chance to transfer mud to that hole to raise its level. I could see how much of a void the removal of the chunks of turf left behind in the mud, although pushing the clods back into the mud to push them under the edge did help keep the level of the mud from dropping much. But, I still had unfinished business, something I had to get done as soon as possible!

After having made the hole so much larger, I was a little bit more concerned about the risk of cattle getting stuck in it, since it was now substantially larger than it originally was! But so far, I never saw any cattle on this trip, only their "leftovers" , something that made me feel a little bit more at ease.

I had some cramps in my hands that evening from all the work with them, and felt sore the next day from all the exercise I had, a "good" soreness. I was happy that I experienced no leg cramps, thanks to my dad driving me up into the mountains, although at one point, I almost felt one coming on, but which didn't materialize.

The temperature in Vernon that day was 28˚C or 82˚F (actual official temperature was 27.2˚C or 81˚F), fine for the valley, but in the mountains it was always cooler. In fact, at the Elkhart Lodge (Paradise Lake), my gauge for high elevation weather (actually generally higher elevation with slightly cooler temperatures than that of my bogs), they hit 19˚C, or 66˚F, definitely a cooler day than last time! With the area of my bogs still being slightly warmer than that, it was still no wonder I felt a bit more chilled than last time! At least the nice weather was going to continue longer, and I had to take advantage of this sunny stretch and finish the job I had begun, since I didn't know if any more nice stretches of weather would come this season after this one ended! I would just have to wait a few more days, and try going again!

[Boggy Man]

Adv #18: More Sinks & Building Up A Sinking Spot!

After waiting several days for myself to get rested up from my previous bikeride, I was all ready to go again on Friday, August 28'th, 4 days after my last bikeride, which was 4 days after the previous bikeride! I was really engaging in a lot more outings than usual, but I had a job to finish! The forecast for the day was for sunny skies with a high of 34˚C, or 93˚F, a much nicer day than my last bikeride!

I was happy that my dad was willing to give me a lift into the mountains again, which made things easier on me, especially preventing the onset of painful leg cramps, and gave me more time in the mountains as well! My dad dropped me off in the mountains and I was on my way at 8:42 am, happy to feel how much warmer it was in the mountains this time!

My first destination was the Edwin Lakes area pond to retrieve the plastic shop-vac hose I used as a breathing tube. I hadn't used it in a very long time, since I found it better for deep sinks in soft mud, while the Edwin Lakes area pond mud was only shoulder deep soft mud, and the rest being thick below that. The hose had been "gathering cobwebs" (and who knows what may have been living inside it over all that time ) sitting under a juniper near where I kept my junk clothes northeast of the sinking area. Now, it was time for it to find a new home at the Crescent Road pond, where the mud is soft and bottomless! After retrieving the hose, I would then return to my Crescent Road pond and work on transferring mud to my sinking spot to build it up.

It felt cool coasting down into the tiny valley with Duteau Creek running through the bottom, but when I climbed up the other side and headed up Edwin Lake Road, I started overheating, forcing me to remove more clothing. I parked my bike on the usual dropoff on the trail on the hillside west of the Edwin Lakes area pond some time between 9 and 9:30 am, noticing that there were still mosquitoes after me, even this late in the season! I never bothered to take anything along with me from the bike, since I was only there to pick up the breathing hose, not to have a sink, although with things heating up already, I felt that there would be a very strong temptation to overcome!

I first took a brief look at the smaller hidden pond full of yellow waterlilies to the west of the main pond, something that was rather fast and easy to check out, since I was almost in the immediate area. There was black muck exposed in the southeast section of the pond, in between the dense growth of yellow waterlilies. On the north side, there was a small flat of clay mud exposed, but I knew it was extremely shallow. I then headed to the main pond to the east, through the bush at the bottom of the hill, and then out onto the western grassy shoreline.

As I headed clockwise around the pond, I noticed how the water seemed lower than before, which would expose more mud, and make the current sinking spot thicker than ever! When I reached the east side of the pond where my sinking area was located, the sun went behind some clouds just as I got there! The patch of sucking mud that I had loosened earlier in the season was now a dark grayish brown, nice and thick, with no water on it whatsoever. It quivered a bit when I agitated the grass on the east side of it, and I felt the surface with my hand, noticing that it felt like firm, moist ground, which didn't get my hand dirty, only a little wet. It looked sooooo inviting!

I headed into the bush to the northeast to retrieve the breathing hose, noticing that my junk clothes were on the ground, instead of hanging on some branches of a tree. I hung them back up, retrieved the breathing hose, and returned to the sinking spot, happy to see the sun back out again.

I looked at the patch of flat dark ground again, and I just couldn't resist the temptation any more! Its pull was too strong! The lure of the swamp! I checked the time, and it was some time around 9:30 am. I figured that I had enough time to have a quick sink, since the job of topping off my enhanced sinking spot at the Crescent Road pond wasn't going to be taking too long.

So, I set my breathing hose down, removed my workboots and socks, and then took off my other clothes, which I set amongst a small bush, higher up above the grass, since the grass still had dew in lower spots because of shading from the willows to the east in the morning, which delayed the appearance of the sunshine for drying things out. The longer nights meant more overnight cooling, which resulted in more dew in the mornings. I removed my hat and watch but kept my glasses on, because I wasn't going to go under this early, since things were still a tiny bit cool, and the sinking experience was better with clear vision. So, all naked, I was ready to "test the ground"!

I decided that I wanted to face the nice warm sun when sinking, so I headed over to the west side of the sinking spot, sinking around a foot down into the shallow mud on the burr-reed-covered bank between my sinking spot and the pond (there was a layer of sand below that which made the mud shallow there). Then, facing east, I was at the west edge of the bare patch of quivering ground, ready for the fateful jump!

I jumped forward, landing in the middle of the patch of damp dark ground, which sucked me down to my thighs, letting out a noticeable fart! The surface cracked around me, and as I struggled, it slowly rose up to my crotch, and then beyond, farting out more swamp gas! I continued to struggle, feeling how nicely it hugged the parts of my body that it had swallowed! I felt the firm surface around me, which slowly rose higher as it continued to gulp me down, rising up my stomach, and then my chest. I pushed my arms down into the thick mire to pretend to be trying to push myself out, but to no avail. I struggled with my arms "stuck" beneath the surface, and would lift them up again, before sinking them back down. The mud that I had loosened earlier in the season had now thickened enough such that the stiffer mire below was only slightly thicker, or at least where I was at, so it was basically all bottomless thick quagmire! So I continued to struggle, digging my feet into the unworked muck below, the heaving surface slowly rising up to my armpits!

I just loved how the thick doughy muck felt on my arms and hands as I worked them through it. While new stuff that came into contact with my skin felt cool, once it stayed in contact with my skin long enough, it warmed up to me nicely.

