A Utah hiker has survived being stuck in freezing quicksand for hours. Fortunately, search and rescue crews were able to safely find the man in time.
Speaking with Backpacker, 33-year-old Austin Dirks detailed his survival. He had been hiking in Arches National Park. That's when he became trapped in quicksand.
"I'm no stranger to getting my feet wet, or, you know, having to trudge through mud even," Dirks told the magazine. "So [initially] it didn't, it didn't strike me as unusual ... I've hiked in conditions almost identical to that. There were no immediate red flags that stuck out."
The Utah hiker called for help after Dirks became trapped. A park ranger came to his aid, but he couldn't free Dirks from the quicksand with a shovel. Team members from Grand County Search and Rescue then responded to the situation. They found him in the quicksand.
Stuck In Quicksand
"He described it as like being in a ski boot, how your ankle is bent forward and it's in that forward position," John Marshall, the incident commander of the rescue team, told KSL. "He found it painful to try to sit back and lean back out of it, which is a method that you can use to extract yourself."
Using ladders and vehicle traction boards, they managed to get to Dirks to dig him out.
"One of the first things that we said was just, 'Hey, how's it going?' " Jake Blackwelder told the outlet. "He was pretty tired and stuck and ready to get out."
When he was finally freed from the quicksand, he collapsed in exhaustion.
"When they finally pulled me free, my shoe almost tore off, but held on," Dirks wrote. "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."
Dirks praised those who saved him from the quicksand.
"The National Park Service, Grand County Search and Rescue, EMS and the Garmin dispatchers did everything right," Dirks added in the Reddit post. "Without them, I would have been stuck there until nightfall. My family wouldn't have called it in until I was overdue at 6 p.m. I would not have been found by chance. I owe them more than thanks."
