Quicksand in Arches, interesting comments

[Rockskipper]

https://www.reddit.com/r/CampingandHiking/comments/1pgxvt5/quicksand_trapped_me_on_the_hayduke_in_arches_np

This is in Courthouse Wash not far from Moab Giants.

 

[regehr]

Wild. Thanks for linking.

I packrafted the Dirty Devil one time and, after that, I kind of figured I knew about everything there was to know about quicksand. At one memorable spot we were stopping for a snack break and one of my friends just walked to dry land. I landed a couple feet away and got slightly mired, but not too bad. Then our other friend landed a few feet farther down and it took him 10-15 minutes to extricate himself, we couldn't even really help without getting stuck ourselves. Come to think of it, some of those spots might have been problematic if we hadn't had those super-buoyant rafts to use as leverage for getting unstuck.

Also, growing up in the 1970s, I feel like I received a lot of exposure to quicksand:

 

[RyanP]

Yeah, as a kid I thought (probably based on the cartoons I watched) that one of the main life skills I would need as an adult would be how to escape from quicksand

 

[Bob]

Thats why backpacking / hiking by yourself can be problematic......

 

[The Trout Whisperer]

Thats why backpacking / hiking by yourself can be problematic......

Not for you, as quicksand can’t handle 55 degree slopes. Merry Christmas Bob.

 

[futurafree]

 

[Janice]

Also, growing up in the 1970s, I feel like I received a lot of exposure to quicksand:

And TV - Gilligan's Island! Because of that show, for many years I thought quicksand was fake or fatal. Until our Paria trip in 2014 when my son - and then I - encountered quicksand but were able to get out pretty quickly. This real story is intense.

 

[b.stark]

Years ago I came across a woman stuck in quicksand in Coyote Gulch and had to help her out. She had one leg in about knee deep. To get close enough I got a couple decent sized cottonwood branches to spread out my weight (well, I got one, and once I said what I was doing her friend got into action and found another for me). Definitely couldn't just pull her out, had to do a bit of digging.

It was interesting as it was just one small spot... 5 or 10 feet away the sand was solid as could be, but I could definitely not just walk up to the spot to help her without sinking in myself.

Took a photo of the spot a day later... doesn't look like much.

 

[Bob]

In your pic up next to the wall on a bend pools water under the sand......