There was quite a bit of swamp gas that kept on farting out of the mire, some rising up from my feet, and rising along my body before farting at the surface. Further out, it would hiss, the swamp gas having a gassy odor, which added to the experience - "stuck and sinking to your death in thick, doughy, pulsating muck and being forced to hear and smell it farting constantly!" I could feel gas pockets form around my submerged hands, and when I worked my hands closer to the surface, it would hiss out and the pockets would deflate.

I continued struggling around my armpits, because I didn't want to get myself muddy any higher up my body at this early time. I tried laying my arms on the surface and slowly agitated them, the doughy surface slowly bending down and wrapping itself around them, until they were once again stuck in its grip! I flattened the surface around me with my hands and arms to remove the rough surface and make it smooth, which looked better. The mire in front of me was thicker, while the stuff behind me and to my left was looser.

It started to feel a bit stimulating to stand still and push my arms on the ground in a series of pushes, pretending to be trying to push myself out, only to have the voracious ooze suck them under! I did that a few times, as well as struggle with my hands on the surface, pushing down lightly on the doughy surface around me, pretending to be trying to push myself out, only to remain "helplessly stuck"!

I was starting to feel a little bit on the cool side from being in the mire so long, and while it felt goooooooooooood to struggle in its doughy grip, it wasn't quite enough for full stimulation. So, I began to work myself up higher, feeling warmer mud on my body as I rose, and began to struggle a bit higher. I then worked myself up to stomach deep, and began to continuously push down on the ground all around me, pretending to be trying to escape, only to have the mire give way, the mushed-up mire immediately around my body looking like I was in the middle of a soft brown pillow! I struggled vigorously, pushing down on the ground around me, trying unsuccessfully to escape from the grip of the deadly ooze, imagining that I was going to die in it if I didn't escape, slowly sinking a little lower as I struggled, the feel of it on my body, the sight of it swallowing me, all this raising my stimulation up to convulsions of ecstasy!

Now I was ready to escape for real! I worked myself up higher out of the doughy mire, by working my feet up and squirming my way up until I was around waist deep, and then sat back to work my legs out. I then crawled forward to exit on the west side. Since my sinking left a little bit of a depression where I had been swallowed to my armpits, I proceeded to push the mud from the sides towards the center, mostly from the east and south sides, since the west and north sides were looser and more free to move. Before I knew it, the patch of mire was now flat again!

It was now time to get cleaned up, so I headed into the pond, where I waded into the water a little ways to where it was a couple feet deep, and sunk to my crotch in the soft bottom (a bottom which was also bottomless ). I proceeded to clean myself from the top down, happy to see that the water, while now a bit cooler now from the lengthening nights, especially in the mornings, was still comfortable to some extent. It would have been even nicer in the afternoon once the sun had more time to do its thing. I then moved to a spot where I could clean myself lower down, and then to the patch of yellow waterlilies south of the willow clump south of the dried-up stream, to finish the job of cleanup. I then air-dried on the grassy shore, with a dragonfly landing briefly on my chest before taking off. I got dressed, picked up my breathing hose, and after one last look at the patch of mire and jumping on the grass on its east side to make it quiver, I was on my way back to my bike.

I noticed that although I was still a bit on the cool side, I could now feel the hot sun burning into my clothes, which felt nice! I got back to my bike, put the breathing hose into my top saddlebag, and was on my way, some time around 11 am.

My next destination was the Crescent Road pond, the new home for my breathing hose, and the place where I had to build up the level of the mud in my newly expanded sinkhole! I snacked on a couple of Pizza Pops along the way for lunch. I was concerned about some clouds far to the south, and hoped that they would stay away until I was finished with my dirty work and was all clean and dry.

Along the way, I saw something that concerned me. Not one, not two, but three large trucks with livestock trailers, and a smaller truck with a smaller livestock trailer passed by me, empty! That had me worried, since it seemed to suggest they had just dropped off livestock in the bushes, just when I thought that the free-range season was ending! NOW I was starting to get worried, because I had been concerned that my sinkhole expansion at the Crescent Road pond could be an increased hazard to cattle in the area, a risk that I figured was fairly low, giving the fact that I had seen only a little bit of cattle activity in the area over the past while! Now, if they were starting to bring cattle into the mountains, then I now had something to worry about! But, I just kept on hoping that the cattle would be in other places, and not at my Crescent Road pond.

So far, I was happy to not see any cattle on the road, and when I turned up Crescent Road, still no cattle! In fact, I hadn't seen a single bovine all day! But, after I passed a cattleguard, I saw lots of hoofprints and droppings , but still no cattle. I continued further up the road, happy to see that the cattle weren't around.

I finally turned onto the sideroad that led to my pond, and just a little ways up the road, I couldn't believe it! There they were! Cattle! I continued further up, and walked my bike down the trail that was just to the north of the pond, setting it down some time just after 12 noon, noticing that cattle were everywhere!!!! NOW I was getting concerned! I could hear them mooing all around the area! I just hoped none had fallen into my sinking spot! I had not seen any cattle all day, only to find an entire large herd around the only place I didn't want them to be, the one pond that contained my sinking spot that I was concerned about being a bovine deathtrap!

Anyways, cattle or no cattle, it was time to get down to business. I pulled out my breathing hose, breathing tube, and swim goggles, in case I went for a submersion, since things were heating up nicely. I also got out my Kool-Aid, and the keyhole saw, in case I needed to cut a hole in the grass somewhere to get at the thick mud for scooping out with a pail, to be deposited on my main sinking spot.

With most of my things in a plastic bag, and the breathing hose in hand, I headed down to the north side of the pond. The grass closer to the pond there was partly eaten by the cattle, and I had to take care not to step in any fresh cowpies, although one workboot did accidentally step in one small one. I headed over to my sinking spot, and was relieved to see that there were no bovines stuck in it. It was nicely exposed, and looked soooo inviting, undulating nicely when I agitated the grass beside it! But, I had a job to do first, and I would get a chance to sink later on after the mud was piled on top, and needed mixing in!

I set my things down to the west, got out the keyhole saw and swim goggles, and set them aside with the breathing hose. I undressed, removed my hat, and put my watch in it, positioning it so that I could easily glance at it every once in a while. Ready to begin, I picked up the saw, but then noticed that the pail wasn't there, realizing that I had forgotten to retrieve it from the bushes north of the pond!

I got partially dressed and headed back to the north end, where I had hidden the pail in front of a large rotten log amongst the alders. I was thinking of laying the breathing hose along the back side of the log when not in use, but noticed that there was now a cattle trail right through there, over the log! I didn't want to leave anything that I planned on putting in my mouth where cattle could get at it and do their business, or kick it around! So, it looked like I would have to search for a different spot to hide the breathing hose at the end of the day. I returned to my sinking area with the pail, got undressed again, removed the lid from the pail, and kept my glasses on, since I wasn't doing a sink with submergence. I was now ready to begin!

