How to sink deeper?

[CrazyCoyote]

Hello! First time posting here and figured I’d start with a question! So I found some mud that gets up to around my thighs but then I stop sinking. I want to go deeper but I’m not sure how. Any tips or tricks?

[lonesinker]

You might have to keep exploring and hopefully you find a deeper mud pit somewhere. Some of them are disappointedly shallow

[bogbud]

There are multiple issues to consider.
In case you hit a solid bottom after one or two feet (like thighdeep) there is not much you can do.
In case the mud becomes too thick to sink deeper it has some potential. Try to loosen it or come back later when it has been raining a lot.
Even when you have found the bottomless kind we all like so much you will find out that it will be difficult to sink deeper than about breast- or shoulderdeep unless the mud is really watery.
In that case I act like I want to grab something buried deep down in the mud with my arms. When I try to pull them back I sink deeper. When I'm deeper than my armpits it becomes more easy and trying to lift my buried arms even leads to involuntary sinking

[Fred588]

Obviously, the first thing is the mud has be BE deeper. Aside from using a back hoe there is not much you can do about that.

Assuming the mud IS deeper then the issue becomes simpler - somewhat. Having built quite a few pits myself there are two things I have noted that affect one's ability to sink - viscosity and density.

Viscosity is the resistance of a fluid to movement. A fluid that resists movement we would call "thick." The viscosity of mud may vary from place to place within a body of mud, and especially with depth. If it is feasible, as it is with a man-made pit at a place such as my Studio, it is fairly easy to lower the viscosity of a region of mud by adding water. We use a PVC tube as a probe at the end of a hose to do this.

Density refers to the specific gravity of the mud. Plain water has a specific gravity of 1.0, by definition. Seawater is slightly denser, which is why one floats better in seaswater than in fresh. The specific gravity of any mud will vary according to the material (sand, clay, peat, etc) used to make the mud and the amount of water in the mix. A pit filled with sand or clay will be substantially more dense than water. One filled with peat will also be higher than water, unless there is dry peat on top, in which case the AVERAGE specific gravity could be less than water. A pit that uses cork can also be less than water in its AVERAGE specific gravity. A pit with what I call gallium polykryptonite will be just a tiny bit more dense than water, even though the crystals are almost all water because the polymer that is not water is heavier than water.

There is at least one more thing that affects the ability to sink, although it really only becomes a factor when attempting to do a submergence. That is what I would describe as a sort of practical interaction between viscosity and density. To sink deeper than one's float point requires the application of some sort of force. That is, a person trying to submerge must push him/her self downward by pushing mud upward. If the density is high then more force is needed than if the density is low. If the viscosity is high then it is relatively easy to apply this force. One simply uses the arms to push upward on the mud. If the viscosity is low, however, the mud tends to move around the hands and arms as they are listed, and one must push upward multiple times before one floats back up.

In other words, its not so simple.

Hello! First time posting here and figured I’d start with a question! So I found some mud that gets up to around my thighs but then I stop sinking. I want to go deeper but I’m not sure how. Any tips or tricks?

[mud_dreamer]

All great points, especially the more technical version provided by Fred588.

One thing that I have done to loosen up the material below me is to use a "garden claw". Do a search for that.
Another tool that I use mainly to insure extraction is a "Stream Machine". This portable water toy can be used to inject water into the mud to change the viscosity.

As Fred588 has mentioned, the location has to actually have mud or clay deep enough for "loosening" to work. I sink along natural streams and typically I find gravel, small/medium sized river rocks, as the limiting material. It does pay to hunt around because conditions can vary dramatically over a short distance. Rivers and streams which have meandered for many 1000's of years eroding through mud and clay and then depositing it in deep pools are especially gratifying to find.

When I find the material to be decent but the depth to be limited, I sink "off-vertical" meaning I push my feet forward as I drop down deeper. To make this work better I use my hands and forearms to scoop mud from in front of my body to make room. I also scoop mud from around my behind to allow me to drop down. Off course it is good to move around alot to liquify the mud and make it easier to sink into.

I have used these methods to sink to neck deep. Good luck and have fun.