My September 7'th, 2024 Adventure, Part 7 (Click Here For The Beginning With More Pix)!
More dramatic boggy vidcaps:
Once I worked myself up high enough, I turned around, and pulled myself towards the floating grass on the east side, moving the mud bunching up in front of me to behind me. Then, I turned around and lifted my butt onto the grass, and continued to wipe the mud off my body. I worked my legs out and wiped the thicker stuff off my legs and feet. I then tried to push the mud off the grass I had been sitting on back into the bog, before heading back towards the pond, moving through between two of the shorter sticks in my "cage". I quickly cleaned off my hands in the water, before walking around the north side of the bog to the west side to locate the camera, which was hard to see through my muddy, foggy goggles. I fumbled around with the controls, trying to press the record button to stop it. I pressed the area a few times, before turning the camera off, then on and off again.
To Be Concluded...
BM's Boggy Adventure & BG Pix! Updated 10/1/'24!
-
Boggy Man
- Posts: 2516
- Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:13 am
- Location: The Sunny Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada
Re: BM's Boggy Adventure & BG Pix! Updated 10/1/'24!
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
I sink, therefore I WAM!!!!
(((ioi)))
-The Boggy Man
(((ioi)))
-The Boggy Man
-
Boggy Man
- Posts: 2516
- Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 12:13 am
- Location: The Sunny Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada
Re: BM's Boggy Adventure & BG Pix! Updated 10/1/'24!
My September 7'th, 2024 Adventure, Part 8, The Conclusion (Click Here For The Beginning With More Pix)!
Now, it was time to clean up. I headed back into the water, and this time, there was a warm, solar-heated layer on top!
So, I was able to immerse my head and clean myself from the top down, taking off my swim goggles, cleaning them and setting them on a nearby yellow waterlily leaf north of me that was strong enough to support its weight without sinking, before cleaning my face better. After cleaning my arms and front, having to rub hard to remove the brown film stuck to my skin, I had to exit the pond to take the swim goggles over to a bush to hang. Then, I continued to clean myself off the same way as before, using "Nature's Scrub-brush" to scrub my back, and removing my junk shorts and the string, cleaning them as well, before hanging them on some of the sticks on the west side of my bog. Once I was all clean, I air-dried and warmed up, walking around the more western part of the meadow further away from the water where it was drier and warmer, and then going for a walk to the clearing by my bike to the north of the pond, where it was even drier, and as a result, even warmer yet. Then, I headed back to my spot, all dry and mostly warmed up, but couldn't wait any longer! I put my swim cap back on so that my hair wouldn't dip into the mud, and I was ready to have my final (non-submergence) sink of the day/season!
I returned to the bog and jumped into the middle, facing west, landing up to my lower chest in the soft ooze! I then began to struggle, and slowly sank down deeper and deeper, enjoying the feel of it around me! I kept trying to reach for solid ground, but it was out of reach. The sucking mire slowly rose over my shoulders, closing over them, and then rose up to around my mouth. I struggled a while more, without getting any full stimulation, before finally working myself back higher, and moving around the bog, pushing any remaining sprouting vegetation under the bog. Some water was pooling on the surface where I wasn't at, and the mud was exposed around me where I was at. At one point, I also exited on the north side and then crawled southward on top of the mud to the center, struggling a little bit before standing up again. Finally, I exited the bog on the east side, wiping the mud off my body as I went, and then tried pushing it off the grass where I had exited, back into the bog.
