Finally, after waiting around 2 weeks, things have started turning around! It was as if a switch was flipped, and now we were finally back to getting some warmer weather!
On Friday, May 15'th, the forecast was calling for sunshine with a high of 22˚C, or 72˚F, with even warmer weather over the weekend! I couldn't wait! However, I didn't want to go on the weekend when it was warmer yet, because it was the Victoria Day long weekend, and there could be lots of people on motorbikes and atv's up there to drive across the small clearing south of the road, over to the top of the silt cliffs to look down at the valley, including my sinking location to the west! 
There were also indications that people also tend to camp in the clearing between the road and the top of the cliffs (remains of an old campfire), and the last thing I needed was for people to be staying there, while I was there! 
So, I had to stick to Friday. But, unfortunately, that day fell on an asparagus-picking day. 
But, all hope was not lost, because the field only takes 2 to 2.5 hours to pick, since my dad plowed much of the field under because it was dying. So after an early pick, my dad was able to drive me back up into the mountains, saving me a trip, and I still had much of the day left!
The day before, we had lots of convective showers going on, and I was worried that there may be some lingering instability, or cloud. When we left, there were clouds appearing to be building, but then they remained the same size, and some appeared to be dissipating! But, there were still a fair bit of cloud in the vicinity of Harris Creek, with the air feeling a little bit cool. My dad dropped me off just after 11:30 am, and I was on my way! I had some interesting plans for one of my sinks. I wanted to see if I could fasten my digital camera onto my head, having it upside down over my left eye, which had poor eyesight, so that I could try making a video of a quicksilt sink from my perspective!
I was planning on tying strings around two of the legs of my gorillapod, and then tie it to my head. But, in order for me to get it properly positioned, I needed to be able to look at myself. So, I needed a mirror. I didn't have any spare ones at home of convenient size to take, since it had to be something that could be considered "junk". I knew that there was a bunch of stuff dumped down the hillside below Harris Creek Road, and was certain that a mirror was likely among the things there. Hopefully by the time I was finished with everything and was ready for the sink, the clouds would have moved away. First, before heading to the area with the illegally dumped discards, I had to head down a sidetrail and then hike down a hillside to see if the Chocolate Lilies (Fritillaria lanceolata) were in bloom yet so that I could take pictures of it, snacking on a Pizza Pop on the way down for lunch. After taking some pictures of some Fairyslipper orchids (Calypso bulbosa) down the sideroad, I made my way down the trail and down the hillside, where I found some chocolate lilies, taking pictures of one. I headed back, snacking on another Pizza Pop, and took some pictures of some Western Spring Beauty (Claytonia lanceolata), that were off the side of the trail. With the pictures taken, I continued on my way.
My next stop was the site of where someone dumped a bunch of stuff down the steep hillside, to see if I could find a mirror to use for determining if I have the camera mounted on my face properly when the time came. When I reached a certain spot, I located a bunch of discarded stuff down the hillside, but it looked different. I found a place further up the road where I could hide my bike down the side of a small embankment behind a line of trees, and then walked westward to find a mirror. This was definitely a different area, and I picked up a nice wash basin that looked intact. It could be handy for filling with water from the creek, which would then warm up nicely in the hot sun.
I checked the area out, seeing a couple of leg bones on the ground, and hoped that they were animal. 
I saw a couple of cars that were rolled down the hillside in two spots. The last one I looked at had a rearview mirror that looked intact!
I started to bang it with my hand to see if I could knock it off, when I realized that if it shattered, I could easily cut my hand open! So, I took a rock, and after banging it a few times, it came off and fell to the floor, intact. I headed back up the hill with it, finding a discarded "+"-shaped tire wrench along the way. I returned to my bike and found that I couldn't fit the basin in any of the saddlebags of my bike, and decided not to bother trying to tie it on. I wasn't certain if I could really make use of it at the slide area anyways, since any water I got from the creek would likely mostly spill out by the time I got back to the slide area. So, I left the basin behind, and with a lot of heaving and lifting, managed to get my heavy bike up the steep path on the embankment, back to the flat area beside the road. I was once again on my way, happy that the gears were low enough that going up steeper hills with all the weight was easier than on my older bike. I spotted some white-tail deer and mule deer along the way, and took a couple of pictures of some mule deer at 1:46 and 1:47 pm, respectively.I reached the slide area some time around 2:22 pm, rather late. But then, it wasn't the warmest day, and the clouds were thicker earlier. Better than nothing, and I was still happy that I didn't let asparagus picking prevent me from going on this bikeride!
