After my last bikeride on Monday, August 31'st, the cooler weather moved in a few days later, and lasted for around a week, making me concerned about the loss of heat from the bogs and cleanup water, something that would be impossible to get back at this time.
But, the unsettled weather did take care of the forest fire situation, and the annoying smoke was finally gone! 
I was hoping that warmer weather would return before Thursday, September 10'th, because it was the first day of HUNTING SEASON for people of all ages! 
But, as luck would have it, it stayed cold right up until the 9'th, with the sunshine not returning until the 10'th, for the first time in around a week! 
I didn't want to go into the mountains at that time, since there could be a rush of hunters of all ages into the mountains, who have been waiting many months to shoot at things! The weather was also just in the process of warming up, so I needed to wait a few days for the heat to build up, anyways (mostly the air, but the water/mud could still get a thin warm layer on top of the colder stuff). But, a few days later was the weekend, the FIRST hunting season weekend, when many people are off work, and therefore, there would definitely be much more hunting activity going on in the woods! So, I decided to wait until after that weekend, since the initial rush would be over. 
On Saturday, September 12'th, I saw a water bomber fly overhead to a new fire to the north, possibly started by hunters, making me concerned about smoke spoiling the clear blue skies we finally started to get, and cooling the mud and cleanup water.
But it was a small fire, and they likely put it out quickly, since I never heard anything about it on the news. 
On Sunday, September 13'th, it was a hotter day, but the skies were a milky blue from smoke from a different forest fire! It really concerned me, since I wanted maximum solar strength to heat the water and mud, since the days have been getting so much shorter and the sun getting lower in the sky.I prepared for my bikeride Sunday night, hoping for clear skies and hot temperatures Monday, September 14'th. On that day, my parents were leaving to Kamloops for a bus tour the following day, heading to an air show in Reno, Nevada for a week. So, I had the house to myself, and if my cleanup wasn't complete from cleanup water being too cold and uncomfortable, there would be no one else at home to see me!
When I got up early on Monday, September 14'th, I was disappointed to see that while it was clear, there was a band of high clouds moving up from the south, which were going to filter the sun!
So, I decided to postpone the bikeride and stay home, happy about the record heat that BC was experiencing! I got up on Tuesday, September 15'th, and it was once again clear, but once again, another band of high clouds were moving in from the southwest, and so I once again postponed my trip! I wanted nothing to reduce the intensity of the sun during my sinking, since at this time of the year, every BTU we could get from the sun was precious!During my extended wait for my bikeride, I kept on trying to get my digital camera to work, but still to no avail.
Some sort of mechanical malfunction in the lens system would not resolve itself! After looking at other cameras and checking out reviews, I finally decided not to rush into one just to get pictures/videos of me sinking into my newly enhanced pit at the Crescent Road pond. If things didn't turn out, then I would have gotten a lesser camera too soon, when I could have waited for a better one. My mom took her digital camera with her to Reno, so there weren't any working digital cameras in the house for me to use. But then, it suddenly hit me!
I DID have a digital camera! It was built into my dad's cell phone that he had left me to call anyone if I was away from home and in trouble! It had bluetooth, and my IMac had bluetooth, and so I figured that I could take pictures with the cell phone's camera, and then transfer it to my computer via bluetooth! 
It was a shame, though, that it wasn't able to capture videos. But still, I was happy that I could at least take photos of the mudpit to show off the changes I had made to it! Finally, on Wednesday, September 16'th, I got up, and the sky was clear!
There was a cold front expected to move in come the late evening, so this was my last chance at taking advantage of the latest spell of unseasonably warm weather! The forecast was calling for sunshine with a high of somewhere around 29˚C, or 84˚F, while our normal highs for this time of year were usually around 19˚C, or 66˚F!I left home at 7:42 am, and hoped that I didn't lose any fitness after going for 16 days without biking.
But, up to that point, I was going every 4 days, and then 3 days. So, hopefully, I had built up enough fitness to still retain some of it for this adventure! My plan was to see if a submersion was feasible at the Crescent Road pond, since I was going to target that area first, and would therefore sink during the middle of the day, since it was going to take me longer to get there since I had to bike all the way this time. If I didn't get my head cleaned well enough there due to colder water, then after my following planned sink at the Edwin Lakes area pond, I would hopefully be able to clean my head better there.
