BM's Boggy Adventure & BG Pix! Updated 11/5/'23!

[Boggy Man]

On Friday, July 14'th, I had my first outing of the year, and the first submergence sink with video since 2014! The night before, I put my bike in the back of my dad's truck, and when I got up in the back of the truck to move the bike into position, it shifted, forcing me to quickly bend down and catch it before it rolled off the tailgate. After that, I felt like I strained my gut like I hadn't done in many months, and then sensitivity started up in the same place that had halted my bikerides last year after the second one! But, I kept to my schedule, and things worked out!

My dad dropped me off up past the big hill on Crescent Road, although he didn't want to go that far, because his truck was brand new. I was on my way, and made a bee-line for my Crescent Road pond sinking spot, wondering if I would have to mush up more weeds in it again, although I knew it wouldn't be as bad as last year. But, I was still a bit concerned about having to mush up any weeds at all, due to it possibly being the cause for my abdominal muscle pain in the first place last year.

When I reached my sinking spot, I was delighted to see that it was totally exposed and practically bare of weeds, except for some clods of decaying sod here and there, and only a few tiny bits of weeds! No big job of clearing weeds this year!!!!!

2017 07 14 1A Crescent.JPG

2017 07 14 1B Crescent.jpg

2017 07 14 1C Crescent.jpg

2017 07 14 1D Crescent.jpg

To be continued...

[Boggy Man]

My July 14'th Adventure, Part 2 (Click Here For The Beginning With More Pix)

It was a bit cool yet, so I decided to head out down the road to a road that I hadn't been to in years, past a lake called Min Lake, to a turnoff towards Wilma Lake, although I wasn't going to go all the way. I stopped at Min Lake to take a glance at it, since I hadn't been there in ages, and took a couple of pix.

2017 07 14 1E Min Lake.JPG

2017 07 14 1F Min Lake.jpg

No mud there, although I never did do any walking around it to find out, since I didn't want to waste too much time. I instead headed off to find that road, finding that there was active logging in that area, although it was quiet on site at the time. But, the road surface I had been traveling on was like flour from the logging trucks which were periodically going up and down the road. I turned off onto the sideroad that headed south to Wilma Lake, looking for familiar places, including a pond full of snails that was beside the road, on the east side, years ago, when that was in a clearcut. It was all now forested with logging equipment and recent activity at the first part of that road. I headed a ways down that road, but eventually turned back without finding the snail pond, because I wanted to return to my sinking spot. So, I headed back, concerned about leg cramps that were starting to show up. During that trip to and from there, I had to let some logging trucks pass by me on that flour-like road.

I got back to my area, and dropped my bike off north of the pond shortly after noon. I then had lunch (including a banana for potassium to try and avoid cramps, even though eating bananas can make you more attractive to biting flies) while walking to the other pond to the north with a bog ring inside it, where I had explored the mud last year, with loose shallow mud with stiffer deeper mud that I could have worked down deep. I never went to the places where the mud was exposed last year on the north side, but I did walk around the bog ring, and took some pictures.

Here is a White Bog Orchid in bloom. Unlike the legendary ones found exclusively at Studio 588, these ones aren't carnivorous. So, you won't get sucked down into its bog to be used as plant food. But, they do have a nice cinnamon fragrance.

2017 07 14 1G White Bog Orchid At Pond North Of Crescent.JPG

Here is a Yellow Waterlily (Spatterdock) growing in the ring of water outside the bog ring:

2017 07 14 1H Yellow Waterlily Or Spatterdock At Pond North Of Crescent.jpg

To be continued...

[Boggy Man]

My July 14'th Adventure, Part 3 (Click Here For The Beginning With More Pix)

After taking the couple of flower photos, I took pix of some muddy areas:

2017 07 14 1I Pond North Of Crescent.JPG

2017 07 14 1J Pond North Of Crescent.jpg

2017 07 14 1K Pond North Of Crescent.jpg

2017 07 14 1L Pond North Of Crescent.jpg

2017 07 14 1M Pond North Of Crescent.jpg

To be continued...

[Boggy Man]

My July 14'th Adventure, Part 4 (Click Here For The Beginning With More Pix)

A couple more pix of muddy areas in the pond north of Crescent Pond:

2017 07 14 1N Pond North Of Crescent.jpg

2017 07 14 1O Pond North Of Crescent.jpg

I returned to my main pond, and got all my stuff together. I also retrieved my breathing hose, in case I wanted to use it, but it took a while to locate it, because the old beaver lodge I had hidden it beside was all deteriorated and seemed smaller (perhaps a beaver dismantled it to use the material elsewhere), and I had passed by it while searching. I took another photo of my bog:

2017 07 14 1P Crescent.jpg

Then, I was finally ready to get things set up for my first sinking video since 2014! I got my camera mounted with the tentacles of the Gorilla Pod wrapped around a long stick stuck into the floating vegetation on the southwest side of the bog, and got the location of my "landing/sinking" spot nicely framed and centered. But, just when was in the process of changing clothes, leg cramps hit me hard, causing me to be in excruciating pain! I had to wait a while for the cramps to subside, sitting facing south in the meadow with a patch of white bog orchids to my left. When I finally started to feel better, I got ready, got the location of my sink centered again, pressed the record button, and began!

With me in position, on the east side, starting to loudly complain about the biting flies, and the camera recording, I realized I forgot to take off my glasses, which I then took off and set down on the floating vegetation on the southeast side of the bog, off camera, before taking the plunge! I used the excuse that the biting flies were driving me nuts as the reason for not looking where I was going before falling into the bog. And, in the video, you can see lots of flies around me, and the odd one was biting me while I was sinking! The fact that the mud had been simmering under the hot sun for many weeks, and hadn't been disturbed yet this season, meant that it was loaded with swamp gas which was bubbling and farting around me, which really added to the experience!

After I completed the scene and got out, I cleaned my hands and stopped the recording on the camera. I then returned to the water to clean my head, so that there wouldn't be mud in my eyes. I never bothered with the rest of my body, since it was going to be exposed to mud again. I then returned to the mud to mush up the rest of the surface, pushing down all the small clods of decaying sod under the mud, as well as the few sprigs of vegetation that were sprouting here and there. While mushing up the top layer of mud, I laid down on my stomach on the solar-heated surface skin of the quagmire on the west side and had a stimulating horizontal struggle before continuing. But, all through the mudplay, my legs were constantly on the verge of cramping, and in constant pain and discomfort.

All finished, I finally headed to the water to clean off completely, then air-dried, watched the video I had taken and was happy with it, and then got dressed. Here are some more photos of the bog after it was all mushed up:

2017 07 14 1Q Crescent.jpg

2017 07 14 1R Crescent.jpg

To be continued...

[Boggy Man]

My July 14'th Adventure, Part 5 (Click Here For The Beginning With More Pix)

Here are some more pix of the patch of ground that had swallowed me whole:

2017 07 14 1S Crescent.jpg

2017 07 14 1T Crescent.jpg

Afterwards, I headed over to the south end of the meadow, to the smaller pond there, with shallow mud exposed on the west side, which includes clay further away from the water:

2017 07 14 1U Crescent.jpg

2017 07 14 1V Crescent.jpg

To be concluded...

[Boggy Man]

My July 14'th Adventure, Part 6, Conclusion(Click Here For The Beginning With More Pix)

2017 07 14 1W Crescent.jpg

2017 07 14 1X Crescent.jpg

I was finally all warmed up, and returned to the area of my sinking spot, got undressed, and played in the mud for a while, but not sinking any deeper than to the bottom of my nose when facing forward, or having my ears submerged when facing upwards. I didn't feel like getting my eyes muddy this time. I also crawled around on the mud and struggled, enjoying the feel of it, and the swamp gas farting out of it. I just wanted to stay there forever!

Finally, I got out, cleaned myself up in the pond, removed leeches from me, air-dried off, removing another leech, this time on my scrotum, which was a little bit bloody. I had all my stuff put away and snapped another couple of photos of my bog, before heading back to my bike, and out of the mountains and into the valley, where my dad picked me up.