I got my things out, and took off my jeans to be in my shorts. I also removed my socks to be barefoot inside my workboots. I had a lot to carry. My Kool-Aid bottle, camera, gorillapod, some discarded jeans I had in a black bag to replace the ones used in the makeshift backpack in case it had deteriorated to the point of tearing, extra string in case I needed it, two small margarine containers that were inside each other for holding water for cleaning my hands quickly for handling the camera after a sink, the rear-view mirror for looking at the position of the camera on my face, and some sunscreen in case I felt I needed it.
When I went to the top of the cliffs, I was happy to see that not one, but BOTH of the cleanup basins had water in them!
The older one was cloudier, but the newer one was clearer. So, it looked like cleanup was going to be easier than expected , since I knew that with the snowmelt in the higher elevations, the creek would have gotten higher, flooding the sidepool I had cleaned up at last time, or at least I assumed that would be the case. I headed northward and then down the steep hillside west of the cliffs and then eastward onto the flatter upper part of the silty embankment on the west end of the silt cliffs that had been created by the slide. I left my workboots above the looser steeper part of the slope, since I didn't want any silt to get in them, and made my way down barefoot, noticing how the loose silt was still reasonably wet around an area where it had been soft years ago.
I reached the flat part of the debris field, where the silt was damp in a 20 to 30 foot wide swath extending westward, situated between the embankment/hillside to the north and the rest of the debris field to the south, which was higher and drier. The top of the swath was what I had called the "spring area", because that was where water started oozing out of the ground, flowing westward through that swath or corridor, with more groundwater oozing out further down as well. That spring area had been getting more solid, and it had been years since I last been able to sink there. Instead, places just west, downhill of that, was where I sank. My old cleanup basin is situated on the western part of the flatter spring area.
I set my things down in a low spot in the higher debris field south of the spring area, took out the junk jeans from the bag, and hung them on a partially fallen tree sticking out of the embankment to the north, to dry in the sun, when it did come out. I was now ready to take a look around.
The place definitely looked much better than on May 2'nd, with the ground feeling damper, and it looked like there were more places to sink!
With not one, but TWO cleanup basins at my disposal, I was really happy, and the water, while a little cool, was relatively speaking, substantially hotter than the creek water! The slumped area looked wetter, and when I headed down to the place where I had my sinks last time, things definitely looked more saturated!
I was wondering if the clay area closer to the embankment to the north was more sinkable again, and noticed that the ground above (uphill and just to the east of) the place where I had my sinks last time, one captured on video, was also quite wet! It looked like something easily liquifiable, but first I needed to clear away some debris. I removed many sticks, some of which were stuck in the ground, making me wonder if there were more stick buried underneath just waiting to scratch me once I started to sink there when I was ready for it. I noticed that there was one fallen tree trunk sticking westward out of the ground just a few feet downhill, and knew that if I did any sinking there, it would have to be to either side of the fallen, partially buried tree. I just hoped there weren't lots of sidebranches sticking out underneath, to scratch me or provide a barrier to my sinking there. But, that was one area I wanted to save for something special. I noticed that the area to the south, closer to an E-W fallen tree (this one above ground, not partially below), which I had my eyes on, still looked promising for yet another sink for video.
Further downhill, I never really bothered checking out. It was time to experiment with the camera, while waiting for it to warm up, since things still felt a little bit cool for sinking yet.Back at the spring area, I had my junk backpack out, and sitting in the sun, and was happy that it was intact, and didn't tear when I picked it up with all the weights in it!