Since my parents were away, there would be no one at home to spot anything I had missed! As I headed up into the mountains, I started to notice how much my legs were aching, and I hoped that my knees would remain free of pain, something that hit me hard the previous year around that time. I noticed that there was a high band of hazy smoke to the southeast that got closer and overhead which concerned me, but it seemed to have dissipated as the day went on.
When I made it up the climbs, I was happy that I never had any of that dreaded knee pain, although my legs felt a bit tired.On the way up, I saw logging trucks, and also some Coldstream Ranch trucks with cattle trailers still heading uphill with cattle!
I had thought that they were finished moving cattle into the mountains, and after the first batch dissipated at my pond, I was feeling relieved. But now, I was starting to worry again, since I didn't know how many trucks of cattle have been heading up into the mountains over the past few weeks! I just hoped that none got stuck in my bog! I snacked on two Pizza Pops on the way, and turned onto Crescent Road, noticing how my legs were definitely feeling weak!
I guess that my legs had lost their conditioning, since I had gone for 16 days between bikerides, and even longer between bikerides where I biked up into the mountains on my own, thanks to my dad giving me rides past the main climb! I just hoped that I wouldn't suffer any leg cramps during my sinks, something that could really spoil the sinking fun! I saw a small garter snake on the road, and when I stopped and approached it, it quickly took off into the vegetation, where it would be safer.I reached the sideroad to the Crescent Road pond(s), and hoped that there wouldn't be any cattle in the area to get stuck in the muck. I crossed the dried-up stream that flowed southward to the east pond, and I was thinking about how I had never checked out the source of that stream, something which I should do sometime. In fact, if I was to decide to spend this entire day at the Crescent Road pond and not bother with the Edwin Lakes area pond, then perhaps I could spend some time exploring it.
I walked my bike down the sidetrail and set it down beside some bushes which would hopefully provide shade, at 12:30 pm. While the winds had been light all along, I noticed that it seemed to suddenly increase, according to the sound of it rustling the leaves in the trees. I was very happy to see no cattle in the area!
I got out my breathing tube in case I decided to use it instead of the breathing hose, my swim goggles to protect my eyes in case I did go under, a bottle of Kool-Aid, and my dad's cell phone. I put my things into a plastic bag, the phone in my left pocket, and I was on my way to the pond, noticing how the grass beside the alders was cut short by grazing by the "lawn mooers".I set my bag of stuff down in the grass on a cattle path north of the pond, and headed to the old beaver lodge on the east side of the northern portion of the pond to retrieve my breathing hose. I was happy to see that the mud was still exposed on the north side, and it looked like it had less water on top than last time, meaning that the water level probably dropped since last time.
I grabbed the hose, returned to my things north of the pond, and continued southward to my sinking spot midway down the western shore.When I got to the area, my enhanced bog really stood out as an almost circular patch of dark bare ground amongst the surrounding grass and flat layer of dead vegetation, likely died from being previously covered with water! No cattle were stuck in it, although I did notice some small animal made some tiny tracks on the surface (too light to sink). I couldn't resist jumping on the ground around the outside of the bog, mainly the south, west and north sides, watching the surface undulate. It looked soooooo inviting, and the weather was nice and hot, with the sun out!
I hoped that the cleanup water could be warm enough for me to clean my head, although I wasn't holding my breath. I set my things down in the shade of an alder further back to the west than my old spot I used to keep my things due to a cow pie, and got my things out. I turned on the cell phone, and after looking through all of its various settings, I found out that its built-in camera was already set to maximum resolution, 640x480. I had hoped that it could go higher, but that was as large as it could get. I then headed over to the bog with the cell phone, ready to snap pictures of the bog!
First, I took a picture from the west side, then one from the south side, and then from the north side, with the picture from the north side showing the light reflecting off the surface of the mire, making it lighter. When I went to look at the pictures, I then checked the settings again, and noticed that the "Quality" setting was set to "Normal", so I set it to "Fine", and re-took the pictures from the west, south and north sides, taking 3 pix from the north side, in case I moved the camera while taking the picture.