With the pail and keyhole saw in hand, I headed over to my sinking spot. I then looked around for a nice area that looked like a good spot for retrieving mud, which would be exposed after cutting away some of the floating vegetation covering it. I was looking around the area northeast of the sinking area and to my surprise, I came across an elongated patch of bare mud, roughly 2 feet across and 4 feet long (give or take in dimensions), and stretching mostly north-south! I tested it, and it was soft but not too runny, with stiffer stuff just below! In terms of promising spots for sources of mud, now that's what I'm talking about! It looked like I wouldn't need the saw after all, so I picked it up off the muddy ground where I had it laying, cleaned the mud off of it, and put it back with my other things. I then returned to begin my dirty work!

I scooped out the soft upper mud with the pail, and then poured it over the thicker west side of the sinking area, since this stuff I was adding was looser. After several trips, water was accumulating where the mud was removed, which made things a bit more runny, with the mud I deposited on the west side spreading out over a larger area, not piling up high the way I wanted.

After getting a bit of mud accumulated on the west end of my sinking spot, I started to gather up large globs of stiffer muck from deeper down, to be deposited on the softer east end. I stood up, waist to stomach deep in the mud and chilly water that was replacing the mud I had removed (water from just beneath the surrounding peaty muddy ground, which never had any sunshine to warm it up), and continued to dig up more globs of thick stuff with my hands from below, and also from under the surrounding grass and weeds. I also had to make certain I wasn't getting any sticks in with the globs of mud that I deposited in the pail. Once the pail was heaping full, I would get out and deposit the mud in my pit. I would go around the edges as far as I could reach, dumping a pailful of muck in every spot, building up the level at least 2, maybe 3 inches!

Some of the muck I was gathering had roots in it, but not matted, which would decompose nicely, creating more swamp gas for my sinking spot. On the west side of my excavation hole, there was a spot where there were even some sharp rocks and sharp gravel mixed in, with the rock a little bit crumbly, something which I encountered around my sinking spot as well.

The fresh mud was a rusty color, but once exposed to the air, it then gradually turned black, likely due to oxidation. When depositing the mud, I found that I could reach far enough inward for 3 pailfuls in from the edge. So I first did all the sides, going 3 pailfuls in towards the center. Some water from the mud was accumulating in depressions between the piles, and in the center of the mud as well.

I found myself getting increasingly chilled from the cold water that was replacing the mud I had removed from my source spot, although the sun felt really nice. I eventually wound up sitting on the edge, and lifting up gobs of thick muck with my feet, which allowed me to bring stuff up from deeper down without having to reach further down with my hands. Once I had gone all the way around my sinking spot and three pailfuls in from the sides, I had to then kinda stretch and dump/toss each pailful towards the center, the impact flattening/spreading it out more instead of it being deposited in piles. I just repeated the process, until I felt that the center was built up enough to match the stuff deposited closer to the edges. Then, once I was satisfied with the amount of buildup of fresh mud on top, I decided that the mud transfer job was complete!

I was a bit chilled from that cold water that had seeped in to replace the mud I had removed, and so I wasn't ready to jump into the mud to mix it in just yet. So first, I decided I could warm up better if I was clean, so I sat on a nearby mat of tiny floating rushes that sagged under my weight, with the water pouring in over top. I cleaned myself nicely, the dried-up mud on me having caused a little bit of a rash on my skin. I had to pause, because the sun just had to go behind a cloud, which made me feel chilled. The cloud didn't seemed to want to move, but finally dissipated, and it felt warmer again. I also cleaned the pail nicely as well.

Now that I was clean, I felt like going for a walk around the pond, to check it out while I was drying off and warming up. So, I headed to the south end, checking out the mud and fragile mat of rushes closer to the water, but not wanting to sink this time, since I was trying to warm up. I noticed that the shoreline was already getting covered with shadows from the trees to the west.

Towards the south end, I went to the north side of the smaller pool of water that I had used for cleanup before, although laying in the weeds that sagged down with water flooding over them near my sinking spot was more convenient. I then crossed the grassy meadow to the east shore, noticing a small water-filled trench running down the center of the meadow, that was obviously made by some creature. It was too small to have been made by a beaver, and I wondered what cut that channel, which was only around 5 inches across. I also spooked some birds hiding in the grass.

Heading back northward up the east side, I located an old log that another one of my older sinking spots was located near, and just past it, I found it! It was amazing how it managed to stay open, even without being sunk into for so many years! But, it was a rather small opening in the grass, the small size making it not the best for "inescapable" sinks, since the surrounding grass was so much within reach. The surrounding grass was quite thick and lush, shading the mud there from the sun. I felt the mud with one foot, finding it quite soft. Then, I had to then clean off my foot.

As I continued along, further northward, I looked at some other spots where some mud was exposed, looking like they were stirred up by animals. I tested one and got one leg muddy, which I then had to clean off. Further to the north, I saw where some large animal had gone towards the pond and then headed back, since it had left a trail of mushed-up mud in the grass. When I came across the beaver lodge as I got close to the north end, I walked through the water/mud instead of through the bush, since it was easier, and the mud was shallower, with it being pea gravel. I then reached the north end of the pond, and then headed back down the west side to my sinking spot, feeling just warm enough for mixing the mud, but not for going under.

Before getting into the mud, I first went around the edge and smoothed the surface nicely with my hands. I was a bit concerned about the shadow of one of the trees to the west, since it was headed towards the sinking spot. I then jumped into the western portion, and proceeded with stirring up the thick mud from underneath, mixing it with the new stuff on top. I did that all around the west end, and then gradually worked my way to the east end, mixing the mud there nicely as well. I loved the feel of the mire, and the effort it took to manoeuvre myself through the gooey mire! In order to move forward, I would have to get into a sitting position and work my legs up through the mire in order to reposition them further forward before standing back up, resulting in me being a little further forward from where I was.

When my mud mixing moved over to the eastern part, I noticed the shadow from one of the trees moving into the western part of my gooey mire. Being back in my older sinking spot in the eastern part, I just couldn't resist struggling, and having the soft ooze slowly suck me down to my shoulders, while facing south or southwest! But, the mire in that spot was too soft for me to achieve full stimulation at that time, although it did work before. So, I worked my way over to the west side, rising a bit as I moved into thicker stuff.

Then, facing south, I began to struggle, slowly sinking deeper with the south shore just out of reach, imagining that I was going to be sucked to my death if I couldn't get out in time, the thick goo clinging onto my hands and arms when I lifted them above the surface, the gulping, undulating mire giving way beneath them when I pushed them down, the surface churning from the movements of my hands under the surface, the surface slowly closing over my shoulders, rising up my neck, and cradling my chin, raising my stimulation up to convulsions of ecstasy! During the time of my struggling, that part of the mire was getting back into the sunshine again.

Now it was time for me to escape the sticky ooze for real! I worked myself over to the north edge, pushing the mud off my skin as I went, sat down on the edge, worked my legs and feet up, and pushed the rest of the mire from my skin back into the bog. I was free!!!