I got out my camera and there were a couple pieces of shoe string tied together inside the inner margarine container. I untied them, and tied each one to a leg of the gorillapod I had screwed onto the camera. I also had to delete the last sink video from my camera to make more room, since I had already transferred it to my computer. I then tied the other ends together at the back of my head, and fiddled with the knobby tentacles of the gorillapod, trying to get the camera to fit over my left eye, upside down, looking at myself in the mirror to see if it looked okay. When the camera was upside down, the lens was situated roughly over my left eye, which seemed to be the perfect place for it. I would just rotate the image 180˚ later on the computer. In order to have the camera over my eye, I had to remove my glasses, so I would be doing everything without clear vision. I had the camera set to "Movie", and chose the higher resolution 640x480 mode instead of the 320x240 mode I had always used, to get better detail. If this worked, I was thinking of creating a larger file (200 megs?) and perhaps creating a Megaupload account and uploading it there. With the camera in place over my left eye, I clicked the shutter button to initiate the recording, and then began to test it by walking around, and stamping on a hard flat area of the spring area, looking at my feet and around. I then stopped the recording, took the camera off my head, put my glasses back on, and looked at the video. It was all too high.
So, I went through the entire procedure again, readjusting the camera position, discovering it was still too high. I repeated it over and over again, eventually getting the camera position just right, with my feet being nice and visible! But, by simply taking it off, there was no guarantee that it would be in the same position when I put it back on. Also, I found that when I was staring straight down, the camera began to tilt its position away from my eye. I tried tying the string onto the third leg (tentacle) of the gorillapod, but it still didn't work. I was getting frustrated, since this string system wasn't working out at all. I looked at the time, and it was already some time around 4 pm!!!!
I then decided not to fiddle around with my experimental improvised camera head mount, and instead save that for another time. If I was going to have any sink at all, I would have to start right away! The sun had been coming out nicely, and things felt warmer, which was great! So, I put the stuff down, got undressed, and was ready to begin! I first had to pick out a spot. I didn't want to use any of the places that were promising places for taking some interesting videos. I wanted an out-of-the-way spot. I had earlier noticed that the ground was cracked on the spring area where I was testing my camera string headmount, making me wonder if it was being rejuvenated, and possibly be sinkable again for the first time in years.
But if that spot was any good, I didn't want to waste it on a non-video sink.At the slumped area southwest of the spring area, I glanced at the soft spot on the south side of my newer cleanup basin, noticing how it was oozing with water on top. Perhaps a bit too much water, since I wanted something that was going to be nice and thick, not liquid. I then noticed that just lower down, the ground closer to a south embankment (a smaller embankment separating the lower softer
part of the slide area's debris field that hugs the hillside to the north from a higher, drier part of the debris field to the south) also looked moist and promising! So, I decided that would be the place to try out! I first cleared away debris from the surface, including a small chunk of blackened decomposed wood that broke into pieces, and then proceeded to do my "quicksand dance". Just as I had hoped, the orangy yellow ground there went from being solid to becoming a waterbed, pulsating rather nicely!
Once I had a decent-sized patch activated and undulating rather enticingly, I was ready to begin! Facing west, with the south embankment to my left, I stood in place, the rubbery surface sagging beneath my feet. When I began to pump my feet, the ground continued to stretch down lower and lower, rising up over my feet, with them disappearing into the resulting gaps in the surface which then closed shut, locking them in! I could feel the gulping quicksilt holding my feet very strongly when I tried lifting them up, and sucked them in deeper when I moved, the ground pulsating and heaving like a waterbed! There was some debris mixed in the mud, but it wasn't too bad. Just a little ways down, I could feel the silt become more liquid as the thicker rubberier surface rose further up my calves. I struggled, swayed a bit, and loved how it kept on sucking me in deeper into its grip! The heaving morass rose past my knees and up my thighs!
Then, partways up my thighs, my left foot hit gravel!
I tried to continue sinking, but while my right foot felt nothing but soft silt beneath it, my left foot wasn't able to penetrate the gravel. I had hoped that a bit more agitation would make it liquify too, and the layer of gravel would give way, with more silty gooeyness underneath. But, unfortunately, that was not to be. So, disappointed, I proceeded to work myself out, lifting one leg up slightly until the silty quicksand waterbed locked up tight, lowering it until the mire relaxed its grip, and then lifting it again until the gripping ooze flexed its muscles tightly again, with my leg getting higher and higher each time. Then, after one leg was raised a certain amount, I would switch to the other leg, doing the same thing, raising it by a certain amount as well, before switching legs again. Once I was high enough, I was able to extract each foot, and then agitate it to eliminate the impressions.