I found that I had to stand a fair ways back to get the entire sinking spot in the picture, because the lens had a relatively narrow view. Because of that, my original plan of taking a picture of the bog with my shadow over it to show the scale was spoiled because I had to stand so far back that my shadow was a long ways away from the bog. Instead, I carefully set my red hat close to the centre of the bog, since the surface was firm, and took a couple of pictures of that from the south side. I then retrieved my hat, finding that the edge of the visor was a little bit muddy, but not much of a problem.
While to the south of the bog, I had bent my legs a bit, and found that one of my legs started getting cramps!
I had made it all this way without getting any cramps, and had hoped that my day of sinking wouldn't be spoiled by them. I just hoped that I could avoid any further cramps. I was then ready to check out the water, to see if a head cleanup was bearable. But first, since I was going to be around the water's edge, where things would be muddy, and the mat of vegetation was fragile, I decided to strip my clothes first, and leave them with my other things. That way, I would be able to check things out without worrying about making a wrong step and getting my clothes muddy.
I had decided that I wasn't going to try out the area in front of the beaver lodge for cleanup, since it was "leech-central"!
I first checked out the area north and northeast of my sinking spot, starting with the patch of water that was where I had dug out the mud to add to the sinking spot. On my way there, one leg went through the vegetation, meaning it was good that I didn't have any clothes on. The water in that pool was warm on top, but cool deeper down. It was also too shallow for head immersion without stirring up sediment.I checked out the edge of the pond there, with the mat of weeds sagging down under my weight, and the water from the pond pouring in. It felt a bit cool, since the movement of water mixed the colder stuff with warmer stuff, but there was a slight warm layer. However, things were now too cool deeper down for me to head into the pond itself to immerse my head.
I headed to the pond edge southeast of my sinking spot, where the water would also pour over the mat of weeds as it sagged down from my weight. Once again, it was the same as the other spot I had just checked.
Finally, I headed over to the smaller pool on the south end, which was where I had originally planned on going to, anyways. I reached the spot where I often entered/exited, where there was a rocky shore and logs under the water. While the water was quite cold deeper down (my feet were aching where they were in the sediment on the bottom), I noticed that the top 3 inches was actually warm!
That was a nice enough layer for a half-decent cleaning of my head, although a deeper immersion would be uncomfortable. By the time I would be ready for cleanup, the sun should have warmed up an even thicker layer of water on the surface! So, it looked like a submersion was a definite possibility , as long as the mud was comfortable enough! I returned to my bog and things, and noticed that it was 1 pm, roughly the peak of the sun during the day, and I was happy to see that there were no clouds to cover the sun this time!
I removed my hat, put my swim goggles on my head, took off my glasses and put them with my things, grabbed my breathing hose, and headed to the south side of my large patch of pulsating mire. I planned on sinking facing north, so that I wouldn't be staring at the sun as I tilted my head up as I sunk deeper. I was all ready to begin my vertical submergence sink! So, standing on the south side of the bog and with my breathing hose in hand, I jumped northward, landing waist deep in the middle of the dark patch of thick, undulating, farting muck! I then paused for a moment to savour the experience. It was soooo nice and cushiony around my lower body, with the slightly stiffer surface bending down around me and cracking, especially in front of me. I then began to move, the sucking ooze slowly rising up my abdomen. It felt rather comfortable, was thick enough to be able to rise up a ways over my head before pinching shut, and the sun was nice and hot!
Things looked extremely encouraging! I kept my hands and arms above the surface, since I wanted to wait until I put my swim goggles over my eyes before getting my hands muddy. I struggled and swayed around, feeling the thick doughy muck sway with me. Slowly, the thick ooze sucked me down to my chest, as I made digging motions with my feet to help pull me down deeper without the use of my arms. Swamp gas occasionally farted out of the mire around me, which added to the experience. I also noticed some sedge grass seedlings were already starting to sprout on the surface, a sign that Nature was once again trying to cover up the bare mud! I picked some out, but knew that they would be mushed into the mud eventually.
But, the one thing that I had feared suddenly reared its ugly head!
One leg started to tighten and get painful cramps in the thigh, forcing me to wait it out, only to have the other leg develop painful cramps as the first leg got better! I would wait for the cramps to subside, and then as soon as I continued to work myself deeper, the cramps would return in a different muscle in one of my legs! Once that muscle cramp was over, another muscle in the other leg would cramp up! 