Now it was time for cleanup, again! I checked the water that had freshly pooled in the area where I had dug out the mud north of my sinking spot, and while the sun had begun to warm the surface nicely, it was still colder deeper down. So, I then started cleaning myself off close to the water's edge, from the top down, northeast of the sinking spot, before moving to the shore southeast of the sinking spot, which was really in the tree shadows. But, the water that pooled over the mat of tiny rushes that sagged under my weight was reasonably warm, and the air also felt warmer now, even in the shadows. While I was cleaning off, I had been watching the cattle slowly getting closer on the north and northwest sides of the pond, and I continued to watch them as I air-dried.

I got dressed, and just couldn't resist returning to the bog to jump on the grass beside it to watch the patch undulate! The beautiful sight of it, pulsating and heaving, just waiting to suck me back into it's bottomless depths, was such that I just didn't want to leave! It was hypnotic! I stared at it for a while, before finally gathering my things, jumping on the ground to watch the mire undulate some more, before finally heading off at 5 pm. I returned to my bike, the cattle scattering ahead of me as I headed to and past the north end of the pond.

I set my things down beside my bike, and then proceeded to walk around, breathing hose in hand, looking for an ideal hiding spot for it. First, I looked around the area along the east side of the sidetrail I always took to the spot where I dropped off my bike, to see if there were any good places there. But, I felt it would have been too easy to spot, due to the trail, or if it was hidden, perhaps too hard to relocate, or cattle might be able to access it. I then decided to check around the vicinity of the old beaver lodge on the eastern shore, near the north end of the pond. I had thought about that area earlier, and finally decided to check it out. As it turned out, the best spot was right on the north side of the old (abandoned?) beaver lodge, hidden in the alders, and not in any cattle path! So now, the breathing hose had a new home!

I put my things away in my bike, now including the bucket, since I no longer needed it at the pond. It had served its purpose there, and it was time to take it back home, using it to hold some of my things, since it was taking up extra space in one of my saddlebags. As I started back down the sideroad, I noticed that I was suddenly feeling so hot, that I could have had an underbog sink at that time, if it wasn't for the fact that it was too late in the day! The days had been getting so short, that I had to leave for home over an hour earlier, and I knew that it would get worse as time went on! If it was July, then I would have had time for an underbog sink at that time, but not in late August!

As I continued a tiny ways down the sideroad, I met up with some more cattle, which kept running down the road ahead of me. When they exited the sideroad, they turned left onto Crescent Road, heading in the same direction I was headed! I always found that extremely annoying! But finally, they went off the side of the road, and the rest of the road was clear.

On the way downhill into the valley, I kept an eye open for my plastic drink bottle I had lost two bikerides ago, this time on the left side of the road, since I never found it on the right side last time. But, I never found it there either. I got home time time around 8:13 pm, and found a dragonfly trapped inside the bird netting over my bog garden, but it was too dark to open thing up to let it out. There was no sign of it the next day.

This was my 18'th adventure, which matched the total number of adventures I had the previous year! But, I had no intention of stopping just yet! My work on my sinking spot still wasn't complete! I needed to lay a mat of vegetation in places around the outer edge of my bog, over top of some low spots where the mud level was raised above the surrounding ground, so that it wouldn't wash away. That would also make the surrounding ground higher when the water levels rise, allowing the surrounding ground to be exposed sooner when the water levels drop over the spring/summer months. All the mud I added to the spot would also allow the sinking spot itself to become exposed sooner as well!

I just couldn't believe the cattle situation! I had been a little bit concerned about my sinking spot I widened being a potential threat to cattle, but went with the expansion anyways, based on the limited cattle activity I had seen these past two summers! Last year, after mid August, I only went on two more bikerides, both in mid September, due to cold weather that started in mid August, and seen/heard some cattle only around the marshes south of Nicklen Lake. I never had opportunities to see what went on most of the rest of the time last year.

So this year, when I saw several empty cattle trucks heading down the mountains, I was totally surprised, never having imagined that cattle would be brought up into the mountains so late in the summer! I had hoped that with such a vast area of wilderness, that the chances of cattle being at my one critical area would be low! But then, when I got there, I hadn't seen so many cattle concentrated right around my pond in ages, pushing that entrapment risk I was concerned about into unfamiliar territory! Now, I was extremely worried! Of all the places for the cattle to be, around the area of my pond and nowhere else along the way! :X I just hoped that there wouldn't be any more trucks bringing cattle into the mountains to add to the numbers around the Crescent Road pond! In fact, I hoped that the cattle that were there already would disperse to other places, reducing the bovine population density around the Crescent Road pond to something less worrisome!

The temperature for Vernon hit 32˚C, or 90˚F, while the Environment Canada official temperature for Vernon was 34˚C, or 93˚F. The temperature at the Elkhart Lodge (Paradise Lake), my gauge for high elevation weather, was 26˚C, or 79˚F, not too bad for high elevation sinking. But, due to me working so long in the afternoon and being exposed to cooler water in the area where I was excavating the mud, I couldn't get warmed up enough for any underbog sinks. Perhaps I should have gone biking briefly, which would have warmed me up nicely. But it was an enjoyable day, and I did raise the mud level a fair bit, although I wondered if I should have done it even more. All the activity did give me sore shoulders, but other than that, everything was okay. No leg cramps this time to give me trouble!

So, I was looking forward to my next bikeride, where I would be adding the mats of vegetation to the edges of my sinking spot as I already mentioned. The sunny stretch was still going to last for several more days and I wanted to take advantage of it while I could, although I felt I was pushing things a bit. But, after the end of this stretch, I was uncertain whether things would get this nice again this season, this late in the summer. If there was another warm stretch to come later on, it would likely fall during the approaching hunting season in September! So, I couldn't wait to go on my next adventure real soon!

[Boggy Man]

Adv #19: Sinking On "Empty"!

Since my last bikeride, I had been deeply bothered about the presence of cattle around my bog. I just hoped none would stumble in, since I didn't want any animal to come to any harm because of something I did! Also, after any rescue of any trapped animals, the mud level would be lower, resulting in the need for more mud to be added on top. I just hoped that the concentration of cattle around the pond was just temporary, and that they would move on to countless other places in the wilderness. So, my fingers were crossed in hopes that things would look better on my next bikeride.

According to the weather forecast, the sunny, hot dry weather we had been enjoying was coming to an end after Monday, August 31'st. I also noticed that on Tuesday, September 1'st, that Hunting Season was open for deer for people under 18, and general bow and arrow season would also be open for deer! So, it looked like I had no choice but to go on Monday, August 31'st, only 3 days after my previous bikeride, a day which could possibly be my last chance for an underbog adventure, if we didn't get any more warm weather after this stretch ended. The forecast for that day was for sunny skies and a high of 30˚C, or 86˚F, with a risk of thundershowers in the evening. I felt that it was going to be just as hot as it was on my last bikeride, and just couldn't wait!

While it had been sunny for the past while, on the day before my bikeride, I woke up to see the valley all socked in with smoke! It blotted out the mountains, kept the sky milky, and caused our temperatures to fall way short of their forecast mark, 28˚C or 82˚F, instead of 34˚C or 93˚F for that previous day! I was very concerned about the impact it would have on the mud and cleanup water temperature! I just hoped that the day of my bikeride would see the smoke cleared out!