I was now finished with my final sink of the season, and returned to the pond to clean up one final time, going through the same routine as before. I hung my swim cap on a branch, and air-dried, happy that it was still nice and warm, something I haven't enjoyed over recent years at this time of year! In fact, this was one of the warmest air masses we have had in early September in recent memory, something more typical in mid-July! Once I was dry, I got dressed, and got most of my things together, but never bothered to check out my video there, because I felt it was getting late. I had also changed my camera's screen size back to the original format, and took one last photo of my bog:
I swapped the memory cards in my camera, and finished putting everything away. I then took one final look at my bog, before heading back to my bike, where I loaded the saddlebags with everything, and headed back up the side trail, and moving my bike under that fallen tree again, to reach the sideroad. As I headed back down the sideroad towards Crescent Road, I came across two grouse (spruce hens), and took a couple of photos of them:
When I got back onto Crescent Road, I passed my dropoff point around 5:30 pm. On the way back, I scrutinized the sides of the road for Shaggy Mane mushrooms, and sure enough, I found them on the sides of the main road shortly after I left Crescent Road! I managed to pick a half a plastic grocery bag full, carrying it on my my left handlebar, where its swinging made my bike a bit more unstable when I got further down the hill. I found that the handlebars on my new bike were lower than my old bike after all, making it hard to avoid looking up too much going downhill, which made me concerned about my neck pain. 
I contacted my dad some time between 6:30 and 7 pm, and when I got down into the valley, it seemed to be not as bright as I thought it would be, and there was no sun. It was as if I had misjudged the time of the sunset! But then, I looked to the west, and the sun was still out, but just a red disk! There was a lot of smoke further to the west, which dimmed the sunlight as the sun got lower in the sky! My neck was feeling a bit more sore, but at least it was my final bikeride of the season. When we got home, it was just starting to get darker, relatively the same elapsed time after sunset as my previous bikeride, meaning that I had compensated for the shorter days perfectly! 
Just as I thought, my mom was happy and disappointed at the same time over the mushrooms, because she loved the shaggy manes, but didn't look forward to the work cleaning them ("Oh wow! Shit."). There turned out to be enough for two meals, one of which we ate the following day, and the other which we froze.
Overall I think that I couldn't have picked a better day for my final adventure! It was the last sunny, hot cloudless day of the year, with the following day being still warm, but overcast, which would have prevented the water from warming up. The air in the mountains was one of the warmest I have seen in recent years at this time of year (actually, we were on the northern edge of a heat wave hitting the western US at the same time)! Previously, I would have trouble with the sun going behind clouds, making things feel chilly, even on a "warm" day in September. This time, I warmed up more quickly, allowing me to have 3 sinking sessions, instead of only two! It was a shame that the heat came to an end, with the weather turning cooler after that. But then, hunting season began 3 days after my adventure, so I didn't feel too bad about it being too cold for sinking up on the plateau after that.
I was happy to see that the mud was nicely exposed, and not still flooded, but I am certain it would have been better yet if we didn't get the 1 1/2 inches of rain between the two adventures. It was thicker than last time, but still not as thick on top as it was deeper down, and water still pooled on top a bit after leaving, but it was nothing like last time, this time with a lot of exposed mud around the sides, which I wished I could have evened out. Because of our wet spring, the condition of the bog that day was roughly the same as it was in early August of last year (2023), when we had hot dry weather start a month earlier, in June. So, the condition of my bog on my final adventure this year was the same as it was on the first adventure last year. Also, my video turned out nicely, with the framed view not shifting this time, unlike last time!
The bugs weren't much of a problem, and I was happy to see fewer leeches than last time. I was also happy to see that the cattle had been rounded up before my outing, so things were quiet there. In fact, it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop! Just a dead silence, occasionally broken up by the sound of an airplane overhead, and a helicopter, and when I was in the clearing near my bike to the north of the pond, one frog croaking briefly, and a squirrel chattering briefly. On my way back down the road, I did hear a lone cow mooing, that had been left behind during the roundup. There was no one on motorbikes or atv's going up the sideroad, something I had worried about on weekends, but I did encounter some on the main road while heading back to the valley. I was glad that I chose to go on the 7'th instead of the 5'th, since I was too run down from a few days of morning backpack spraying, and didn't want a repeat of the tiredness I experienced in my previous outing. I was well rested for this one, and gave my bog a couple more days for the water level to drop even further! I found my neck soreness got worse several days later, but then quickly subsided. However, my back was bothering me for a while after, before settling down.