It seemed as though every movement I made would result in more painful leg cramps in a different muscle! There would be muscle spasms at first, then painful cramps, and then more muscle spasms in between the painful cramps! It was really slowing down my sinking, and I needed to go under soon, before I started to become chilled! But, each time I tried to make digging motions with my feet to make myself sink even deeper, I would then get hit by more leg cramps in my thighs! I managed to struggle to my armpits, resting my upper arms on the relatively stiffer surface of the mire, which was starting to give way a little. Gradually, as I waited for each new cramp to go away, I began to feel increasingly cooler, and finally decided to forget about going under, since the act of working myself deeper into the soft, thick ooze was too painful. I did some struggling in between the bouts of painful cramps, and slowly worked my upper arms down into the mire, with the thick upper surface curling over them, with me having to pause each time the cramps returned, waiting them out. It was really nice to rock my arms, which then resulted in the entire surface around me rocking as well!
I finally put my hands down on the surface, and let the sucking muck close over my lower part of my arms, before eventually pushing my hands down harder, creating a hand-shaped hole in the stiffer surface, when then slowly closed shut over my hands. Once my arms and hands were under the surface, it was really nice to rock the surface even more with them, moving my body as well to enhance the rocking further. I gradually sunk down to my shoulders, but not over them. I didn't feel like going any deeper, since I took too long to get that deep, losing too much body heat while waiting for each leg cramp to subside, some of which seemed to take forever. Just when I thought there wouldn't be any more muscles to cramp up, another one would seize up.
Some occasional shivering also aggravated the pain in my legs a little. When I did manage to struggle in between cramps, I then felt myself warm up nicely! In fact, I found that the thick, doughy, creamy, cushiony mire warmed up quite nicely around me, making me feel much more comfortable! That is, if it wasn't for the cramps in my thighs that kept on recurring, making me have to suffer through the pain! I did the rocking bit with my arms a few times, and also worked my arms down deeper beneath the surface, with the mire making sucking sounds as the thicker stuff to my right closed over the remaining upper part of my right arm. But, when my arms and hands were pushed down deeper, they were now in contact with colder mud that hadn't been warmed by my body heat yet, which sent chills through my body until it too warmed up to my arms. Then, I was comfortable again.
Each time I felt any chills, a bit of struggling would warm me back up! While struggling up to my shoulders in the wonderful mire, I almost felt tempted to go deeper after all, but decided not to bother. I so badly wanted to struggle a lot more, but the leg cramps would stop me each time. But, the mire felt soooooooo goooooooood, that I just wanted to stay in it and savour the experience, regardless of the pain that kept on seizing my legs!I thought I heard the sound of an ATV
, and so I began to quickly work myself up higher, only to hear nothing afterwards. But, I kept my ears peeled for any sounds, since the last thing I needed was for a hunter to see me! My sinking spot was directly in line with a break in the trees between the two ponds, the easternmost one which had the sideroad on the east side of it! So, anyone coming down that road could see me through the gap in the trees! Perhaps I should consider trying to open a new spot in a more hidden area. Now that I was higher up, I began to struggle more, and proceeded to mush up the mud all around me into a real sticky gooey mess that clung thickly to my arms and hands!
I worked myself up to my stomach, and struggled in the mushed-up quagmire, imagining that I was in deadly quicksand that was inescapable, and that I would eventually get sucked under to my death! I continued to struggle, pushing down on the mire around me, trying to keep from being swallowed alive, the sticky doughy surface undulating hungrily around me, the creamy, doughy feel of it cushioning the parts of me it already swallowed, slowly sucking me down deeper, never to escape, all raising my stimulation up to convulsions of ecstasy! After that, I wasn't finished just yet! After pushing down on the edges of the undisturbed mire to smooth it into the disturbed stuff, I proceeded to work myself out by lifting up my legs and then straightening my body, with me slowly rising up a little bit higher in the ooze. Each time I did that, I would have to hold perfectly still, since any slight movement resulted in me sinking back down, although I did make some movements on purpose!
I then worked myself up to my stomach again, sat back, and worked my legs up, until my thighs were at the surface. But, it was awkward to extract myself since it was so sticky. Instead, I stood up, and sunk back down, but this time a little closer to the north side, since I had moved my legs forward, and was facing northward. I managed to grab onto the grass/weeds on the north side of my patch of sucking ooze, and pulled myself forward. I then began to pull myself out, pushing mud off my skin as I went, turning around to sit on the north side and face south as I extracted each leg and pushed the mud off them, back into the bog. I was then free of the sticky clutches of the sucking bottomless patch of gulping quagmire! I then pushed some of the undisturbed stuff lower to make it level with the disturbed muck, and then couldn't resist laying down on the undisturbed stuff on the south side for a horizontal struggle!
So, facing east, I kneeled down and leaned forward, the thicker surface giving way under my knees and sucking my legs and crotch down. It felt nice and warm on top from the solar heating, which made things more comfortable. As I leaned forward, I pushed my arms into the surface, which closed over them. I then worked my arms straight down and struggled, feeling the thicker surface cradling the front of my abdomen, and licking the sides and back of my rear. But, once again, the leg cramps would rear their ugly head, forcing me to pause my struggling until each one subsided. I felt something itching or tickling me on my abdomen, and I figured that it might have been one of the tiny brown beetles that were crawling around on the surface of the mire, now trapped beneath me.
I loved the feel of the mire, feeling it undulating and pulsating underneath my body as I struggled! I kept on struggling, imagining that I had fallen into deadly quicksand, soon to be swallowed whole. The feel of it was out of this world! But, no full stimulation this time (likely too soon after my last one). It was such a shame that circumstances had prevented me from going under such wonderful goo! I then struggled to move myself to a different part of the bog, finding that the sticky mud was really holding onto my legs, forcing me to fight with it to move, and loving every moment of it as I fought with it and mushed up the surface on that south side!
I then repositioned myself on the east side and faced north, laying down to struggle there horizontally, before sitting back up to let it swallow my legs again.I stood up and proceeded to struggle, mushing the thick surface stuff around me into a sticky mess, and making subtle movements which caused me to sink down a little bit there before struggling myself back higher again, pretending to be trying to get out of this gooey "deathtrap" and "failing", and once again loving every second of it!
I lifted my legs and straightened my body to rise higher, and managed to work myself westward, towards the edge of the first spot I had mushed up, further away from solid ground, to struggle some more! I just didn't want to leave the gooey softness, and the mud was also eager to keep me in its sticky grip! I struggled a bit more, before finally deciding to exit the mire to have a nature break.So, once again, I had to work myself up higher by lifting my legs up and straightening my body, until I was high enough to struggle to the east side. I worked myself out on the east side, pushing the mud off my body as I went, sitting back on the shore, pushing the last of the mud from my legs and feet back into the bog, and then standing on the solid mat of floating weeds! I was once again free of the gooey sticky grip of the bottomless gulping mire!
I cleaned my lower arms and hands in the pool of water north of my sinking spot, where I had dug out the mud before. I then headed to my things and put on my glasses, noticing that it was some time after 3 pm. I then headed a little bit further to the north of my things in the meadow to take the nature break. I knew that this was going to be the only spot I was going to be sinking at today, and that the Edwin Lakes area pond would have to wait for another time. I was then ready for my final bit of sinking!
This time with glasses on to allow me to see things more clearly, I returned to the bog, deciding to have a final horizontal struggle in the last part of undisturbed mud, which was on the west side, where it was the thickest!
Facing north, I worked my knees into the thicker top layer of the mud on the west side, the thick ooze gulping them down and rising up to my crotch! It felt sooooo great, but I realized that the situation would be even better if I had faced east, so that my upper body would be over the first spot I sunk into! So, I repositioned myself, facing east, with the thickest doughy ooze sucking my knees and bent legs back down to my crotch, and beyond! My feet were brushing against the grass on the west edge of the patch of mire while I leaned over forward, pushing my hands down into the soft goo that had been previously mushed up! It felt sooooo great! I struggled vigorously, watching the mire heave and pulsate in front of me, feeling the thicker stuff cradling my crotch, all the mud cushioning the front of my abdomen, my arms swallowed by the voracious ooze with nothing solid to push down on, imagining that I had fallen into deadly quicksand and I was going to be sucked under to my death, just bringing my stimulation once again up to convulsions of ecstasy!
Now it was time to call it quits! I worked myself back out of the sticky quagmire, pushing the mud from my skin back into the bog. I then proceeded to go around and push down the mud around the sides, making the patch bulge up in the center. I also pushed down some lumps, and tried smoothing things out a bit.