When I got up in the morning of Monday, August 31'st, everything was still all hazy. I just hoped that in the mountains things would be clearer, because I wanted to have an underbog sink at the Edwin Lakes area pond with my pvc pipe breathing tube, and an underbog sink at my Crescent Road pond using my breathing hose there for the first time, trying to sink down really deep! But, before that underbog sink there, I needed to add some mats of weeds on top of the low spots on the outer fringe of my sinking spot, so that the entire outer rim of the bog would be raised to prevent any mud from expanding and washing away. It would also isolate the bog from the water earlier in the season.

My dad was willing to take me up into the mountains again if I gave up on hoping for a camping trip to Sugar Lake this year, but I had already lost hope once we got this late in the season. So, my dad drove me up into the mountains, taking my little nephew along for the ride. I was dropped off in the mountains and was on my way at around 9:32 am!

When I turned onto Edwin Lake road towards my first destination, the Edwin Lakes area pond, I noticed a small clump of shaggy mane mushrooms on the south side of the road, the first ones of the season! They probably popped up there because they were in a cool spot due to nearby Duteau Creek. A little bit further up Edwin Lake road, I had to remove a couple of jackets as I started to overheat, a promising sign!

I dropped my bike off down the trail leading down to the area some time around 10 am, and decided that before having my underbog sink, I would make like a bear and take a dump in the woods, so I wouldn't be uncomfortable. I wet some toilet paper (used for extra cleanliness) in the hidden pond west of the main pond, again noticing the waist to chest deep mud exposed in the southeastern part, which I knew was choked with yellow waterlily tubers and submerged logs. I then headed up the hill to my designated "rest area", and took care of business. I then returned to my things and grabbed my bottle of Kool-Aid, breathing tube and swim goggles, and headed down to the pond, walking clockwise from the west side to the east side.

I had purposely planned on leaving home a little bit later, and also to get some other "business" taken care of in the bush first to allow the sun more time to warm things up, since I wanted it to be warmer than last time so that I could start with an underbog sink with less problems with chills. But, even though I started later, the haze from the smoke seemed to filter the sun a bit, making me concerned about whether any possible temperature gains from my delay could be cancelled out.

My sinking spot looked thicker than last time, but with some extremely tiny pockets of water in the center, where I had sunk last time, which would easily be eliminated with a quick sweep of my hands. I set my things down south of the streambed, got undressed, and set my clothes amongst a small bush, since the grass still had some dampness from morning dew. I think it was some time around 11 am. I took off my glasses and put my swim goggles on my forehead, grabbed my breathing tube, and was almost ready to begin!

I first headed over to the pond at the stream entrance to check on the water to see if it was mild enough for cleanup afterward, sinking up around or past my knees in the muddy shoreline before the water. It felt cool, but not too bad, and would feel relatively "warm" once I got out of the mud feeling chilled. I then headed over to the east side of my sinking spot, deciding to face northwest, away from the sun, and was ready to begin feeding myself to the hungry bog!

I took a large step forward, landing around knee-deep, on the southeast edge of where I had sunk last time with loosened muck, with the thicker undisturbed muck at my rear. The mire started to fart swamp gas as it slowly began to suck my legs in, the surface of the thick mire bending down around me. I savoured the sink, letting it slowly rise up my legs, with me making only subtle movements, with more swamp gas farting out of the thick, doughy, hungry mire. I moved my feet, and the voracious bog would suck me down faster towards my "demise"!

The gulping doughy mire rose up to my crotch, and continued to climb up my body, as I slowly struggled and swayed in the thick ooze, which had some jellylike movement. I had swept the water away from the center, spreading and smearing it around the surface to make it disappear into the surface mud. I continued to struggle, feeling bubbles of swamp gas rising up along the submerged part of my body to the surface and then farting between me and the mud, the undulating surface slowly rising higher up my stomach and chest. I would push down lightly on the surface around me, pretending to be trying to get out, without luck!

Once the voracious ooze reached my armpits, I was then digging my feet into the stiffer stuff that hadn't been loosened, which was now only a bit thicker than the stuff above it, with the mud in general being all thick bottomless ooze! Keeping my hands above the surface to keep them clean (wanted to touch my swim goggles with clean hands later), I had to work my elbows down into the mire, which swallowed most of my arms. With most of my arms below the surface, I was able to use them to help me pull myself down deeper as I continued to dig my feet deeper into the thicker stuff below, with more swamp gas still rising, even from way down around my feet, up along my body, to fart some more at the surface. I constantly made certain my breathing tube was within reach so that I could easily grab it when I needed it.

The doughy muck slowly rose over my shoulders, and then closed over them, making sucking noises once my shoulders were trapped! With my shoulders under the surface, I was able to make digging motions with them, which helped to suck me down even deeper as well, the mire rising up my neck, and up to my chin!

Struggling in the doughy grip of the gulping mire, I had to start tilting my head back as the sucking muck started to rise up my mouth and nose. Then, I finally used my clean hands to move my swim goggles down to over my eyes. So finally, I was able to let the voracious ooze suck my hands down into its thick, doughy clutches! Now I could work myself down deeper with my hands, while also digging down with my feet, and making digging motions with my shoulders.

The mire rose up around the sides of my upturned head, and began to rise up around the outside of my face, billowing above. I had to keep moving my head further back to keep my mouth in the open gap, whose sides were slowly billowing inwards, closer and closer together! I grabbed the breathing tube, and after wiping some mud from my mouth, finally put it in, and continued to help the voracious bog gulp down its meal, with the gap over my head continuing to slowly shrink smaller and smaller. I was concerned about the pressure the mire was exerting on my swim goggles, because it felt like the thick mud was trying to push them off my eyes as I moved. I just continued to be careful, and continued to work myself down deeper into the doughy morass! I was inhaling through the pipe and exhaling through my nose, watching the gap eventually close into a crack which kept on opening during my exhales through my nose and closing during my inhales through the tube, until it finally remained closed shut "for good", during my inhales and exhales!

I was now totally enclosed in darkness, with thick doughy mud pressing all around me, totally swallowed up by a voracious bog, "stuck" within its "bowels"! I inhaled through the breathing tube, and when I exhaled through my nose, the exhaled air made a rushing sound. I tried working myself down a little bit deeper, but I was very careful, because it felt like the mud was trying to suck/push my swim goggles off my face when I tried pulling my head deeper down. So, I didn't go too far under, and then lingered there, content that the thick mud was holding the pvc pipe up okay without needing to hold onto it with one of my hands. The only thing you would see is a pvc pipe sticking out of a moving patch of mire that would be constantly farting out my exhaled air!

