One of the earliest in ages, frankly. The water levels are down to August levels, and while rain is slowly returning, things are still pretty dry out there.
It wasn't perfect... the deer flies were pretty bad.. I had a good half dozen buzzing me constantly, plus getting behind the glasses, which is VERY irritating. I flysprayed myself pretty good - Muskol is my personal fav because it is full of DEET - so I wasn't bitten, but I didn't linger like I usually do. (To be fair, this is the top of their season... they usually burn out around July...) The mud was pretty cold too at the bottom, as my numb feet can attest to, but I expected that. Most folks avoid swimming for long at this time of year anyway.
As for the mud's consistency. Perfect!
I had headed out before noon today and got to my place within a half hour. Made my way down through the trees and reached the wetland. First thing I noticed was the lack of water. It was wet, but there was nothing on the surface except muck and flattened vegetation. Around, all was green and tall, so I had perfect screening conditions plus low water levels.
Reaching my spot, I was thrilled to see a thick looking expanse of lightly cracked mud. It was moist but not sodden on top, and there was tufts of grass growing on it. Perfect for trapping unwary travellers, preferably of the cute, long legged female variety...
I was dressed for a fully clothed sink, as I knew it would likely be cold, with t-shirt, shorts and long but light pants on top. Stepping out, I find the stuff is thick enough to support my weight. I sink only shin deep at first, but knowing how deep it is from past experience made it very exciting. I can feel the mud wobble far below my feet, which is an awesome sensation.
Another step out, and down I go to the knees. This upper layer is at least a foot thick and warm, but I can feel it colder underneath. With a bit of jiggling, I was able to sink down to my waist without any difficulty, and it was a nice slow descent, controlled by my feet alone.
I have to work a tad harder, but I get chest deep easily enough, and then commence thrashing about. Awesome! The stuff is so thick, it is hard to struggle in, but below the layer the muck loosens fairly quickly, like something out of the White Fens, I can easily see a traveller beiing sucked out of sight by this stuff if it was a lot deeper.. say a three foot thick layer and 10 feet of loose stuff beneath. Naturally, I thought this was the greatest...
"Loose" of course is relative to the thicker stuff. The "loose" stuff is still pretty darned thick, and all of it compresses pretty tight aganst me, pressing the clothing right up against me.
I work my way past my shoulders, and wallow for a while, loosening up the surface a bit. The water from below is frigid... maybe 5 C... so my feet are getting pretty darned cold, as is my legs. That plus the deer flies tell me it is time to go.
But the mud doesn't want to let me go. Guess it missed me as much as I had. I really had to fight to get out of this stuff, which came as a surprise. It generally isn't this thick and heavy, so I really have to struggle to get out. I managed to get my feet free, but had trouble getting them through that thick upper layer. Rolling over onto my stomach helped a bit, but it was just insane how sticky and heavy this stuff was. I had to partially dig my way out, removing some of the heavier stuff off of me to move, then crawl and roll out to the firmer ground. I get my arms and legs on the edges of the mud pit, but my middle was still trapped, so after a lot of wiggling and rolling, I finally managed to get loose. I was breathing pretty hard once I got free.
Needless to say, I enjoyed ever minute of that...
Even despite the flies.