Now, it was time for me to get cleaned up! I headed to the south end, only to find that the part of the small pond there that I usually entered was now completely shaded by trees.
So, I chose a spot further to the east, where it was still in the sun, with a submerged log to sit on just a few inches below the water. I cleaned my arms, then my front, doing things slowly and systematically, since I was feeling chilled, especially from the gusts of wind, which had also been making me uncomfortable during my struggles in the mud earlier. The mud higher up my body had been drying, so it took a bit of rubbing for it to flake off or dissolve and rub off. Once I finished my front, I proceeded with my back, which was a bit awkward. But, I grabbed some underwater weeds and used them to scrub my back a bit, which helped. I was happy about how quickly I felt warmer as I quickly dried off, and I then stood up off the log, and crouched down into the water to clean my lower body, and then stood up again to clean my legs.I noticed that the bottom under the sediment had an interesting texture, firm but slightly yielding. So I reached down, and pulled up a layer of clay that was blue, or grayish-blue in color! I mushed it up in my hands, which felt real nice and gooey and sticky, before washing it off in the water. I then pulled a larger chunk and mushed it up in my hands, pieces dropping off into the water as I mushed it up into a nice blue peanutbuttery goo. I would have loved to sink into a bottomless pit of that stuff, but it would have likely been of high density, making submersion difficult.
But, that blue clay was of an interesting texture and color. I then returned to shore, but with muddy legs, since it was muddy there. So, I stepped into the shaded spot where I usually cleaned off, where the shoreline was rockier, and cleaned my legs off there. I checked the water there, and just as I had expected, the layer of warm water, even in the shade, expanded to the top 4 inches!
I found a leech on the top of my left foot, scraped it off with my fingernail, and tossed it back into the water, making several attempts at throwing it away before it finally lost its grip on my finger I had used for holding it.I then headed back to my things, walking on more of the fragile mat of quaking vegetation floating on soft, bottomless mud closer to the edge of the pond on the southwest end, thinking about how a place like that could be considered treacherous by some!
As I headed back, I found a spot where my left foot easily broke through the moss covering black muck there. That spot was something I used to encounter long ago, but had thought that it had been long since grown over with grass, since I hadn't seen it in years. ? It must have simply been submerged all that time, to be finally exposed during this extra dry summer! I thought about how I could easily open up a new spot there, but figured that perhaps it would likely be submerged again during normal years. When I got back to my bog, I cleaned my feet off in my previously excavated pool of water north of the sinking spot, and then headed over to my things, where I got dressed and began to put things away. I sat down on a log just to the north of my things, brushed off the debris sticking to my feet, and put on my socks and workboots.
Now, it was time for me to take some final pictures of my mushed-up bog, and once again just couldn't resist jumping on the grass beside it to make it undulate and pulsate.
At that time, the sun was starting to go behind the clouds, which was okay, since the bog was now being shaded by a tree. It was also good that the clouds held off until I was finished with my sink and cleanup! I experimented with the white balance on the camera, but found that for the "Cloudy" setting, the color was off. So, I stuck with the "Auto" setting. I took pictures from the southwest side and the north side, making several in case one didn't turn out right. I also took a couple of closer pictures of the patch of sucking muck.
I grabbed my things, returned to the bog one more time to jump on the grass to make it undulate again, and left, just after 4 pm, perfect timing!
I was almost to my bike when I turned around because I had forgotten to return the breathing hose to its hiding spot on an old beaver lodge hidden in some alders on the east shoreline of the northern part of the pond, where the water adjacent to it was shallow and had a solid gravel bottom good for cleanup, but was also "leech central"!I returned to my bike, put my things away, and headed back for home. I had heard a cow mooing to the southeast of the pond several times, making me wonder if one was stuck in the mud there.
But, I never saw or heard anything when I was headed down the west shoreline of the pond to the southeast end for cleanup. Perhaps I should have checked out more of the eastern shoreline, in case one was stuck in an exposed soft spot, which in this case would have had nothing to do with my activities in the area. Perhaps next time I will check it out, and hope for the best. I saw a garter snake on the road and I stopped beside it, watching it. It flicked its tongue out, and just stayed there. I moved closer, it flicked its tongue out and still didn't move. Wanting to get its attention, I then reached out with my hand and stroked/caressed its tail a few times before it finally flicked out its tongue, retracted its tail, and slithered off the road, eastward into the weeds/bushes, away from danger.
