My August 4'th Adventure, Part 9 - Conclusion (Click Here For The Beginning With More Pix)!And, one more photo of bare mud in the bouncy bog, with cotton grass in the background:
2017 08 04 3ZL Meadow North Of Crescent.jpg
After I got enough photos of the muddy spots, I headed back, overshooting my original entrance point at the trail a little bit too far west. I returned to my sinking spot, still feeling quite exhausted and drained! It was already around 4:30 pm, and the heat was starting to wane! I just hoped I had the strength and energy to do my thing, taking a brief rest in the grass!
I finally got up and changed, and got my camera set up. This time, I buried a good length of the breathing hose under the mud, with the ends sticking out, so that it would be hidden from the camera's view. I got the camera centered and zoomed in on the hose end, put my glasses away with my things, put my swim goggles on my forehead, pressed record, and jumped into my chosen target spot. I sunk myself down, pausing periodically to rest briefly because I was still feeling so beat. I put my swim goggles on and put the hose in my mouth, pulling it a bit through the mud closer to me. Pausing to rest several times, I slowly sunk myself under, until the cushiony softness encompassed my head. It was wonderful feeling the mud separate from parts of my head briefly as I exhaled, before it hissed or phlupped to the surface, totally surrounded/cushioned by doughy softness!
I eventually worked myself down to around wrist depth again, which I wasn't certain if I could do, because of the increased thickness of the muck. I would raise my hands, and then slowly lower them, but I wasn't moving as actively as I did the previous week, due to me being tired. But, I felt comfortable breathing down there, which I was relieved about. There was a small piece of decaying sod that was suspended under the muck above my head, which may have rerouted my pockets of escaping breath around it, or even allowed some of the air to occasionally build up underneath it before letting loose to the surface. I noticed that the pockets of escaping breath seemed louder around my right ear than in my left ear when they passed by while I was tilting my head. I swayed and bounced a bit like before, but not as much, because I was still feeling drained and exhausted. But, it felt great being totally encompassed by the cushiony feel of the suffocating quagmire, the only thing keeping me alive being the hose! A few times, I had to push the hose further in my mouth, when it slightly shifted out, pinching the inside of my upper lip in the process of pushing it back further in. I then started using one hand to hold onto the hose while raising the other to the surface. I then reversed hands, before raising both hands back up to the surface again. Eventually, I started to feel like my breathing was being strained, so I decided to call it quits. I slowly worked myself up bit by bit, starting with lifting my feet, and then pushing up the rest of my body, the bubbles coming up easier. Then, I could start to see some light, and then my head finally emerged above the surface. I wiped the mud off my head and swim goggles, worked myself up higher, pushed more mud off, worked myself towards the edge and pulled myself to shore, pushing mud off my skin into the bog. I cleaned my hands, stopped the recording, and turned off the camera.
I headed into the water and cleaned my swim goggles, head and back, and my junk shorts. I hung my junk shorts and swim goggles on alder branches, crawled back onto the eastern side of the bog, facing south, and had another stimulating horizontal struggle, which took a little longer than I expected, because I was being bothered by flies biting my back each time I began to get my arms "stuck" in the sucking doughy morass.
I should have sprayed insect repellent on my back before getting into the mud! I exited, smoothed the mud out, returned to the water, cleaned the breathing hose, cleaned my entire body, removed more leeches, air dried, removed more leeches, removed more leeches, dried off, put my breathing hose away in its hiding place, and took some final pix:
2017 08 04 3ZM Crescent.jpg
2017 08 04 3ZN Crescent.jpg
I put sticks back in around the north, west, and part of the south side of my bog, to create a barrier against cattle. I cleaned my legs, dried off, and skimmed through the video, noticing that it too, was longer than 15 minutes, which would create a problem with YouTube.
I got dressed, gathered my things, and took couple of final looks at my bog, jumping on the grass on the edge to see it quiver. I would have loved to jump in again, but getting my clothes muddy would have been a nightmare to clean up!
I put my things away on my bike, headed back down the road, having my supper on the way (two Pizza Pops and a Dipps bar). After the sink and cleanup, I realized that I had my energy back, not feeling as exhausted as earlier, but still worn out from the day's activities, which weren't going to be over until my dad picked me up in the valley bottom.
As I was coasting down the road, coming down towards the valley, a man heading up stopped by me and told me about a cougar sighting, and that off-road vehicles (atv's, motorbikes) were now prohibited due to dry conditions. Glad I use a bicycle, which is non-motorized! My dad picked me up in the valley, and drove me home.
This was one of my best days yet!
The bog was thicker, my underbog sink was really enjoyable, and I got some more videos made!
But, I was surprised at how worn out I got in the mid-afternoon! My timing for my sinks seemed to be a bit off a little, since my first session started in the late morning, before the heat of the day, and my second session started in the late afternoon/early evening, when the heat of the day was starting to wane. The gusts of wind didn't help things much, either, making me feel chilled faster. My previous adventures had little to no wind, and I was a bit more comfortable. But, at least the wind didn't interfere too much with the audio in my videos. While the biting flies were still annoying, they seemed to be not as bad as last time. Perhaps their season is finally past its peak!
I was happy to have no leg cramps, although there was some tightness starting at times when sitting down in the vicinity of my sinking area and bending my legs, but repositioning/straightening my legs stopped it. I also noticed shortly before my dad picked me up, that my neck suddenly got hit with intense pain that shot up into my head!
When I moved my head, it sounded like grinding sand in the back of my neck. Fortunately, within a couple of days, the pain settled down. I hope that my underbog sinks aren't putting too much stress on my neck!
The last thing I need it to discover a brand new injury from doing my activities, on top of everything else!
Hopefully, my neck muscles will get stronger with the exercise, and next week will be better.
At least my abdominal muscle pain has been going down faster after each adventure, and hopefully I will continue to get stronger!
There is less than a week left of the sunny, hot weather, before things start to cool off, and occasional rain showers begin. So, next Friday, August 11'th, my bog should be at its thickest, unless the showers are not too intense and the hot dry weather returns later on. I will have to see what happens!
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There was also thicker mud exposed between tufts of grass inland from that shoreline, which I had to avoid while stepping from grass clump to grass clump. I took some photos: