An experienced hiker found himself in a life-threatening predicament when he became stuck in quicksand for several hours at a well-known national park in Utah on Sunday. He later described the experience as “the closest I’ve ever come to dying.”
Austin Dirks, who has accumulated thousands of miles on hiking trails, shared with FOX13 Salt Lake City that he was exploring the upper reaches of Courthouse Wash in Arches National Park just before dawn when his left leg suddenly plunged into what appeared to be solid ground.
“I managed to pull it out, but then I put all my weight on my right foot,” Dirks recounted. “And I sank up to my knee. It was as if I had stepped into concrete that then solidified around my leg. I couldn’t move it even a fraction of an inch.”
Dirks utilized a GPS satellite messenger to notify authorities of his precise location.
Dirks, a seasoned desert hiker with thousands of trail miles to his name, told FOX13 about his harrowing experience.
The most challenging aspect of the situation, however, was the wait for rescue teams to arrive.
Dirks said he persisted through 20-degree temperatures while stuck at a 45-degree angle for two hours until he saw a rescue drone fly overhead.
Dirks was stuck in the quicksand for two hours in freezing temperatures before rescuers arrived. (Grand County Search and Rescue)
Drone video captured rescuers arriving in the canyon and working to free Dirks.
“I realized that that’s the closest I’ve ever come to dying,” Dirks told the outlet. “I owe them my life.”
Dirks said he owes the rescuers his life following the harrowing ordeal. (Austin Dirks)
Dirks noted that before the ordeal, he had thought of quicksand as “more of a folklore or a legend” found in movies.
Real quicksand is very different from the dramatic portrayals of Hollywood. Quicksand is a muddy mixture of sand, water and sometimes clay that forms from rising groundwater. While the sand won’t support much weight, humans are too buoyant to sink completely beneath the sand.
“How it’s depicted on TV is nothing like it is in real life,” Dirks said. “The human body is more buoyant than the quicksand, so you’ll never sink to above your head.”
Experts say that leaning back in the quicksand can help distribute your weight and help relieve the pressure around your legs.
