Quicksand sucks hiker into chest-deep mud in Utah gorge, park rangers say

Quicksand sucked a hiker into chest-deep mud in a Utah gorge, park officials said.

The hiker told Bureau of Land Management officials they were stuck in quicksand up to their chest at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, officials said.

“They would have been unable to extract themselves from the sand if alone,” officials said in a June 9 Facebook post.

The Bureau of Land Management issued a warning for all visitors at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Officials said mud cracks along the pond’s edge make people think the quicksand is stable.

“Visitors should also think about the concerns of extraction from quicksand,” officials said. “Once the core of your body is in wet sand, it can cause an increased risk to exposure.”

Quicksand can cool the body’s temperature down, especially during a cold night. Bureau of Land Management officials want people to be aware of possible muddy areas.

Quicksand is hard to get out of, but people usually don’t get sucked fully under, according to National Geographic. People can float in the quicksand.

People who get stuck should “wriggle your legs around,” experts told National Geographic.

“This creates a space between the legs and the quicksand through which water can flow down to dilate (loosen) the sand,” Daniel Bonn, a physics professor at the Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, told National Geographic. “You can get out using this technique, if you do it slowly and progressively.”

This story was originally published June 21, 2022 at 1:04 PM with the headline "Quicksand sucks hiker into chest-deep mud in Utah gorge, park rangers say."