It was also my first outing with my new bike, and I felt that the handlebars could still be raised a bit more so I wouldn't have to lift my head up so high going downhill, which had aggravated my neck. I also felt that the bike seemed less stable when carrying a bag of mushrooms than when I did the same thing with my other bike, but then, I have poor recollection of details when I did the same thing in previous years, and I had more mushrooms than in previous years.
Now, I wait until next summer, and hope that water levels drop earlier, so that I can enjoy more boggy adventures than this year. La Niña is starting up this fall, which brings cooler weather with more precipitation, but is expected to die out next spring. I hope it dies out quickly, so that we don't have such a wet spring. But, an earlier start to dryness also brings with it more forest fires and more smoke to reduce the sunshine warming the water/mud. I will just have to wait and see how things go.
Now, it was time to clean up. I headed back into the water, and this time, there was a warm, solar-heated layer on top!
So, I was able to immerse my head and clean myself from the top down, taking off my swim goggles, cleaning them and setting them on a nearby yellow waterlily leaf north of me that was strong enough to support its weight without sinking, before cleaning my face better. After cleaning my arms and front, having to rub hard to remove the brown film stuck to my skin, I had to exit the pond to take the swim goggles over to a bush to hang. Then, I continued to clean myself off the same way as before, using "Nature's Scrub-brush" to scrub my back, and removing my junk shorts and the string, cleaning them as well, before hanging them on some of the sticks on the west side of my bog. Once I was all clean, I air-dried and warmed up, walking around the more western part of the meadow further away from the water where it was drier and warmer, and then going for a walk to the clearing by my bike to the north of the pond, where it was even drier, and as a result, even warmer yet. Then, I headed back to my spot, all dry and mostly warmed up, but couldn't wait any longer! I put my swim cap back on so that my hair wouldn't dip into the mud, and I was ready to have my final (non-submergence) sink of the day/season! I returned to the bog and jumped into the middle, facing west, landing up to my lower chest in the soft ooze! I then began to struggle, and slowly sank down deeper and deeper, enjoying the feel of it around me! I kept trying to reach for solid ground, but it was out of reach. The sucking mire slowly rose over my shoulders, closing over them, and then rose up to around my mouth. I struggled a while more, without getting any full stimulation, before finally working myself back higher, and moving around the bog, pushing any remaining sprouting vegetation under the bog. Some water was pooling on the surface where I wasn't at, and the mud was exposed around me where I was at. At one point, I also exited on the north side and then crawled southward on top of the mud to the center, struggling a little bit before standing up again. Finally, I exited the bog on the east side, wiping the mud off my body as I went, and then tried pushing it off the grass where I had exited, back into the bog.
I was now finished with my final sink of the season, and returned to the pond to clean up one final time, going through the same routine as before. I hung my swim cap on a branch, and air-dried, happy that it was still nice and warm, something I haven't enjoyed over recent years at this time of year! In fact, this was one of the warmest air masses we have had in early September in recent memory, something more typical in mid-July! Once I was dry, I got dressed, and got most of my things together, but never bothered to check out my video there, because I felt it was getting late. I had also changed my camera's screen size back to the original format, and took one last photo of my bog:
I swapped the memory cards in my camera, and finished putting everything away. I then took one final look at my bog, before heading back to my bike, where I loaded the saddlebags with everything, and headed back up the side trail, and moving my bike under that fallen tree again, to reach the sideroad. As I headed back down the sideroad towards Crescent Road, I came across two grouse (spruce hens), and took a couple of photos of them:
When I got back onto Crescent Road, I passed my dropoff point around 5:30 pm. On the way back, I scrutinized the sides of the road for Shaggy Mane mushrooms, and sure enough, I found them on the sides of the main road shortly after I left Crescent Road!