Since the gravel seemed to be sloping downward to the north, I decided to try repositioning myself further north. Taking care to avoid the end of a narrower fallen tree trunk pointing eastward, raised up above the ground and ending just on the west side of the sinking spot, I once again did my "quicksand dance" to extend the activated area northward, and this time facing south, standing a little bit further northward, I began to pump my legs. Once again, the hungry quicksilt started bending under my feet and sucked them into its waterbedlike body. I kept on struggling, the gulping mire slowly consuming my legs once more, with me enjoying its feel as it slowly rose higher. I think it was at that time when I felt my left foot brush by a submerged rock, with more soft silt underneath. I hoped that this time, I would hit no barriers.
I was happy to see the mire rise up my thighs, past the point where I had stopped last time.
But then, just a little further down, my feet once again hit into rocks or gravel! I tried to sink past them, but no such luck! So, once again, I began to slowly work myself out of the rubbery grip of the silty quicksand, with water slowly puddling on the southern part of the activated area, where I had my previous sink.I cleared some more debris away from the north side of the currently activated patch of mire, and once again did my "quicksand dance" to extend the activated part of the quicksilt further north, the hungrily undulating patch of sucking silt becoming a little elongated in shape. With the surface in that newly activated end quaking like a waterbed as well, I was ready to try it once again.
Facing south, I once again pumped my legs in place, which was like standing on a waterbed that was slowly wrapping itself around you, from the feet up. It closed over my feet, locking them once more into its muscular grip, and then once again slowly rose up my legs as I struggled, the voracious muck not wanting to let go of them without a fight! The pulsating surface slowly rose up my thighs as I pumped my legs more, and I was happy that I was sinking deeper than the adjacent spot in front of me!
The heaving surface cradled my crotch, and slowly rose towards my waist, swallowing a certain body appendage.But then, my feet hit into more solid ground, with some scattered stones.
I pumped my feet, but it didn't seem to want to liquify. It felt like stiff clay, which I could barely manage to penetrate! It looked like I wasn't going to sink any deeper vertically. So now, I had to resort to working myself into a sitting position to get any deeper. I continued to struggle, using the grip of the silty quicksand on my legs to allow me to pull my upper body downward. I kept on lifting myself up slightly to let air in beneath my rear and then lowered myself again, which resulted in the rubbery quagmire farting the air back out around my skin, something that really added to the experience. I worked my arms in and out of the quagmire, feeling its wonderful grip. I loved the way it locked up when I tried moving too much, yet felt sooo soft and gentle when I restricted my movements to within a very narrow range.
When my knees started to rise too close to the surface, resulting in two muddy bumps appearing in the heaving surface of the sucking ooze, I had to work them back down again, one side and then the other, leaning towards the side of each leg to be worked down, which helped. I struggled and just loved the feel of it, my legs slowly rising up again as I kept bending my knees to force my upper body down to my lower chest. Even though it wasn't really sucking me down deeper, it still had a really nice grip on me as I struggled, and I loved making it fart air that I would trap between submerged parts of me and the mud.
All throughout, I kept on imagining that I was slowly being sucked to my doom, but for some reason I wasn't able to get fully stimulated.
It was getting late, so I decided to extract myself and go for a quick horizontal sink instead, which was more effective.My knees were almost at the surface again, so I was gradually able to break the suction under me and get myself back up into a standing position. At that point, I was able to work each leg up with the up and down motions while keeping the other still, switching between legs periodically, until I was able to pull out one foot and then the other. I never bothered closing the impressions, but instead was ready to have my horizontal struggle on the jellylike surface of the waterbedlike quicksilt, which was now hissing some air trapped from the closing impressions, especially from the ones left by my feet.
Facing north, I was on my hands and knees, with my bent knees slowly being swallowed by the sucking silt on the south side, where there was a little bit of water pooling on the surface. I put my hands onto the soft thicker quagmire free of surface water around a foot or less from the north side, and struggled, with the gulping mire pulling down both my bent legs and my hands, the surface pulsating hungrily. The rubbery ooze rose up to my crotch, and began to hug my stomach as I continued to struggle, with it also rising up my arms.
