Quicksand Fans

Since my mudpit had about six inches of water over the mud and this was the densest cattail bed I ever yanked apart to clear a way in to waist-deep peat, it totally wasn't worthwhile to try take video of it...but I am trying to keep you guys updated on the very latest date I manage to sink every year in a state where, if you go any farther north...

You go to Canada.

Today is November 29, 2009 and I sank.

I only found this particular mudpit last weekend. It has not been a good year for mud and I had, pretty much, just one really good mudpit all summer long. Fortunately it was an easily filmable mudpit, so you got to see something, but one mudpit, it mostly was.

The hunters took it in September with the first hunting season of fall (what animal, I'm not sure) and ever since, it's been a battle to uncover new sites as the weather slowly cools. Draught nailed most of my closer sites and when you leave the city...and deer season begins...well, the deer season is the most popular season of all around here!

Conditions at the new mudpit on November 29:

Frost and ice on the ground, which is hardening. About a quarter inch of ice on the water, going in about eight feet from the shore. The muddy area, though, was clear and the peat was fresh and had a good aroma. Kind of a bummer about the water layer but it was very thick underneath. Something had a meal of clams at one of the clear areas, though...that's kind of gross.

Wardrobe: The chest wader/aquashoe combo over two layers of sweat pants, three pairs of socks and three layers on top.

Conditions were cloudy and the temperature around 40-above Fahrenheit. This park, which is handicap-accessible with many paved trails, is usually busy but there was lots of privacy today due to the clammy weather.

Nessie

The fetish is strong with this one. - I've had this phrase applied to me before but you take it to a whole 'nuther level. I can't imagine what you would be like here. I just had to wipe frost off the windshield for the first time a couple days ago and sat outside at a ballgame last night in nothing more than a sweatshirt. As adept as you are at bending nature's will to meet your needs, you still deserve an easier climate to work in.

It's going to be interesting to see how long you can make this work. Good luck.

I'm a bit bummed that the ceremonial annual "NovembRRR" clip will, if I can take one, have water on top of the mud!

I just said on UMD that my season ends when I arrive at a mudpit and have to turn around and leave because it's frozen. So I imagine that, having learnt what I have learnt about sinking up here, if I went down to any state that never sees a real winter, it could very well be that I could sink all year round.

Hey. It isn't all bad. It's true that the cold is a real concern and that I have to plan more carefully. I can't get too spontaneous about depth...I need to know exactly how deep it is before I step in...and I would prefer mud on skin, but it is pretty comfortable in the right gear.

There are no mosquitoes at all. I can shelve the DEET.

The frogs are now hibernating so I can't accidentally sink on top of one and the snails are gone from the top of the mud so I do not need to worry about disturbing their homes. (Don't laugh! I actually worry about stuff like that!). And that big snapping turtle you didn't like on my other thread? He might be in the mud somewhere but if he is, he's down even deeper than I could ever sink...because he's got to get below that frost line if he wants to survive 'til spring...and when he got down there, he went into a deep wintry slumber.

Fall mud is nice. It is very fresh and seems thicker.

Nessie

You're one determined quicksander. No way you'd catch me in one of my pits after September. Where's global warming when we need it?

Current windchill tonight in Thunder Bay is -15 C

After I thaw out and have a nap, I may post a couple shots coming in today

Mynock wrote:You're one determined quicksander. No way you'd catch me in one of my pits after September. Where's global warming when we need it?

We didn't even have much of that last summer!

Today there was light snow all day and the temperature took a sharp nosedive, so I got a feeling it'll be a mighty crusty mudpit this weekend. I guess it's all over between me and my mudpits for 2009.

Really.

(quivering lip...sniffle)

WAHHHHHHHHHHH!

Nessie

I'm impressed you made it this long, Nessie! I feel your pain, though...

My sinking season ended the end of August, when my spot got flooded out...

"And now the winds flow liquid;
the soul cascades to seek the sea.
And now but we are left, the few, the chosen-
but air that once was breath is metal, frozen;
where, then, are we?"

-English translation of alien poem, from the novel After Worlds Collide, sequel to When Worlds Collide. That one got made into a SciFi movie.

nachtjaeger wrote:"but air that once was breath is metal, frozen;
where, then, are we?"

I know where I'm NOT.

Even the ducks left my after-work walking park. They hardly have a place to swim now. It's gonna be a long winter.

Nessie

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