Quicksand

[campershell]

I've seen movies that featured being trapped in a quicksand, and are able to get out when someone comes to the rescue.. Is there a way to get out of a quicksand when you are alone?

 

[HappyFeet]

The first thing to do when you think you are in a quick sand is to stop moving. You will sink quicker if you struggle.

I saw a documentary on how to get out of a quick sand and what I can remember is that you should lie on your chest so that you can float and then crawl your way out of the quick sand.

 

[Mary Beth]

I never even realized quicksand was real. What areas do you find quicksand? I am glad I read your advice, on getting out of quicksand. Now I know what to do if I ever get stuck in it.

 

[Michael]

According to National Geographic, the way to get out is to incrementally wiggle your legs to create enough space in the sand for water to flow into the hole, then lift yourself out slightly. You're supposed to repeat this over and over until you've packed enough sand away from your body that you can crawl out.

You aren't supposed to let your friends just tug on you, because they're more likely to injure you than pull you out. Your body creates a suction when pulled out quickly, so someone just tugging on you is more or less trying to pull out a huge pile of sand by tugging on your arms.

Also according to National Geographic, quicksand itself isn't likely to kill you. Most people sink up to their waist or chest. What gets you is exposure or the tide coming back in. So you're supposed to take your time and get out.

 

[Lamebeaver]

True quicksand is relatively rare, so you're very unlikely to ever get into this situation.

Yes I know, it's a lot more common in the movies.

 

[FreeWilly]

I never even realized quicksand was real. What areas do you find quicksand? I am glad I read your advice, on getting out of quicksand. Now I know what to do if I ever get stuck in it.

I didn't realize it either! I saw it so much in movies or tv when I was growing up that I was deathly afraid of it. I'm not sure what I'd do if I ever stepped into it. Hopefully there would be a branch nearby to grab onto or I'd be history.

 

[Gentle Ben 1957]

Our bodies are more bouyant than the sand. If it is sand, you will sink to a depth, then become bouyant, at this point make yourself horizontal and you will role out of the sand. I've incountered this on the Red River at the Hwy 183 Bridge, between Texas and Oklahoma. If you struggle and panic you will pack the sand and you will be stuck.
There is another phenomena that occurs on sandy river beds. I reffer to it as shelving. Where the water makes a bend or changes direction. I was setting up to measure a flow on the same river. I was walking in 6 inches of clear water, I noticed the color darkened about 10 feet ahead of me, indicating depth. I turned to walk down the river as I did not want to deal with the depth in my measurement. I began feeling the bottom fall from under me, I moved as fast as I could, wearing waders, I got to solid bottom about another 10 feet. The water had cut the sand out from under the upper portion of the river bottom creating an underwater overhang or shelf. This could happen because of the sands weight in water, you do the physics. My weight caused it to cave off. If I would have not turned when I did, I don't think I would have had time to get out, Being trapped in a pile of sand 3 feet below the surface gave me the heebee jeebees. I had an assistant, he just watched.
There's lot's of boogers out in the wild. You have to be aware of what's going on or it will bite you in the behind.

 

[oldsarge]

Why do they call it quick sand? Did you ever see anyone sink quickly into that stuff. It takes forever in the movies. And why is it that as soon as the person sinking breaks the surface, all hope is lost. He's moving so damm slow you can reach in and pull him out by the hair. If he has hair, then go for the ears! I just don't get it...

 

[Michael]

Why do they call it quick sand? Did you ever see anyone sink quickly into that stuff.

According to the dictionary, the name comes from an archaic meaning of "quick" meaning "living," as in the phrase, "The quick and the dead." Thus quicksand means "living sand," or perhaps "lively sand."

 

[Refrigerator]

I stepped into one this year in AK...went up to my crotch...I had to wiggle my feet and legs to regain some mobility then I was able to roll out. When I first dropped in I felt like I was dropped into cement...totally immobilizing my lower limbs...Could not pull my legs up. When I did finally regain my self to hard ground I looked down with amazement....I was clean....no dirt or sand sticking to my pants or boots....just wet. What looked like a mossy walk through was actually a build up of Glacier silt near a stream.

I laugh now but was not laughing then...

 

[Newanderthal]

Backstroke. It's messy, but it will save you. Flop down on your back and "swim" backwards. You are less dense than the quicksand and will float.

Or use a handy rubber snake like they do on the movies. There's always one nearby for your friends to use as a rope.

 

[oldsarge]

According to the dictionary, the name comes from an archaic meaning of "quick" meaning "living," as in the phrase, "The quick and the dead." Thus quicksand means "living sand," or perhaps "lively sand."

Just trying to be funny...thanks for the explanation.

 

[ghostdog]

The only place we have run into it is in the canyons with perennial streams in southern Utah where we have to continually cross a stream. The silt is very fine and in some places it can accumulate in a way that makes it quicksand. What we have encountered is nothing like in those old Westerns. The furthest we usually sink is calf high and on occasion we have gone it to mid thigh. It is hard to get out because the sand sucks at your feet but you can extricate yourself by slowly pulling them out, letting the sand fill back in where you packed it down and working forward. It is a very funny thing. I have a friend who aims for the stuff.

Has anyone actually encountered something like in the movies? We came across some pretty nasty bogs up in the Adirondacks but they were nothing like in the Westerns either, just some boot sucking mud that you had to keep struggling through.

 

[wvbreamfisherman]

I've stepped in very sloppy mud up to mid thigh before. I think it was most likely freshly deposited silt that hadn't had a chance to compact. It did get a good grip on my foot, but I was able to back it out of my wader and then pull the deflated wader out. if I'd not been in waders it might have been a much slower effort to get out.

The big thing is to not panic. Take your time, move slowly, and you'll most likely be able to work your way out.