Struggling vigorously, I pretended to be sinking to my death, with nothing solid to push onto, the only ground I was pushing down against was sucking them down deeper as well, the mire hugging my stomach, slowly rising towards my chest. The struggles, the increasing entrapment, seeing it heave and pulsate, feeling its "inescapable" grip slowly drawing me down deeper, all raised my stimulation to the exploding point!
The "deadly" ooze never had the chance to swallow my arms up to my shoulders before the my stimulation "peaked" So, my entire chest didn't have a chance to start pressing down into the rubbery quagmire. But then, I figured that it was better that way at this time, since things were a little cool, and I didn't want to get muddy too far up my body just yet.
So, I worked my hands out, and then broke the suction on my bent legs and broke the silty "seal" across the backside of my knees. I got up, and agitated the mire to close the gaps, and wished that I could have spent more time there, since its waterbedlike feel was soooooo irresistible! But, I had to get going, since it was getting late. I returned to my original cleanup basin, and cleaned myself from the top down. Then, I proceeded to dig out the clay that was on the bottom, which was very thick and stiff, depositing it around the outer edge. I had thought about moving it to line the outside of the other newer cleanup basin, but decided that it would take too long, and I had to get going home. After I finished dredging out my old cleanup basin, the water was too saturated with clay to clean my feet off properly. So, I cleaned them off in the clearer water of the new cleanup basin, which was quite handy, noticing how solid the silty bottom was.
I got dressed, noticing that it was some time around 4:40 pm. I put my makeshift jean backpack, which had mostly dried nicely in the sun, away again in its hiding spot, covering it with the slabs of bark. I also hid the rear-view mirror there as well. I realized that the basin I had found earlier might have made a nice cover to protect the backpack from the rain.
The other jeans that I had brought and hung on a fallen tree on the north embankment were dry, and I took it back with me, since I didn't want to leave it, hidden also, at the slide area where it could deteriorate before it was needed. I returned back to my bike with my things, picking up my workboots along the way. I packed everything on my bike, and shortly after 5 pm, I was on my way back home, stopping briefly to take a couple of pictures of 3 mule deer in the bushes, to put on my jacket and then my jeans, since it was feeling a little cool, to snack on chocolate chip cookies and a couple granola bars, take a pic of some Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton americanum), and some pix of some scenic hillsides dotted with Arrow-Leaved Balsamroot (Balsomorhiza sagittata) which weren't the best, due to the poor lighting so late in the day. I got home at 9:04 pm.
It was a rather interesting day, with it starting with a couple hours of asparagus harvest, followed by a slightly shortened outing. But, it was better than nothing!
The sun did finally manage to come out for my sink, and I was happy about both cleanup basins containing water, thanks to the rain, which also added extra juice (groundwater) to the slide area, increasing the number of places to sink! It was a shame that the spot I chose to sink in wasn't as deep as I had hoped, but then, you can never tell until you test it. In Vernon, the official temperature was around 19˚C, or 66˚F, but slightly warmer at our place. In Lumby, a town that is closest to Harris Creek, they got up to 21˚C, or 70˚F. So, there was some warmth. I was disappointed that my string method for mounting the camera over my left eye didn't work.
So, I was back to the drawing board.
Then, some time afterwards, it hit me!
I realized that a much more effective way to mount the camera would be to have the gorillapod's legs tied to a cycling helmet! The camera would be held rigid to the helmet, and I would make certain the helmet would be rigid on my head, without movement! We have an old one that I can't remember where it came from, that my dad was trying to throw away that I kept around. It may just be what I am looking for! The weather reverted back to much cooler conditions Tuesday May 19'th and Wednesday May 20'th, along with showers to replenish the water in the slide area, not to mention the groundwater that feeds my sinking areas. But, after that, things are going to heat up steadily, and we are in for some nice, hot weather!
So, I am now eyeing the end of the week, or early in the weekend (no long holiday weekend here in Canada this time) as the next day for my bikeride, where I will try my new method of mounting the camera to my head, and hope it works! But, if it does work, I am torn between giving an occasional dramatic commentary during the action, or to remain silent so that the viewers, who will basically be "in my place", can substitute their own responses to the predicament as they watch it unfold.
I sure hope it works!