I lingered and struggled beneath the surface, savouring the experience of being totally encased in deep, doughy organic muck, the breathing tube being the only thing keeping me from suffocating! I could feel the thick mire holding me down when I tried moving my head up, with the muck responding with a "rubbery" resistance. The air I exhaled continued to make a rushing sound, and I wasn't certain whether my nose was submerged or not. So, on several occasions, I tried inhaling lightly through my nose, only to find nothing coming in, meaning my nose was indeed submerged within the grip of the thick doughy ooze, which was too thick to inhale. I sometimes held the pvc pipe in my teeth, and sometimes in my lips, and noticed that it seemed to slide back down into my mouth easily when I had it pushed up a little. I noticed that some mud or water seemed to have been oozing into my left ear, since I could hear the tone change.

After a while, I was starting to feel on the cool side, and felt like I had spent enough time sucked under the bog. So, I began to slowly work myself up, working each foot up and then wiggling my upper body and head up, but gently, so as not to dislodge my swim goggles. I kept on repeating the working up of my feet and wiggling up of my upper body and head, until the breathing tube fell forward, and then the darkness over my face cracked open to reveal light! I wiped the mud from the swim goggles, and moved the breathing tube away. My face was now free of the suffocating ooze!

I then began to struggle around face deep in the thick mire, and found that for some reason I kept on having trouble catching my breath! I felt like I was extremely out of shape! I kept on struggling for stimulation, but kept finding myself too breathless to do it. I eventually had to work myself higher, before struggling some more, my vision of the undulating surface of the gulping muck clouded by condensation inside the swim goggles. The mire felt sooooo gooooooood, although I found that my struggling was making me feel unusually exhausted! As I continued to work myself a little bit higher, my shoulders broke the surface, and I shook the mud off of them. I finally lifted my swim goggles back up to my forehead so that I could see better, and continued to struggle a bit more.

Since my bladder was feeling a bit full, I decided to make my escape, working each foot higher and then wiggling my upper body higher. I repeated the process, until my waist finally rose to the surface, at which point I sat back and worked my legs out, pushing the mud off them. I then crawled out of the bog, headed to the willows to the east and relieved myself.

I wasn't finished sinking there just yet! I returned to the bog, and decided to step into the spot I sunk into on my last adventure, facing east. So, from the west side, I jumped back in, and began to struggle in the softer ooze that quivered like jelly. I began to push down on the surface around me as it swallowed my crotch and stomach, imagining that I had stepped into deadly quicksand, the thicker mire to the sides easily sucking down my hands each time I pushed down! I kept on struggling, pretending to be trying to keep from sinking any deeper, only to feel it sway, jiggle, and give way beneath me, sucking me down deeper into it, towards my chest! The feel of it, the way it jiggled and gave way beneath my feet in a jellylike fashion, the sight of it around me, swallowing me, imagining that I was slowly being sucked to my death, raised my stimulation to convulsions of ecstasy!

Now I was ready to extract myself for cleanup, which I worried might be a bit more awkward and uncomfortable, due to the mud on my upper body and head drying up, making it more work to remove the mud, and making those areas warmer. In fact, I had felt some dried mud cracking and falling from my head. I worked my feet and body up, sat back, and worked my legs and feet out, pushing any mud off my skin as I escaped the bog's grip. Once out, I crawled over to the east side, and proceeded to try levelling the mud by pushing down on it from the sides to remove the depression in the middle where I had extracted myself from.

I grabbed my breathing tube and headed to the water. I decided to set the swim goggles and breathing tube into an isolated pool of water in the mucky streambed while I did the cleanup, noticing some frogs hopping around. The water felt cool, since I had partially warmed myself in the sun with the drying mud on my skin. That made the cleanup a bit uncomfortable, but I did it in sections. First, I did my head - face, hair, ears and neck, and then I did my arms and chest. I let myself dry a bit to warm up before doing my back, which was the most awkward, since it was hard to reach the area between my shoulder blades. I then made my way to the shore, and cleaned off my legs amongst the yellow waterlilies south of a clump of willows south of where the stream entered the pond. I also cleaned my breathing tube and swim goggles, hanging the swim goggles on a branch near my things.

While air drying, I noticed that it was some time around 1 pm, and decided that since I was feeling warm again, that perhaps I could try for one more stimulating sink here, since the underbog sink at the Crescent Road pond wasn't going to be extensively long, and I wanted the air temperature to be at its peak. I figured that this sink and cleanup would only take half an hour.

So, this time with glasses on, I stepped back into the same spot that had swallowed me whole earlier in the day! The mire slowly sucked me back down, and I struggled and struggled, imagining that I was slowly being sucked to my death! But, once again, I found that each time I tried struggling, I would get extremely exhausted! What was happening to me????!!!! I used to be able to struggle like crazy like that before without feeling sooo wiped out! I also found my mouth becoming unusually dry as well! But, while I found the struggling in the slowly rising doughy mire excessively exhausting, the mire felt sooooo comfortable, since it had already been pre-warmed from my body heat from my earlier sink. I loved the doughy, slimy feel of it, and also a slight coarseness that was smoothed out by the sliminess. So, I struggled and then lingered to rest, struggled, rested, the mire slowly rising up to my shoulders, neck and chin. Then, while struggling, imagining that I was slowly being sucked down to my death in the slimy bog, the feel of it around me, the sight of it undulating hungrily, my stimulation rose to the bursting point again, but not as strong as before due to the extreme exhaustion I was currently feeling.

Now, I worked myself back out again by working my feet up with my upper body following until my waist was at the surface, at which point I sat back, extracted my legs and feet, all the time pushing off mud from my skin, and moved to the east side, where I then pushed down on the mud all around the east and south sides to flatten it nicely.

I headed back to the pond, but since I had just come out of the mud after being up to my chin in it, I was able to lay back until I was immersed in the water to my neck. It still took a moment for me to get accustomed to the cool water, but at least I was able to clean myself off more quickly. I returned to shore, where I then finished off my legs amongst the yellow waterlilies south of the clump of willows south of where the stream entered the pond. I then air-dried and got dressed. It was already around 2 pm, a bit later than I had thought!

I returned to my bike, put my things away, and was off to my next destination, the Crescent Road pond! There, I had to lay down some mats of vegetation around the low spots around the outer edge of my newly enhanced sinking spot, followed by an underbog sink in the thick side to loosen it better deeper down, something I was looking forward to quite intensely! On the way, I snacked on two Pizza minis that I had put together like a sandwich, since I was short on Pizza Pops. I was also keeping an eye on some convective clouds to the southeast that had been building, since there was talk about possible thundershowers. I stopped when I saw a large "checkerboard" garter snake on the road. Not wanting it to get run over by a car or truck, I touched it. It retracted its tail, and then it coiled up. I then disturbed it again, and it took off down the side of the road, no longer in danger of being run over.

I couldn't get over how wasted I felt going uphill, and started to wonder if I was in good enough condition for another underbog sink and struggle. I wondered if it was because I had gone biking too soon after my previous one, and hadn't fully recovered yet from that day's activities. But, I figured that it must have been a lack of food that made me feel so easily exhausted, since I went until around mid-afternoon before having lunch. I hoped that the food eaten on the way to the Crescent Road pond would help me feel better, and I also had to drink a lot of Kool-Aid, since I was a lot thirstier than usual. After eating the two Pizza Mini's, I also ate two chocolate chunk cookies for additional energy.

