After my last bikeride, I was anxious to see what the hot, dry weather would do to my sinking spot the following week. But, the following Thursday, exactly one week after my last bikeride, we had a heavy dump of rain, which concerned me greatly. Fortunately, the unsettled weather only lasted that one day, and on Friday, July 23'rd, the day after the rain, I just couldn't wait to get up there. Once again, I was happy my dad drove me up there, which saved me from severe leg cramps and possible knee pain.
Just as I had feared, my sinking spot, which I had worked so hard to expose, was under around an inch of water!
But, I was ready to try out my new technique for eliminating the water from the surface.In the past, I used to get right into the pit to stir up the mud, but that would result in me displacing the mud/water, causing some of the surface water to run away, to run back in after I got out after eliminating the water that was on top, resulting in water still over the mud!
But, my new technique that I had formulated in my mind was to just lay down on the surrounding grass, extending myself partially over the pit, and then stirring the water into the mud without displacing anything in the pit. I had to try spreading my weight enough so that the surrounding ground I was on didn't lower down enough to drain water away. Once I would get the surface water eliminated in one spot, I would then shift over, and do the adjacent part, and continue around the pit, mixing the water in, until the water was gone! 
But, since it was early in the morning, and we had a cold low shoot through the area the previous day, I had to wait a little while before trying out my idea. So, I hiked up a small stream that flowed into an adjacent pond to the east, but finding nothing, eventually winding up at a third pond to the north, which was the one with the sphagnum bog, where I had taken a small handful of moss before. I then headed to the road which led me back to my main pond.
After I returned back to my sinking area, I was ready to begin my work!
I took a "before" photo of the pit (actually a hole in the grass covering the vast expanses of mud surrounding the pond), showing how it was flooded from the rainfall the previous day:I had to slather on sunscreen and insect repellent to protect my backside from sunburn and biting insects. I also wore my junk shorts. I got right down to business, and worked my way around clockwise, starting on the east side, and it worked!
I used swimming motions to pull the water from the center towards me, and it felt quite nice having my upper body "floating" on the surface of the soft mire! But, I was able to keep from sinking face-first into the mire, and before I knew it, I had the entire area exposed again, a complete transformation in less than half an hour!!!! I cleaned enough to get my camera, and take a couple of "after" photos of the restored bog:
I then started to clean up, but first headed to the south end, where there was some shallower mud on the west side of a smaller pool of water, and had a little stimulating horizontal wallow in it. That shallow mud did conceal sticks and sharp rocks, which was uncomfortable walking through it, but laying on top felt nicer. I then cleaned off in the smaller mini-pond on that side, and returned back to my sinking area, where I hung up my junk shorts on a dead alder limb to dry, got dressed, and headed back to my bike.
Even though I only had my front mainly wet and messy, I still felt a bit chilled, because the air was still a little bit on the cool side, and the wind kept coming up, which made it also a little uncomfortable. So, I knew that I would have to wait until later on in the afternoon before doing my second phase of the mud loosening, where I would finally get in and bring stiffer stuff up to the surface from my foot level.
So, I grabbed my lunch and drink, and headed southward up the road to see where it led, since I hadn't been up that way in many years. North of the boggy pond, the road split in two, and I remembered long ago taking the left fork, but couldn't remember the right one, which headed to the east. So, I snacked on Pizza Pops and Kool-Aid, and followed the road, checking out some open meadows along the way, which were mostly grass. But, I did come across a marshier area with willows, and took a couple of pictures of a marshy clearing:
I probed it with a stick, but it was only a few inches deep. Nothing of interest there.
I headed up the trail a little further, before turning back, noticing that the air was definitely warming up. I had seen on that trail a pair of deer - a doe and a buck which disappeared before I could even think of reaching for my camera case, and also a large grouse, which flew up into the bushes, and stood on a branch.
When I returned to my bike, I had moved it to a new spot where it would be shaded, took an extended nature break in the woods, and returned to my bog, this time with my swim goggles in case I wanted to submerge later. The surface was still exposed nicely like it was when I left, but had darkened from exposure to the air. I got undressed, left my swim goggles behind until I needed them, if I needed them, and headed to my sinking spot, where I then entered the mire, with it making a gulping sound "BLOOOOP" as I sunk almost to my chest in puddinglike mire that started to set like jelly. I then pulled the thicker mud from deeper down up high enough with my feet to reach it with my hands, bringing it up the rest of the way to the surface, repeating it all over the place, working my way around the bog counterclockwise, starting on the east side. I was starting to be concerned about the fact that as I brought up thicker stuff to the surface in one place, it was pushing the soft stuff to the sides, possibly covering the thicker stuff I had brought up to the surface earlier in adjacent areas. I just hoped that it wasn't going to be a problem, although I did notice some areas where there seemed to be a submerged layer of thicker mud under softer stuff. The mud on top felt warmer from the sun, but the constant bringing up of the mud from foot level around 3 to 4 feet down, and slightly deeper, resulted in me being constantly in contact with colder mud that the sun had to warm up from scratch. So, I was a little bit uncomfortably chilled, but it was not too uncomfortable, or I would have never been able to stay in it for two hours, getting out some time after 5 pm, and cleaning up. The sun was getting lower, resulting in it feeling not as warm as it was a short time earlier, and I had to get going, since I had a long bike trip home. So, no sinking or sink videos this time, either.
