Quicksand

You could potentially 'go under' if the quicksand was under enough water (or obviously if the tide comes up like above). The experience I mentioned above on the middle Escalante made that abundantly clear. I was nearly chest deep in pretty swift water with my legs encased and it was more than a little freaky.

This is a really interesting story about getting stuck in quicksand for 12 hours on the Dirty Devil. It was a large NOLS group and they couldn't get him out. Hell, the SAR helicopter tried to pull him straight out and that didn't even work...

https://www.outsideonline.com/1916551/surviving-12-hours-quicksand
 
Based upon my childhood TV watching experiences I expected to encounter quicksand a lot more often than I have.

TF


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Yet another reason for a walking stick. You can probe it before you step in it. I don't believe it to be a serious risk in my experience. Walking the Dirty Devil gives you a lot of experience....
 
Nick said:
You could potentially 'go under' if the quicksand was under enough water (or obviously if the tide comes up like above). The experience I mentioned above on the middle Escalante made that abundantly clear. I was nearly chest deep in pretty swift water with my legs encased and it was more than a little freaky.

This is a really interesting story about getting stuck in quicksand for 12 hours on the Dirty Devil. It was a large NOLS group and they couldn't get him out. Hell, the SAR helicopter tried to pull him straight out and that didn't even work...

https://www.outsideonline.com/1916551/surviving-12-hours-quicksand
Click to expand...
Almost makes me want to carry a 2-3 foot hollow tube to breathe through if that happens.
 
Carcass said:
Almost makes me want to carry a 2-3 foot hollow tube to breathe through if that happens.
Click to expand...

That would be terrifying... Back when I was spending a lot of time exploring Glen Canyon, I had this idea to start using quicksand/mud shoes. Basically a modification of snowshoes to help distribute weight and walk over the nasty transition zone. I was trying to do them super lightweight for backpacking and they basically amounted to flimsy cutting boards with slots for straps that would attach them to your shoes and spread your weight way out. I think they'd actually do a pretty good job, at least for the more silt/mud type quicksand found between the lake and dry land in Glen Canyon. Never actually put them to use though.
 
Nick said:
You could potentially 'go under' if the quicksand was under enough water (or obviously if the tide comes up like above). The experience I mentioned above on the middle Escalante made that abundantly clear. I was nearly chest deep in pretty swift water with my legs encased and it was more than a little freaky.

This is a really interesting story about getting stuck in quicksand for 12 hours on the Dirty Devil. It was a large NOLS group and they couldn't get him out. Hell, the SAR helicopter tried to pull him straight out and that didn't even work...

https://www.outsideonline.com/1916551/surviving-12-hours-quicksand
Click to expand...
Can't pull straight out if quicksand.... It acts like one of those Chinese finger locks we had as toys
 
I just spent 4 days floating the Dirty Devil and can tell you that that is a good way to experience huge amount of quicksand. It was really incredible. The worst of it was under a bit of water and would eat a leg up to the thigh in seconds. There was little real danger since we had packrafts, but we all had a few awkward moments when we tried to get into the boat and then found a leg 100% locked down. I was worried about either twisting my leg or else losing my raft in these circumstances. I was also worried about losing footwear, but my cheapo neoprene booties never came off. Was exhausting though.
 
Simple..... Watch where you walk. Never found any more than knee deep in S Utah canyons...
 
I've never heard anyone up here refer to it as quicksand as its a whole different beast. Most refer to it as the mudflats. Any beach near glacial runoff is very prone to it. Unlike the legend of quicksand, it doesn't suck you under, it just traps you in, rarely up to the knees. If you keep walking you can usually avoid being stuck. Once stuck, it is extremely difficult to extricate yourself. The trick is to break the suction (easier said than done). When I worked on the Katmai coast, is was a fairly frequent experience to be mildly stuck but with experience, you would recognize the dangerous substrate which prevented being really stuck and you could extricate yourself because you weren't "glued in". Once we loosened our feet, we could roll out to firmer ground.

The same thing happens along our local glacial rivers. About 5 years ago, I was hunting with a friend and he was shooting arrows at a variety of objects in the mudflats along the river. One arrow went entirely under the surface and in the 20-30 seconds that I stood still trying to locate it, I sunk in just over the ankles but could not self extricate. My friend went and grabbed a long piece of wood that allowed me to sit down and dig my feet out without fear of making the situation worse. It still took 20-30 minutes of digging to pull both feet out.

On raft trips with the kids, it's fun to find the soft mucky spots and glop around up to your knees, then pull each other out easily.
 
I always wear one of these when I might get into quicksand:

9_fs.jpg
 
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