On my way, I was still soooo concerned about the cattle at the pond last time, and hoped that there weren't any stuck in my bog, or in the soft mud in any other part of the pond. When I turned onto the sideroad that led to the pond, I was happy to see no cattle! When I reached the trail that led past the north side of the Crescent Road pond, where I had to walk my bike to drop it off, I was really happy to see that the cattle were gone! It looked like they had moved on to other areas, which meant that they weren't going to be spending all their time in this "hazardous" area! But, I had noticed that it was already some time around 3:30 pm, half an hour later than I had hoped!

I dropped off my bike by some trees, got out my Kool-Aid, breathing tube (in case I decided to try it out as well), and my swim goggles to protect my eyes from the mud. I then headed down to the pond and dropped the things off in the grass north of the pond at the cattle path briefly while I retrieved my breathing hose from the north side of an old beaver lodge hidden amongst alders on the east side of the northern portion of the pond, where I had hidden it last time. I then picked up my things and headed to my newly enhanced sinking spot in the grass midways down the western shoreline of the pond. From the time I went up the sideroad, up to the time I headed over to the sinking spot, I kept on listening for any cows mooing that might have been in distress, but didn't really hear anything.

When I got to my sinking spot, I was relieved to see that it was undisturbed, with no stuck animals! On the southwest side, I did see some slight impressions that looked like perhaps some animal might have tested the edge, and backed off (calf perhaps). So, that was a tremendous weight lifted off of me, especially since it looked like the area wouldn't be crowded with cattle all the time, and they likely broke up into smaller groups, and scattered themselves all over the wilderness. I just hoped that they wouldn't visit this pond too frequently.

I set my things down in the usual spot to the west, but had to be careful because the cattle had left behind some cowpies where I usually walked there. I got undressed, and was all ready to begin my first task, laying mats of vegetation on the low spots on the north, east and south sides of the ground around the sinking spot. That way, the raised mud wouldn't wash away into the lower areas. I had noticed that the new top layer of mud I added had thickened a bit, shrinking slightly, but was still a fair bit higher, above the level of the lower parts of the surrounding edges. It looked soooooo inviting that I just couldn't wait to jump in, but I had to get my task done first.

I looked around briefly, and checked out the water that was in the spot where I dug the mud from last time, finding it warm on top but cool underneath. Perhaps not the best for major cleanup. After further inspection of prospective mats of peat/vegetation, I finally decided that the fragile mats of tiny grasslike rushes along the edge of the pond would be the easiest to tear away and move.

So, I first went to the edge to the northeast of my sinking spot, picked out a patch, and proceeded to separate a strip from the rest by using my hands to tear the roots from the surrounding mat of vegetation. I then began to drag the heavy muddy slab of vegetation and roots over to the north end of my sinking spot, where I deposited it in a low spot. During the work, I found that even just a tiny bit of exertion seemed to be making me feel more exhausted than it should have! I was starting to wonder if I hadn't given my lunch enough time to give me energy yet, or if it was another cause that was making me so easily wasted. But, I just took it easy, and separated slab after slab of tiny grasslike rushes, dragging or tossing them over towards my sinking spot, before finally moving them into place.

I gradually surrounded the low spots on the north, east and south sides, but noticed that it didn't look natural. So, I proceeded to separate more slabs of the grasslike fine mini-rushes from the edge of the shoreline and position them around the outside of the other slabs around my sinking spot. By widening the band of newly placed mats of vegetation around my sinking spot, the outer edges of the band could be smoothed down to merge with the surroundings. I had switched over to the area east-southeast of my sinking area for more of the mats of vegetation, and finally got myself a realistic-looking margin of raised vegetation around my sinking spot. I had also smoothed out the animal prints on the southwestern edge of the bog earlier.

I wandered if I should have used dead root mats instead of live ones, since root mats with live plants could start to encroach on my sinking spot. But I figured that they would be easy to control, since it only required mushing up the surface, and the plants that get pushed under would become "digested" by the bog and add to the swamp gas the mire would belch up when it sucks down a victim! But, finally, I was done with my bog expansion/enhancement project!

I was now ready to begin my underbog sink! But, when I checked my watch, it was already around 4 pm, and the first shadow of a tall tree was already mostly past the bog! I only had around half an hour to do my sink, since I wanted to do my cleanup at 4:30 so that I could leave at 5 pm. I took off my glasses, put my swim goggles on my forehead, picked up my breathing hose, which I just couldn't wait to try out for the first time here, and headed over to my sinking spot! I set the hose on the northwest side, with the plan to sink close to the west end, facing west, to make that thickest spot looser deeper down. So, I was now ready to begin!

Standing on the south side, I jumped in, twisting to my left in the air to land in facing west, a couple of feet from the western edge. I sunk to around my stomach in the thick creamy ooze and began to struggle, slowly sinking deeper and deeper into the gooey muck, keeping my hands above the mud because I didn't want to get them muddy until after I put my swim goggles on.

The clouds to the southeast and east had been rumbling over the past while, which worried me, but wouldn't you know it, just when it was time to sink, a cloud to the south just had to cover the sun, cutting off the warmth that it had been supplying! First, it was the smoky haze filtering the sun to slightly hinder the heating of the air, mud and water, and now, just when I needed the sun the most, it was gone! So, the surface of the mud wasn't heated as much as it would have been on a smoke-free day, and now there wasn't any further direct solar heating to keep my head warm until I submerged!

Regardless of the disappearance of the sun, I continued to work myself deeper into the wonderful-feeling ooze, the quivering surface slowly rising up my chest and to my shoulders. I then slowly let my elbows sink into the thick creamy softness, the surface giving way, and bulging around and over my arms, closing shut over them, my hands still above the surface. I periodically made certain the breathing hose was within easy reach, but as the voracious ooze closed over my shoulders, I began to have doubts about going completely under, since at this late time in the season, things weren't heating up as much, the smoke reduced the heating even further, and now the clouds blocked the sun, leaving only the air itself to supply the heat, which wasn't quite enough! So, I just plunged my hands into the mire and began to struggle neck deep in the thick sticky goo, enjoying the feel of it up to my neck.

I realized that the unworked stuff deeper down wasn't really stiff at all, and it was easy to just push my feet down into it deeper and deeper. However, it would still have been nice to mush it up so that it might expand more easily when the higher water levels flooded over top during any heavy enough fall rains/snowfall-melt, or spring thaw runoff.

I struggled in the gooey ooze, but realized that in order for it to be more "stimulating", I would have to be further away from the edge, although I did try to imagine that I was sinking to my death with something solid in such close proximity! The undulating action of the bog helped with the visual aspect, but it was limited, since I was so close to the edge, and it was thicker there. But, when I struggled and looked behind me, I could see the entire patch there undulating, which was a wonderful sight to behold!

