#HIKER STUCK IN QUICKSAND HOW TO#
#HIKER STUCK IN QUICKSAND FREE#

#HIKER STUCK IN QUICKSAND FREE#

This helps to distribute your body weight over a great area and allows you to slowly free your legs. If you can’t backpedal, the best way to escape quicksand is to do something you probably don’t want to do: lean back into it. You probably will be able to get back to firm ground and if you lose a boot, you can deal with that in a moment.

Straight away, see if you can just take a few steps backwards to get out of it. The lighter you are, the easier it is to extract yourself. If you step into quicksand and are wearing a backpack, take it off quickly and toss it onto firm ground. If you’re not sure, check the ground in front of you with your walking pole before taking the next step. If you are hiking in such an area, avoid sandy terrain that’s rippled or has water bubbling up to the surface. Avoid itĪvoid hiking in a sandy, tidal area after a big rainstorm.

#HIKER STUCK IN QUICKSAND HOW TO#

Instead, here are some tips for how to escape quicksand: 1. Somewhere in the 1990s there was a popular theory that you should try swimming in it, though again, there’s no great research to back this idea up and it seems more likely your head could go under in most swimming positions you’re likely to try. Lore always told us that struggling in quicksand only makes it claim you faster, and while we can’t find any scientific evidence of this, it probably does tire you out and certainly doesn’t help you get out quicker. While quicksand may not suck you down you the way we’ve always thought, it is definitely hard to get out of. Quicksand is not normally a problem at Zion National Park, but an unusually wet winter contributed to weather conditions that created the quicksand, Baltrus said.While quicksand may not abduct you the way we’ve always thought, it is definitely hard to get out of (Image credit: ChiccoDodiFC) “If it wasn’t for them and Jessika, I’d be dead for sure,” Osmun said. He was taken to a hospital and was later released, saying he felt very lucky that all he suffered was a swollen leg. Osmun stayed in a sleeping bag on top of a mat next to a fire until Sunday afternoon, when the helicopter made it to the site. He was suffering from hypothermia and rescue workers needed to airlift him out on a helicopter but it was snowing so they all had to spend the night at the site.

Rescue workers found her suffering from hypothermia, park officials said in a statement.Īfter rescue workers found Osmun, it took them two hours to get his leg free from the quicksand.

McNeill said she felt like she was going to faint when she finally spoke with dispatchers. It took her three hours to reach a location with cellphone service so she could call 911. “I kept telling myself: ‘He would do it for me,’” McNeill said. She left him with warm clothes and decided the fastest way to get help would be to swim down the river, which was waist-deep with frigid waters, rather than taking a trail. With no cellphone service in the remote area, they decided McNeill would have to go for help. She tried to pry his leg out with a stick, but realized that effort would not work. The trouble for Osmun and McNeill began about four hours into the couple’s hike on a popular route called “The Subway” in the southern Utah park. “When water cannot escape, it creates a liquefied soil that cannot support weight and creates suction,” Baltrus said.

Hiker stuck in quicksand