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

[Boggy Man]

On Tuesday, September 5'th, I had my 6'th (and possibly final) outing of the season! I was still concerned about my neck clicking and aches and soreness but I tried to take further steps to alleviate my neck stress further. I had my handlebars raised again with a post extension in addition to the previously bought handlebar angle adjustment, and had my seat raised to improve performance, although it reduced the added gain in handlebar height a bit. I wanted go on Monday, a nice, sunny, hot day, but my dad didn't want to take me then. I couldn't go on Wednesday or Thursday, because of a CT scan Thursday (the final cardiovascular test to rule out Marfan's Syndrome), and I needed a day of recovery from my bikeride before the CT scan because I needed to be well hydrated for an IV of contrasting fluid, which would need to be flushed out of my body quickly afterwards. After that, a cold front would go through Friday, and our weather pattern would change from hot and dry to more normal cooler weather, with some showers. And, on Sunday, Sept. 10'th, hunting season begins!

I hoped Tuesday would be sunny just like Monday, but it wound up being partially cloudy, with smoke! To help further reduce my neck stress, I decided to take my chances and not use my bicycle helmet, to lighten the load (312 g) on my head/neck. I knew that if I had an accident, I could wind up with a brain injury, or even death, but I felt that if I had to wear a helmet, I wouldn't be able to go at all without making my neck worse! Because of my neck problems, I decided that this would be my last outing of the season, and then concentrate on healing. So, for this final outing, I planned on prepping my bog for next year by moving mud from other spots to the main bog, which would allow it to become exposed and subsequently thicken earlier in the season. I wasn't certain whether I would try out the "treacherous" south shoreline or not, but I would see!

My dad dropped me off at the usual bend past the worst part of the climb up Crescent Road, and I was on my way! I was concerned about cattle being in the area, since I could see their tracks on Crescent road, but no cattle so far. I turned onto the sideroad, being concerned about tire tracks that seemed to go further up the road than before, but still stopped just a little ways in. There were also signs of cattle on that sideroad, which made me concerned. I thought I heard mooing in the distance. I walked my bike down the sidetrail to the clearing north of the pond, noticing a couple of fallen dead thin trees across the earlier part of the path that weren't there last time. In the clearing, I discovered fresh cowpies, and, in the bushes on the western and northwestern part of the clearing, were cattle!!!! So, out of all the places in the bush, cattle just HAD to be in the area of my pond/bog!!!! I just hoped that they wouldn't be a problem. I laid my bike against a tree instead of on the ground so none of the nearby cattle would step or poop on it. After swapping memory cards in my camera and deleting another video which was already saved to computer, I gathered my things, including my junk shorts, Gorillapod, camera, bottle of Kool-Aid, and even swim goggles in case I did go underbog in the "treacherous" south shoreline. I headed to my sinking spot, putting my stuff in their usual spot beside some alders, and at 10:28 am, took a couple of photos of my thick bog, that once again had a cracked drying surface, with sticks partially surrounding it to keep cattle out:

2017 09 05 6A Crescent.jpg

2017 09 05 6B Crescent.jpg

I then removed all the sticks except for the one I use for the camera, although I didn't think I would be using it. I was concerned about removing the sticks with cattle in the vicinity, since with cleanup and lunch and possibly sinking into the "treacherous" south shoreline, my bog would be unattended. I just hoped that they would not come anywhere near the bog while it was unattended. I took another couple of photos of it at 10:37 am:

2017 09 05 6C Crescent.jpg

2017 09 05 6D Crescent.jpg

Now, I was ready to have a fast sink that I had been dying to do for some time! I got undressed at my things near a clump of alders, walked north, and then southward through the meadow close to the pond, imagining that I was carefully negotiating a dangerous bog which catches people off-guard and sucks them under. I passed by small bottomless patches of muck, and then one larger one on the edge of the pond, at which point, I quickly headed away from it, straight into my thicker bog with the cracked surface! Facing east, my feet got sucked down, followed by my legs, which slowly disappeared, and then my waist, imagining that my fate was sealed, that no matter how much I struggled to escape, I would only be sucked in deeper, that the thick muck would soon close over my head and suffocate me, and then it would continue to suck my body down deeper and deeper until it is unrecoverable! As I struggled, swamp gas would fart out around me, as well as gas trapped between my skin and the doughy mire as I struggled, which I loved! To my front left, swamp gas was hissing out of one of the cracks in the thick muck. It was nice and doughy creamy beneath the cracked stiff surface. While in the mud, I noticed that the cattle that were to the north of the pond were now on the west side, a close distance away, too close to my bog for comfort, and some were watching me stuck and struggling in the muck! I struggled to my mid-abdomen (I didn't want to get too deep, since it was still morning and slightly cool, and I wanted a faster cleanup), and pushed my hands and arms straight down along my sides into the creamy softness below, which greatly enhanced the experience, since more of my body was in contact with the sucking mire, before struggling more and achieving full stimulation! Then, I worked myself up out of the mire without any lingering, because I had work to do, namely building the height of the mire up!

After I got out, I had to get cleaned up right away before the mud dried on my skin. I tried sitting on the vegetation mat (tiny rushes?) on the edge of the pond nearby, and rubbed my back on the abrasive vegetation to remove the scum that the thick mud always left. But, because the bottom was exposed along much of the edge of the shoreline, or close to being exposed, I had to head to the tiny pond on the far south end, to properly clean up. But, when I tried cleaning up in the water there, it was uncomfortably cold, shrinking my nuts and making them ache! The lack of sunshine was really slowing down the heating of the water! Last time, I cleaned off early in the day at the hidden liquid mud and sticks pond, and there was no smoke, with the sun shining brightly, and the cleanup water was already warming up! It was amazing how much difference the persistent smoke made! I wished I had come here one day earlier, when it was sunny and hot!

I managed to get myself cleaned down to my lower legs/feet, before I had to return to my sinking spot, and finishing the cleanup beside the pond there. But, as I was heading back, I noticed a black bull standing in the vicinity of my bog! Then, I noticed that there were TWO of them! Both were slowly creeping closer and closer to the west side of my bog, but I got there just in time, as they were within a foot or so of the treacherous quagmire! They backed away when I got there, but I was getting even more concerned about leaving that area for any period of time! I cleaned my legs and feet in water that rose up through the floating vegetation near the edge of the pond. I think that was when I got dressed, perhaps except for my shoes (memory of that moment was vague). I took a photo of my thick doughy quagmire with the stiff cracked surface that was disturbed by my sinking, at 11:32 am:

2017 09 05 6E Crescent.jpg

To be continued...

[Boggy Man]

My September 5'th Adventure, Part 2 (Click Here For The Beginning With More Pix)!

Next, hoping the cattle kept their distance from my bog, I headed to the "treacherous" south shore and took photos from 11:36 am to 11:38 am:

2017 09 05 6F Crescent.jpg

2017 09 05 6G Crescent.jpg

2017 09 05 6H Crescent.jpg

2017 09 05 6I Crescent.jpg

2017 09 05 6J Crescent.jpg

To be continued...

[Boggy Man]

My September 5'th Adventure, Part 3 (Click Here For The Beginning With More Pix)!

One more photo of my "treacherous" shoreline:

2017 09 05 6K Crescent.jpg

I then returned to my things near my bog (I might have put my shoes back on then), but before beginning my work, I wanted to have lunch. But, my lunch was back at my bike (I KNEW I should have took my lunch with me at the very beginning, but didn't bother at the time), and I was leery of leaving the area because the cattle were STILL too close to the vicinity of my bog for comfort! After waiting a while until I felt a bit more comfortable, I finally quickly returned to my bike, grabbed my lunch bag, and returned with it to my things near my bog, and snacked on a couple of Pizza Pops and a Sweet & Salty bar. I was a bit concerned about the cattle also walking right through the area where I had my things (I saw some pass through there), but fortunately, nothing was stepped on.

Now, it was finally time for me to get prepared for work! I got undressed, put on my junk shorts, grabbed a pail that I had taken from its hiding spot in the bushes (noticed it had a plastic handle, not a metal one, and hoped that it would not break like so many other plastic handles, but it had held okay for all other mud transfer jobs), selected a spot in the meadow to dig out some mud, and dumped my first pail of mud on top, close to the middle! I then took a photo of it at 12:29 pm:

2017 09 05 6L Crescent.jpg

I proceeded to "mine" more mud from the meadow, dumped a few more pails, and took another photo at 12:40 pm:

2017 09 05 6M Crescent.jpg

While moving the mud, just as I had feared, the plastic handle finally broke, forcing me to carry the pail by its sides using both hands! But, having to carry it differently wasn't too bad. I took another photo of my progress at 2:13 pm:

2017 09 05 6N Crescent.jpg

I was feeling extremely tired and worn out, but had to keep on working, mining the mud - digging it out from underneath soft parts of the meadow. I had to avoid pea gravel in places (perhaps old beaver trails?), and had to keep picking out sticks and pieces of wood. I found more debris deeper down, so I had to limit myself to a layer of mud just below the carpet of plants, which was full of mostly dead roots, and any live ones were mostly roots with no growing points/runners. I wished I could have been able to access stuff free of debris and roots, but it would have been too far down (I think). But, I never did try it out. While digging, my left forearm started to feel strained on top, so I tried digging more with my right hand. I dug mud from numerous spots, some north of the bog, but most south of the bog. Sometimes when I finished with one spot, I would try and partially fill it with sod and stuff to make it less of a stumbling hazard. When I dumped the mud, I smoothed the surface out as I went. I would crawl over the top of the stiff surface to dump the mud further in. I was able to stand on the west part without sinking at all, as long as I treaded lightly.

While working, I heard gunshots in the distance, to the north, and wondered if it came from further up the sideroad! There was no sign of any tire tracks beyond a certain point when I arrived, but wondered if they came while I was there! I then thought I heard the sound of a truck driving nearby, and went to hide in the bushes, but then the sound faded away. I still heard distant shots to the north, but sound always carried a long ways there, and perhaps it was from a road further to the north. I had felt safe because hunting season was still 5 days away, which reduced the chances of being seen, but the fact that someone must have been target practicing meant that people were already coming into the bush, which increased the risk level of being seen!


To be concluded...

[Boggy Man]

My September 5'th Adventure, Part 4 - Conclusion (Click Here For The Beginning With More Pix)!

As the long day wore on, and it looked like I would never get it done because I felt so wasted. Even with the persistent smoke over the sun, and some cloud (hidden by the smoke), it still felt quite warm, which was a bit of a relief, although it probably helped with me feeling drained. Periodically, I would take a break to have a drink of Kool-Aid and empty my bladder. I would also periodically wander around to scout out other potential "mining" sites. I did have to leave the area briefly to grab another bottle of Kool-Aid from my bike.

As my work progressed, as I got to the edges, I smoothed the sides out a bit, and just kept on going counterclockwise around the sides, with the east and north sides requiring a bit more than the south and west sides at that time. I finally got to the point where I estimated that I needed only 8 more pails to complete it! Light at the end of the tunnel! I counted down the pail-loads, and when I reached the last one, I decided to do one extra. I was sooooo relieved that I was finished!!!! I smoothed things out better, and took two photos of my finished work at 5 pm (what a long afternoon!):

2017 09 05 6O Crescent.jpg

2017 09 05 6P Crescent.jpg

Now that I was all finished, I had to clean up all the dried-up mud splatter on my body. But, since I had to clean it off anyways, I decided to have two more sinks - one stimulating sink in my enhanced bog, and one final romp through the "treacherous" south shoreline! Originally, I wasn't going to make any videos, but then, I decided that I just couldn't leave without at least making one, even if it was just me slogging through deep bottomless mud without any drama. I took my camera, put it on a Gorillapod on my stick I had near my bog, took the stick/Gorillapod/camera to the south end of the pond, stuck it in the floating vegetation mat as close as I could get to the open mud and still maintain stability, and got it set up to properly view the "treacherous" shoreline. With the camera set up, I returned to my main bog, took off my junk shorts, and stepped back into the same spot I had sunk into in the morning, hitting it perfectly, even though it was hidden beneath the fresh layer of mud! Facing west again, I struggled, and noticed how the mud seemed substantially better with the stiff cracked surface all covered with the peanut buttery soft mire! It was farting swamp gas as I struggled, which I loved! I pushed my hands down on the mud to my sides (not straight down them like before), and pushed them through the submerged stiff layer into the doughy creaminess below! I struggled to full stimulation mid-abdomen deep, before I worked myself out, smoothed the surface out, and put my junk shorts back on.

I returned to the south shore, cleaned my hands, turned the camera on, got the area properly framed, pressed record, and I was finally ready to have my final mudplay of the season! I made my way over the floating vegetation to the bare exposed mud that was once pond bottom, and fought my way through the treacherous mire there, finding that I was able to move my legs through the softer gelatinous upper 4 feet, with a lot of work! It felt real good, having nothing solid beneath my feet, just more quaking mud, a little bit thicker than the stuff higher up, but still soft enough to suck me down deeper if I stayed in one place and struggled! It was a shame it was too late in the day to go under (I kept my glasses on because I knew I wasn't going under), so I just wallowed lower- to mid-abdomen deep through the mire, starting with the thicker stuff, and then over to some looser stuff closer to the pond, sinking slightly deeper, before heading back to the thicker stuff, and then back onto the floating vegetation. I cleaned my hands in water coming up through the floating vegetation, stopped the recording, and took a snapshot of the disturbed mire at 5:24 pm:

2017 09 05 6Q Crescent.jpg

I turned off the camera, and headed to the tiny pond to the south to clean off. Rubbing my junk shorts against my skin helped clean the dried-on mud, and at the end of the day, the water was much nicer, even with the clouds/smoke obscuring the sun! My legs were still a bit muddy, because I still had to walk through shallow mud to get to shore. I returned to the area of my main bog, grabbing my camera/Gorillapod and stick on the way, and set the camera and Gorillapod with my things. I cleaned off my legs beside the pond, but found it very awkward, because of too much sediment. I did the best I could, and once I managed to get myself clean enough, I still wasn't finished with things, because I couldn't leave without moving the sticks back around my bog to keep the cattle out! After disappearing for the latter part of the afternoon, the cattle were back again for the evening, which made that final job all the more important! I stuck the sticks back in place, but didn't feel comfortable with leaving the eastern part open. So, even though it was getting late with the air starting to feel cooler, I had to gather/break off more dead alders to stick around the bog, until I eventually had it completely surrounded! With the last job finally done, I got dressed, and took a photo of the raised bog with a wall of sticks at 6:28 pm:

2017 09 05 6R Crescent.jpg

The cattle were still nearby in the bushes. I swapped memory cards in my camera, gathered my things (bucket had already been returned to its hiding place all muddy), headed to my bike, put my things away, and was back on the road, hoping that wearing no helmet would help with my neck stress. I even took off my hat as well. The bumps/rocks on the road still seemed to bother my neck a bit. I contacted my dad partways down the hill where I could get reception, and he picked me up in the valley as it was getting dark.

I was glad that I had put sticks all the way around my bog this time, so that it is enclosed from all directions. Hopefully, the cattle won't push through it. However, after it was too late, I had realized that there was another problem that hadn't occurred to me earlier! My walking to and from the bog all summer flattened the grass, resulting in a major PATH through the meadow, leading to, and all around, the bog! It was no wonder why the bull(s) were headed straight in the direction of the bog when I was returning from my first cleanup! If only I had thought of that sooner, and had time, and had gloves so I wouldn't cut my hands on the sedge grass blades (they have stiff hairs that point towards the blade tips, which can saw through skin when rubbed down the blade away, from the tip), I would have tried lifting up all the grasses I had flattened to get rid of the path! I had intended this to be my final outing, but wondered if I needed another outing to finish that one thing off, or if things would still be okay, since I don't think that any animals will bother pushing through a circle of sticks out in the open, especially since it is bare ground inside with nothing to graze on (but they might get stuck in soft spots outside the bog, especially on the south side).

While I did manage to get a last video shot of me wading through bottomless mud, I later realized that perhaps if I had put my swim cap on my hair, and swim goggles on my eyes, and had 15 more minutes of time, perhaps I could have managed to have an underbog sink in the "treacherous" south shoreline after all! But, it was late, and the cleanup water, while not too bad, was still a little cool due to lack of sunshine. The water in the middle of the tiny pond might have been deep enough to immerse my head, but I was uncertain. I don't think I would get another chance at that, since the weather is cooling off, I need to rest my neck, hunting season begins on September 10'th, and we are rapidly descending into autumn. Next year, the water level will likely be back to normal, and that "treacherous" mud on the south shoreline will revert to submerged pond bottom again. I also regret not checking out the mud flats further out on the north side of the ring bog pond north of the Crescent Road pond. While it was only a foot or so of soft mud over thicker stiffer peat where it was exposed last year, it might have been softer and deeper where it was exposed further out this year!

But, I am happy that my main sinking spot has been raised by a couple of inches, which means it will become exposed when the water is two inches higher than it has been when the mud first became exposed this year and in previous years! I sacrificed a lot of sinking this time to get that work done, and it will be well worth it! However, I was noticing how the areas I sunk in on the edge were pushed down lower, making me concerned about when sinking near the edge of the mud, that the stiff layer may have resisted the mud being pushed up from me displacing it, resulting in perhaps some of the mud I was displacing being pushed sideways ALL the way around, including under the surrounding grass, taking mud away from my bog! So, a couple of times, I did try going around the bog, jumping on the surrounding grass to try and force some mud back out from under the grass into my bog. I don't know if it made any difference, but every little bit counts, and the added mud to the surface would more than compensate. Also, some additional mud under the surrounding grass would allow it to rise above the water earlier as well, which would be not so bad, as long as the bog itself also rises earlier. But then again, perhaps it was lower because the stiff layer was vertically fatter on the sides than in the middle, making it shrink more there.

I started to wonder if the reason I was feeling so wasted was because of all the smoke in the air. It seems to take the energy away from me at times. For the next few days, the smoke was relentless, cheating us out of what should have been record breaking (July-like) heat for early September, by keeping temperatures feeling warm but not overly toasting! It showered Friday evening and Saturday morning/afternoon, the first bit of moisture in a while, and now the weather is cooler, although it warms up for early next week before turning cooler again mid week.

I was quite sore from all that work for a few days! It took half a week for the strain in the top of my left forearm to vanish. As for my CT scan, they couldn't get an IV into me (I was in constant pain for the duration of their attempts), so I never had the contrasting fluid injected into my bloodstream for the scan. After a couple days of headaches, my neck seemed to be somewhat stabilized in terms of problems, suggesting that the precautions I took in that outing helped! But, ultimately, I think I will have to wait until next year before resuming my adventures to get my neck to recover. Each time I get a new "injury", I find myself in uncharted territory, have to take mental notes of what things make it worse, and what things help it, and don't know of what timeline there is for recovery (some problems never seemed to go away). I see my physiotherapist next week, and hopefully, she will help me manage my recovery, and I will be able to have a stronger neck next year, and be able to get back to business as usual! But, at least I finally matched the number of outings I had in 2013 (had 6 in 2013, 3 in 2014, 0 in 2015, 2 in 2016, and now 6 in 2017), the year my steady stream of "injuries" first began! Now, if only I could match 2012, with 11 outings, for next year (might be asking for too much, though)!

[bogbud]

Great pictures again, Boggy. How come about the cattle? I would be really concerned about their owner who might be looking after them and discover your spot.

Personal experience with cows: One of my spots is within a boggy forest and a fenced-off meadow with cattle is right next to it. Some late evening I did use a torch to find my path and the cows became quite crazy, running around in circles and mooing all the time. They calmed down when I turned it off and I was also lucky to be on the right side of the fence already. Just wanting to say, take care of yourself when they get near you and don't do anything that might provoke them

[PM2K]

Great pictures again, Boggy. How come about the cattle? I would be really concerned about their owner who might be looking after them and discover your spot.

I'm also curious about that. Ten years ago I was taking part in a military exercise at Wainwright, Alberta, and there was a herd of free ranging cattle wandering through the training grounds. I had to admit, that was an odd sight.

[Boggy Man]

Every year in the late (sometimes mid) summer, local ranches truck their cattle onto Crown (government-owned public) land to free-range graze and roam the backcountry to gain weight before being rounded up in the fall for slaughter. I always dread that time of year, because I am always concerned about them getting into my bog, or even getting stuck elsewhere. They can also be especially annoying when I am cycling down a road and come across some cattle, and instead of moving off the road right away, they just run down the road ahead of me, sometimes taking the same turnoffs I was using (especially sickening when they splatter a certain thing on the road in front of me as they run) before finally moving off the road or onto a sideroad. I tend to feel guilty disturbing and chasing them because they can become separated from others, and start mooing to announce their location to the others for regrouping.

Up Crescent Road pond sideroad Thursday, August 13'th, 2009, last day of MPV's visit:

[Boggy Man]

I thought I would add some more details I left out of my previous post. Crown land is multi-use public land, used for logging, free-range grazing by livestock, fishing, hunting, camping, all sorts of back-country recreation. There is also an area where cadets carried out certain exercises (don't know if they still do there).

The cattle in this area are generally in very small herds, probably around 6 to 8 animals. But, there can be more. I only saw a handful of animals around my Crescent Road pond. They generally don't bother me, but a number of years ago, we went camping at Big Bar Lake, several hours' drive to the northwest. On two occasions - one while hiking south of the lake (smaller herd), and one while biking west of the lake (larger herd), I had encountered a calf (different one each time) that exhibited intentions of overly playful behavior towards me, and believe me, you wouldn't want any of those animals playfully rough-housing with you, even if they are young! Nothing happened, but that did make me a bit nervous! I don't know what it was about that area that made the calves so aggressively playful, but elsewhere, they are always a bit more shy.

[TheWestcott123]

how do we view the videos?

[Boggy Man]

how do we view the videos?

My videos are linked through the clickable photos in this thread:

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

Enjoy!