I managed to pick a half a plastic grocery bag full, carrying it on my my left handlebar, where its swinging made my bike a bit more unstable when I got further down the hill. I found that the handlebars on my new bike were lower than my old bike after all, making it hard to avoid looking up too much going downhill, which made me concerned about my neck pain. I contacted my dad some time between 6:30 and 7 pm, and when I got down into the valley, it seemed to be not as bright as I thought it would be, and there was no sun. It was as if I had misjudged the time of the sunset! But then, I looked to the west, and the sun was still out, but just a red disk! There was a lot of smoke further to the west, which dimmed the sunlight as the sun got lower in the sky! My neck was feeling a bit more sore, but at least it was my final bikeride of the season. When we got home, it was just starting to get darker, relatively the same elapsed time after sunset as my previous bikeride, meaning that I had compensated for the shorter days perfectly! Just as I thought, my mom was happy and disappointed at the same time over the mushrooms, because she loved the shaggy manes, but didn't look forward to the work cleaning them ("Oh wow! Shit."). There turned out to be enough for two meals, one of which we ate the following day, and the other which we froze. Overall I think that I couldn't have picked a better day for my final adventure!
It was the last sunny, hot cloudless day of the year, with the following day being still warm, but overcast, which would have prevented the water from warming up. The air in the mountains was one of the warmest I have seen in recent years at this time of year (actually, we were on the northern edge of a heat wave hitting the western US at the same time)! Previously, I would have trouble with the sun going behind clouds, making things feel chilly, even on a "warm" day in September. This time, I warmed up more quickly, allowing me to have 3 sinking sessions, instead of only two! It was a shame that the heat came to an end, with the weather turning cooler after that. But then, hunting season began 3 days after my adventure, so I didn't feel too bad about it being too cold for sinking up on the plateau after that.I was happy to see that the mud was nicely exposed, and not still flooded, but I am certain it would have been better yet if we didn't get the 1 1/2 inches of rain between the two adventures. It was thicker than last time, but still not as thick on top as it was deeper down, and water still pooled on top a bit after leaving, but it was nothing like last time, this time with a lot of exposed mud around the sides, which I wished I could have evened out. Because of our wet spring, the condition of the bog that day was roughly the same as it was in early August of last year (2023), when we had hot dry weather start a month earlier, in June. So, the condition of my bog on my final adventure this year was the same as it was on the first adventure last year. Also, my video turned out nicely, with the framed view not shifting this time, unlike last time!
The bugs weren't much of a problem, and I was happy to see fewer leeches than last time. I was also happy to see that the cattle had been rounded up before my outing, so things were quiet there. In fact, it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop! Just a dead silence, occasionally broken up by the sound of an airplane overhead, and a helicopter, and when I was in the clearing near my bike to the north of the pond, one frog croaking briefly, and a squirrel chattering briefly. On my way back down the road, I did hear a lone cow mooing, that had been left behind during the roundup. There was no one on motorbikes or atv's going up the sideroad, something I had worried about on weekends, but I did encounter some on the main road while heading back to the valley. I was glad that I chose to go on the 7'th instead of the 5'th, since I was too run down from a few days of morning backpack spraying, and didn't want a repeat of the tiredness I experienced in my previous outing. I was well rested for this one, and gave my bog a couple more days for the water level to drop even further!
I found my neck soreness got worse several days later, but then quickly subsided. However, my back was bothering me for a while after, before settling down.It was also my first outing with my new bike, and I felt that the handlebars could still be raised a bit more so I wouldn't have to lift my head up so high going downhill, which had aggravated my neck. I also felt that the bike seemed less stable when carrying a bag of mushrooms than when I did the same thing with my other bike, but then, I have poor recollection of details when I did the same thing in previous years, and I had more mushrooms than in previous years.
Now, I wait until next summer, and hope that water levels drop earlier, so that I can enjoy more boggy adventures than this year. La Niña is starting up this fall, which brings cooler weather with more precipitation, but is expected to die out next spring. I hope it dies out quickly, so that we don't have such a wet spring. But, an earlier start to dryness also brings with it more forest fires and more smoke to reduce the sunshine warming the water/mud. I will just have to wait and see how things go.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
I sink, therefore I WAM!!!!
(((ioi)))
-The Boggy Man
(((ioi)))
-The Boggy Man
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest