MOAB, Utah — An experienced hiker and backpacker came face to face with what he had always thought was a myth. While hiking in Courthouse Wash in Arches National Park on December 7, the man sank to his knee in quicksand.
The hiker described how he’d “been bogged down in mud and sand countless times, but never like what happened today.” After stepping on what appeared to be solid ground, his left foot sank to the ankle with no warning. When he shifted his weight to his right foot, that leg went to the knee, immediately becoming locked in place. “I felt no fear at first,” he said. “I had been in deep mud and deep sand before. I thought it was the same. It was not. My right leg was fixed in place as if set in concrete.”
After repeated failed attempts to use his hands, trekking poles, and sheer strength to free his leg, the hiker eventually made the decision to call for help. Although the area had no service, he was able to painstakingly type out an SOS message with his frozen fingers on his small Garmin device.
For two hours, the hiker was stuck in the cold canyon with his leg at an awkward 45 degree angle and temperatures in the 20 degrees.
Soon, a Search and Rescue drone was able to locate him. A ranger from NPS arrived first with a shovel that still proved ineffective at freeing the leg. When the whole team arrived, they came equipped with ladders, boards, and more shovels. “They built a stable path across the quicksand and dug around my leg faster than the stream could fill the hole,” the hiker described. “When they finally pulled me free, my shoe almost tore off but held on. My leg had no feeling left in it and nearly collapsed when I put weight on it. I carefully crossed the ladder to solid ground.”
Feeling slowly returned to the leg, and the hiker was able to walk out on his own, even carrying his own pack.
Following the advice of the park ranger, the hiker wrote a post on Reddit detailing his experience and warning others. “If nothing else, let this stand as a reminder to others,” he said. “Quicksand is real. I didn’t believe it before today. It does not care how experienced you are. It only cares that you stepped in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