Convective clouds had thickened overhead, but they didn't build too much. I snacked on a Pizza Pop, some chocolate chunk cookies, and an oatmeal bar on the way. While heading downhill, I passed another truck with a cattle trailer, parked on the side, the driver probably experiencing some problems while heading uphill. Just a little ways behind the trailer, was a large patch/puddle of fresh cow droppings on the road. The clouds that were thickening earlier on my way back started to dissipate to the east of me as I got close to home.
But, I saw more solid clouds to the west, thinking that they were likely from the approaching cold front. I got home some time around 7:15 pm.I was a bit disappointed about not being able to go under because of the painful leg cramps!
But, at least I still enjoyed the mud, and spent lots of time in it! My legs were quite stiff and sore the next day from the cramps in my thighs. My abdominal muscles were also a little sore, but it was okay since it resulted from the exercise they got from the struggling in the thick gooey mud! I was happy that my knees never developed any pain, although I was concerned earlier during my sink when the leg cramps and spasms in one leg (I think it was my right) was making it click, and in the past, it was a certain click in my knees that initiated the knee-problems in the first place! I was happy that, unlike my previous bikeride, where I had been driven up by my Dad and wound up feeling unusually exhausted, this time I biked all the way up on my own, and didn't suffer the weakness and exhaustion!
The lunch I had on the way up likely made the difference, as well as perhaps the extended rest I had between bikerides this time!I wondered if later on in my sink I should have tried going under after all, since I did notice that the frequency of leg cramps eventually diminished, although they never completely went away until I was no longer stressing my legs too much from the movements in the mud. In fact, later on, I did find myself able to struggle more with less problems with cramps.
That day, the official high in Vernon was 29.1˚C, or 84.4˚F, while at the Elkhart Lodge, my gauge for higher elevation weather, they got up to 20˚C, or 68˚F, showing that things were a little warm, but not that hot in the mountains, something that I did feel. The next day, Vernon hit 25.8˚C, or 78.4˚F, only a few degrees cooler, while the Elkhart Lodge hit only around 12˚C, or 53.6˚F, an indication of how noticeably cooler it was in the mountains!
After my sink there, I had been pondering the idea of spending another day adding even more mud to the patch so that it would not only become exposed even earlier yet, but would then become thicker faster, which would be better!
But, I realized that I needed to have it reasonably soft in the late spring or early summer so that I could loosen it to greater depths, just as it was on the east side. With it looser to greater depths, it would take the victim down to shoulder depth with less effort and movement for a REAL sinking experience! Regarding the pictures I took with the cell phone, after figuring out how to connect my computer to the cell phone using Bluetooth, getting them successfully paired, I discovered that the cell phone didn't support data file transfers via bluetooth!
I wanted to try a transfer via usb cable, meaning that I would have to see if I could buy one, and see if it would work, but nothing was available locally, and it would have been extremely expensive, if it was available. According to what I read regarding products on the web, the software available is only for PC's, not Macs. I didn't want to send the pictures via email from the camera, because it would show up in the phone bill, and I didn't want any record of what I was doing with the camera! 
That being said, whether I transferred the pictures to my iMac or not, I planned on deleting them from the phone before my parents got back from Reno Tuesday, September 22'nd, since I didn't want them to open up the image album and see a bunch of pix of a patch of mud, including a couple with my hat sitting in the middle of it! But, when my deadline was reached, I had one last resort, which was displaying each picture on the cell phone and hold it up to my iMac's built-in iSight camera, and snap a picture of that. It was really difficult to get a decent image of each picture, but at least I did get 5 of them captured! They were quite tiny though, blurry, and the colors were not very good. The picture quality is kinda reminiscent of that of Sasquatch sightings.
But, at least you can get an idea of what the new improved sinking spot looks like now. I am glad that I did at least get something transferred to my computer , since I didn't want all the pictures to be lost forever! Here they are, all merged into one:
I then kept a close eye on the weather, since it looked like a return to warm weather again was coming for the week following this bikeride, although I knew that the solar heating was on a downhill spiral!
The mud was thick enough so that hopefully no water or mud would leak inside! 
