A veteran Utah hiker found himself in a nightmare when he slipped into quicksand on a solo walk through Arches National Park. Austin Dirks, who has trekked thousands of miles across the state, was exploring a canyon region near Moab on a Sunday morning when the ground suddenly gave way beneath his left leg. “Before this trip, I honestly thought quicksand was more of a folklore or a legend,” Dirks told Fox13. He quickly realized that was far from true.
“He pulled the sand out, shifted all his weight onto my right foot, and then I sank up to my knee,” he recounted. “It felt like I had stepped into concrete, and then it hardened around my leg. I couldn’t even move it a millimeter.” After getting stuck, Dirks used his GPS satellite messenger to call for help, letting rescuers pinpoint his exact location.
The rescue operation took several hours in freezing temperatures; the canyon was eerily dark, with no sun casting its warmth over the area, according to rescue technician Jake Blackwelder. Drone footage released later showed Dirks struggling to keep his knees above the quicksand, fighting to stay afloat. Grand County Search and Rescue crews brought a ladder and traction boards from their vehicle to reach him safely without risking further entrapment.
Dirks eventually broke free without serious injury. “How it’s depicted on TV is nothing like it is in real life. The human body is more buoyant than the quicksand, so you’ll never sink to above your head,” he said to Fox13. Incidents like this are uncommon; for instance, a hiker buried in Zion National Park’s quicksand was rescued and airlifted after a day in snowy conditions back in 2019.
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