2017 07 14 1Y Crescent.jpg

2017 07 14 1Z Crescent.jpg

Overall, it was quite a wonderful day, with my bog not only being exposed, but mostly bare of any weeds! I guess that my work mushing the bur reeds into the mud last year really paid off! I was disappointed that I was getting so many leg cramps, and had hoped that having a banana (full of potassium) with my breakfast and another one with my lunch would help (but eating bananas can attract more biting flies, which was probably why I was being eaten alive). I guess I wasn't drinking enough fluids, which was probably why the cramps were so bad, and perhaps also because it was the most exercise my legs had in a very long time. My legs were extremely sore for days afterwards, taking a week before the last of the soreness faded. I was also sore all over my abs, and my shoulders as well. But, after most of the soreness went away, including my upper abs, my lower abs still were sore and burning! To make matters worse, some of my work seemed to make the soreness worse as well! I began picking cucumbers from our patch for the first time, and the lower abdomen pain flared up worse, taking the following day to finally ease, only to get bad again after my second pick! I waited an extra day before my third pick, and was more careful in supporting myself when bending over, and this time had a small increase in the soreness and burning. I hope that things improve soon because I am eagerly waiting for my next outing, exactly two weeks after my first one. The weather has been consistently dry, meaning my bog will be thicker. So far, my lower abdominal muscles have tended to be sore and sometimes burning, but at least they are not stinging like last year. But then, it wasn't until after the second outing that they were stinging, and that outing was only a week after the first one, and this time, I am having my next outing two weeks after the first one. I hope that helps.

[bogbud]

Beautiful scenery and those mudplaces look so inviting!
You're really lucky!

Just wondering: That lake looks too good to be left alone (so to speak). How about hikers or campers, is that a problem?

[Boggy Man]

The sinking and exit videos are available through this thread:

https://www.quicksandfans.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2588&start=209

Enjoy!

[Boggy Man]

Beautiful scenery and those mudplaces look so inviting!
You're really lucky!

Just wondering: That lake looks too good to be left alone (so to speak). How about hikers or campers, is that a problem?

There are tons of places all over the backcountry here. That lake is a small lake with a rough access, and there are people fishing there from time to time, but it isn't a big place, so it can be quiet, especially on weekdays. There are larger and better lakes with better access and facilities that are more popular. This area is a fair distance away from my sinking area, but I tend to shy away from going on weekends and holidays, since there could be people exploring the sideroads via truck/atv/motorbike. My place is generally quiet, until hunting season, starting September 10'th.

[Boggy Man]

After my first adventure of the season, with sinks, both on-camera and off-camera, I was in pain for a week from the leg cramps and lower and upper abdominal pain/soreness, and after that, my lower abdomen was still very sensitive. I waited 2 weeks before going again, anxious to see what the hot dry weather (there was some brief cooler breaks in the middle of that period) did to the thickness of my bog! The air had been mostly free of smoke for the past while, but the night before my adventure, smoke started to appear to the south, which had me worried. The last thing I needed was for smoke to weaken the sunshine, which was essential for warming up the water and my bog. On the morning of Friday, July 28'th, there was still some smoke in the sky, but when my dad took me up into the mountains, I could see clear skies further to the south, which was a relief! Even though he complained, my dad drove me up the steep hill on Crescent Road again, and went past a spot where I said he could stop.

After he dropped me off, I backtracked to the original spot where I wanted to be dropped off, to check out the hidden pond (liquid mud and sticks pond) to the east of Crescent Road. It was awkward hiking over the uneven ground and sticks and logs in the old, overgrown trail and the surrounding area, because of pain on the outside of my right ankle that had started over a week earlier. When I got to the hidden pond, there was some mud exposed, but not that much. I swapped memory cards in my camera, and took a photo of one patch on the south side:

2017 07 28 2A Liquid Mud And Sticks Pond.jpg

I started to walk counterclockwise, but partways along the east side, I turned around and headed back. While returning, I heard some loud cracking of sticks and branches in the bush to the south of me, on the other side of the old, overgrown trail. Not certain whether it was a moose or bear, I decided not to take any chances, in case it was a bear. I cracked some sticks myself to alert whatever it was of my presence, and made a wide circle around that sound to get back to my bike, and then headed to my Crescent Road pond.

I gathered my things, such as Gorillapod, junk shorts, swim goggles, insect repellent, drink, etc., and headed to my sinking spot, anxious to see what it was like! When I got there, it was definitely nice and thick! I hadn't seen it this good in years! I took some photos of it. Doesn't it look peaceful and innocent?

2017 07 28 2B Crescent.jpg

2017 07 28 2C Crescent.jpg

2017 07 28 2D Crescent.jpg

I headed back to my bike to have lunch (no bananas this time), and this time I sat on a rock to rest. I briefly got up to try and catch a video of my watch sitting in the grass turning over to 12 noon as part of my sinking video, but the video wound up shaky. After the lunch was finished, I returned to my bog, only to find that it had clouded over! I needed full sunshine to warm things up, especially my cleanup water! So, I decided to wait and see what happened. In the meantime, I took another photo of my bog under cloudy conditions:

2017 07 28 2E Crescent.jpg

To be continued...