Quicksand Fans

I live in Calgary, Alberta and will gladly share some of my favorite spots and stories. If you live in Alberta and would like to share some of your locations, please feel free. I particularly like the Alberta Badlands though my 'territory' is generally within 300km of my home in Cowtown...

Badlands eh? Dinosaur Park! Fossil heaven! Well hear I am. Allow me to pull up a chair and sit real close. don't want to miss a word. Brought a couple of double-doubles from Tim's for us to enjoy. Would love to hear about your experiences and would greatly appreciate links to Google Earth maps so we can enjoy a more complete experience.

Just out of curiosity, have you checked out the quicksand (soapholes) at Elk Island National Park? I was there once, but unfortunately the Hayburger Trail and an adjacent one was closed to the public due to forest fire damage from the previous year. In fact, they went to the court in order to make it a criminal offence to access the trails. To top that all off, there just had to be some extremely heavy rainfall recently that time (one of which created an indoor waterfall at the West Edmonton Mall), which caused meadows to be under 1 to 2 feet of water, keeping any muddy spots well submerged.

On YouTube, there is a video posted of someone who sunk partways up his legs in the quicksand (more like quickclay) by the Hayburger Trail:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dHJa6DYKy4

Shorter version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VMMMoBJjTs

I don't attempt to drive any further north than I have to so this area is outside my normal feeding grounds. However, I have heard through a reliable source that the bogs themselves are now quite shallow and fatigued from the curious poking about with all manner of debris. Sticks, rocks, bottles and all manner of refuse does not make for a pristine sink. Call me a snob.....

At this point in my life and the some-what fails that i have had to find any sort of really good-deep mud/quicksand pits, i am willing to go anywhere within alberta to have a great sinking experience, and the deeper the better ^.^

muddypup wrote:At this point in my life and the some-what fails that i have had to find any sort of really good-deep mud/quicksand pits, i am willing to go anywhere within alberta to have a great sinking experience, and the deeper the better ^.^

I have encountered some waist deep quicksand along Wolf Creek east of Edson. Here is a rough map of the area, and a bit of shoreline exploration would have to be in order:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=53.5 ... 1&t=h&z=15

I also found some bottomless farting peat a ways west of Edson. Hopefully, I can give enough information for you to pinpoint the area. Here is a map of the area:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=53.5 ... 1&t=h&z=14

It is located to the south of the gravel pit in the south side of the highway. I think it is roughly where the light green vertical line intersects with a thicker dark line that is shaped like a smile around the south side of the gravel pit. It is in a clear pipeline corridor through the forest, and marked with a sign saying "Pipeline Abandonment" at the intersection.

The creek just to the west, before the hill, has some nice clay mudbars/banks, but the best ones are in sight of the highway, or partially in sight (one south of the highway just might have some parts out of view, but you would have to stay low).

I never had a chance to fully explore that area for other potential sinking spots, and never even had a chance to search for hidden sinking spots along the creek north of the highway.

Here are some pictures I took:

A few more pix, this time from along Wolf Creek, to the east of Edson, where I had multiple sinks along the shoreline in quicksand that ranged from very shallow to waist deep:

nice! those look like some awesome spots to check out, and that mudbank on the creek looks very inviting indeed, will definitely have to check it out sometime, i have found some waist/almost chest deep mud and quicksand within Edmonton which i frequent very often, but the only thing about that is i only go at night because it is in a very active river valley with tons of foot traffic

I forgot to mention that for Wolf Creek, the quicksand I encountered was on the west side of the meandering creek (actually it was a south shore in the meander). But, both sides would have it in spots, as would the other creeks.

Also, regarding the other creek to the west of Edson, the one near the gravel pits, when I passed it and went further to the west up the highway, past the hill, and a little ways further down the highway, on the north side, I saw a place that looked almost quicksandy beside a lake that looked like it used to be a gravel pit, but it was just in view of the highway, and there were residences nearby, which make it high risk, if it did yield anything. Years ago, when passing by the area, my dad mentioned that there was quicksand there, since he grew up in west central Alberta. But, for all I know, any quicksand that was there might be long gone.

Here is the link to the Google Map image. It is the small heart-shaped lake with sandy areas around, north of a junction where a road joins highway 16.

Lately, I have been eyeing another spot that may have potential, if it is accessible, and if I ever find myself back in the Edson area again. It is a marsh that appears to be slumping, with the ground opening up and filling with water and looser mud, which when exposed, could offer sinking opportunities. It might be worth checking out.

Here is the Google Maps image. The area has a road into it for what could be an oil pump, and you can see how the land is broken up, with elongated wrinkle-like scars forming boggy ponds. There is also a stream that appears to form in the northwest part, which may suggest ground water coming to the surface, which is also something to check out. If that main pump road is inaccessible, then perhaps some sideroads/trails from another road to the west might allow access to that area, not to mention to the eastern side of Wolf Creek to the west, a side which I hadn't checked out.

Some of the pipeline routes may also offer more deep boggy conditions like the other one I showed pictures of, as well, due to soil dug out for the pipeline, and then refilled, but may remain loose when saturated with water in places.

To the southeast of that large marshy area, I also have to wonder about places like this along one of the nearby lakes. It appears as if a boggy stream appears and then runs into the lake, making me wonder if there could be anything sinkable at the northwest side of that clearing, where the stream seems to appear (white area?). But, the back trails would have to be taken to get there, avoiding private property to the northeast.

Happy exploring for 2010!

I just posted a dramatic video of what happens when you go exploring that peat bog I mentioned/showed earlier in this thread (the one with the "Pipeline Abandonment" sign). You can view it here.