While enjoying my sink, I suddenly heard the sound of a helicopter! I remembered how quickly the last one almost snuck up on me, and didn't want to take any chances! I quickly worked my feet up higher and straightened out while pushing down with my hands, worked my feet up again and straightened out while pushing down with my hands, each time working myself higher and higher, pushing the sticky mud off my body as I went, until I was able to pull myself out of the mire, wiping the mud from the rest of me into the bog. But, by the time I was out and ready to dash into the alders to the west, the sound of the helicopter was gone! I was relieved!

I felt like getting back in, so this time I headed over to the north side and jumped into the middle, facing south, landing past my waist in the soft ooze! I then began to struggle and sink, the voracious creamy goo undulating and heaving around me. I pushed my hands down into the ooze around me, mushing up the surface into a nice, creamy consistency.

It felt cool at first as it rose higher up my body, but quickly warmed up to me because it was nice and thick. The surface of the doughy muck would give way when I pushed my hands and arms down into it, and would cling thickly to them when I lifted them up. There was no solid bottom beneath my feet, and the solid ground was out of reach. Nothing within reach except for deep, bottomless, sticky, creamy quagmire that slowly sucked me down deeper and deeper, until I once again reached my neck!

I heard the pitter-patter of raindrops from the cloud that was breaking up, but didn't feel any on me. It didn't last long, and so wasn't of concern, although the lack of sunshine was a bit of a problem. But, I just continued to struggle and churn the mud, loving the feel of it surrounding most of my body, knowing that it had the potential to suck me down soooo deep that my body would be unrecoverable!

I finally decided to get ready to extract myself, but first I wanted to head to the softer east side for one more attempt at struggling for stimulation. So, in the gooey grip of the soft, clinging mire, I once again squatted and crouched, raising my legs and feet while pushing down with my hands, and then straightening my body up while pushing down with my hands some more, and repeated it until I was high enough to begin fighting my way over to the east end, pulling some mud from in front of me to behind me, and also wiggling through it, until I could feel the mire beneath my feet get softer.

I struggled and mushed up the surface around me, sinking down again, but still couldn't get fully stimulated, probably because I had spent too much time in the voracious ooze without any warm sunshine, and had eventually chilled my body too much. It was a shame I felt too cool to go under, because the way the gooey mud indented deeply when I pushed my hands down into it was quite captivating, and I would have just loved to have it happen to my upturned face! But, it was getting late, and I had to get out and get cleaned up.

So, I once again lifted my feet and straightened my body while pushing down with my hands, and repeated it until I was higher. I floundered around that end a bit, to enjoy the experience of "being stuck in its grip", before finally reaching for a tuft of grass on the east side and dragging myself out, pushing the mud from my body back into the bog as I went. Then, I was finally free of the voracious ooze!

While I had been struggling in the mud, I had discovered that I was feeling stronger, with more energy! I seemed to have finally gotten my energy back! I thought it might have been from the cooling effect of the bog, although I was feeling cool in the bog at the Edwin Lakes area pond and was quite played out then. Perhaps the energy from my late lunch had finally kicked in! I was happy that I felt much stronger, more "normal" again!

I headed over to the water to the northeast of the sinking area, where the mat of tiny grasslike rushes would sag underneath my weight and water would flood in, allowing me to clean myself from the top down. I had to wait for sediment to settle, also trying to swish clearer water towards me to clean up better. I then finished the cleanup on the edge of the pond southeast of my sinking area, eventually heading out a tiny ways into the pond, to sit on a yellow waterlily rhizome and clean up better. During my cleanup, the clouds had finally moved off, and the sun was once again shining brightly! WHERE WAS THE SUN WHEN I NEEDED IT???? I headed over to the patch of water where I had dug the mud from, north of my sinking spot, and found it sufficient for finishing cleaning myself from my legs and buttocks down.

I had planned on air-drying, but it was already around 5 pm! I should have been on my bike by then! But, my upper body was already dry so I got dressed, put my swim goggles back into its package and bag, gathered up my things, and headed back to the north side of the pond, where I dropped my things off briefly to return my unused breathing hose back to its new hiding spot on the north side of a beaver lodge under the alders. I put my things away on my bike, and was on my way some before 5:30 pm, a bit later than I had expected, finding myself once again itchy for a while where my clothes rubbed against me.

I snacked on my last Pizza Pop, had a granola bar, and the remaining 2 chocolate chunk cookies. I saw some other garter snakes along the way. I watched clouds slowly moving in from the south, and as I got closer to home, kept an eye on one new cloud that was developing overhead. I got home at around 8:03 pm, just as it was starting to get darker, and after walking around the yard, I went into the house. Just shortly after, it began pouring rain, meaning that I had gotten home just in time!

I couldn't believe how tired I was for the earlier part of my bikeride! I kept on trying to think of things that could have caused my unusual exhaustion. I was thinking that perhaps it was inhaling smoke for 2 days that may have contributed to my exhaustion. On the other hand, it could have been me overdoing it with my frequent biking recently, which was getting even closer together yet. But, the most likely cause was just too much intense activity while my body was running on just breakfast eaten many hours earlier. At home, I found my neck muscles sore from the exercise they got from the vertical submergence sink, which was something to be expected.

The temperature in Vernon that day hit 31.4˚C, or 88.5˚F, while at the Elkhart Lodge (Paradise Lake), my gauge for high elevation weather, they hit 27˚C, or 80.6˚F, verifying that it was a very nice day for sinking in the mountains.

On the next day, there were thundershowers up in the mountains in the afternoon, and then over our place in the early evening. I wished I could have returned Wednesday, September 2'nd, when the weather did improve again briefly, but it would have been too soon, and too early in the hunting season, with young hunters and hunters with bows and arrows possibly making a mad rush into the woods, since they have waited around a year for this!

With my Crescent Road pond sinking spot being the best it has been in years, it was such a shame my camera was out of commission, since I would have loved to have captured pix/videos of it, especially in its new, improved larger state!

In the latter part of the week, things turned more unsettled and cooler, in the low 20's (high 60's to low 70's), perhaps even the high teens (low to upper 60's) instead of the high 20's to low to mid 30's (80's to mid 90's) that we had been experiencing. I didn't know if we were going to get another warm spell, but I figured that the sun's strength and the number of daylight hours by then might be insufficient to make the mud and cleanup water warm enough for submersions.

Hopefully, as my season comes to an end, the water level will eventually rise and the bog will submerge and then slowly expand through next spring. Then, in early summer, I might be able to loosen it nicely to try and make its thickness more homogeneous from the east to west sides. I would have to find a way to properly insulate myself for that time, since the mud starts off so cold early in the season. It would be great if I could get it nice and soft deeper down all the way across the open mud patch, so that it could suck you down to your shoulders without the extra resistance from hitting thicker (but still very soft) unworked stuff below.

I was wishing that I could have another chance at sinking, since the Crescent Road pond mud was finally in the dreamlike state that I had waited for, the best in many, many years! I would just have to cross my fingers, and wait and see!

[bluemooone]

omg omg omg lol just wow