Getting trapped in quicksand is a corny peril of old movies and TV shows, but it really did happen to one unfortunate hiker in Utah’s Arches National Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The park famous for dozens of natural, sandstone arches gets over 1 million visitors a year, and accidents ranging from falls<\/a> to heat stroke<\/a> are common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quicksand? Not really \u2014 but it has happened at least a couple of times now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe wet sand just kind of flows back in. It\u2019s kind of a never-ending battle,\u201d said John Marshall, who helped a woman stuck in quicksand over a decade ago and coordinated the latest rescue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Sunday, an experienced hiker, whose identity wasn’t released, was traversing a small canyon on the second day of a 20-mile (32-kilometer) backpacking trip when he sank up to his thigh, according to Marshall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unable to free himself, the hiker activated an emergency satellite beacon. His message got forwarded to Grand County emergency responders and Marshall got the call at 7:15 a.m..<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was just rolling out of bed,\u201d Marshall said. \u201cI’m scratching my head, going, \u2018Did I hear that right? Did they say quicksand?\u2019”<\/p>\n\n\n\n He put his boots on and rendezvoused with a team that set out with all-terrain vehicles, a ladder, traction boards, backboards and a drone. Soon, Marshall had a bird’s-eye view of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through the drone camera he saw a park ranger who’d tossed the man a shovel. But the quicksand flowed back as soon as the backpacker shoveled it away, Marshall said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Grand County Search and Rescue team positioned the ladder and boards near the backpacker and slowly worked his leg loose. By then he’d been standing in near-freezing muck, in temperatures in the 20s (negative 6 to negative 1 Celsius), for a couple of hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rescuers warmed him up until he could stand, then walk. He then hiked out on his own, even carrying his backpack, Marshall said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quicksand is dangerous but it’s a myth total submersion is the main risk, said Marshall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn quicksand you\u2019re extremely buoyant,\u201d he said. \u201cMost people won\u2019t sink past their waist in quicksand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marshall is more or less a quicksand expert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2014, he was a medic who helped a 78-year-old woman after she was stuck for over 13 hours in the same canyon just 2 miles (3 kilometers) from where Sunday’s rescue took place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The woman’s book club got worried when she missed their meeting. They went looking for her and found her car at a trailhead. It was June \u2014 warmer than Sunday but not sweltering in the canyon’s shade \u2014 and the woman made a full recovery after regaining use of her legs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBoth had very happy endings,\u201d Marshall said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n