They were effectively forming a seal around my pants so that I could not yank my feet out of the boots. My boots, normally perfect for wet terrain, were heavy and worked against me. As I yanked one foot up, the other sunk further down. I realized I wasn't hitting a hard bottom. I followed her but soon I found that my dog was happily doing figure eights-while my feet were sinking. Here the tide was very shallow, the beach seemed to stretch for half a mile before meeting the water. I got closer to her and she pranced ahead and that is when she began to make her way out across the shallow tidepools. I let Schuyler off-leash as all she wanted to do was chase seagulls.Īs she neared a part of the beach where a tiny yacht club sits on stilts, she turned to see if I was following her under the pedestrian underpass. The wind whipping my hair, the sun glinting off the waves, the sand softly padding my steps. That afternoon was as untethered as I had felt for a very long time. There were a few other people walking along Quincy Shore, an inlet of Quincy Bay that empties into the Boston Harbor. One day after work in mid-April, I donned my knee-high wellington boots and piled Schuyler into the car and we headed to a beach where dogs are allowed up until Memorial Day Weekend. The depression pushed me out of myself and pulled me under like a fierce undertow. On my train rides home from work, I sat and cried as the undercurrent of being depressed would swell and cover me, as a large wave. The mounting anxiety and depression that plagued me from the time I woke up to the time I finally fell asleep in an uneven haze was unrelenting. Last year was my first Boston winter as a pet owner, and I was especially envious of my dog's patter. She lopes high over snowbanks, disappearing into the snow for a moment, and then shooting right up again, always in the same level bounds. Should professional help be available, always wait for a rescue as wiggling yourself out of quicksand could take quite a while, and it is possible that the prolonged pressure of quicksand on the body could cause damage or difficulty breathing.My dog Schuyler runs like she is part dolphin. The unflappable Bear Grylls displayed just such an escape method in one of his survival guides. However, it is possible to float your way out by slowly and calmly wiggling your body into a horizontal position, according to experts. So how do you survive should you ever find yourself in this sticky mess?Īsking someone to pull you out could easily lead to injury or someone else becoming stuck as it is estimated the force necessary to pull a foot out of quicksand is the same as lifting a medium-sized car. The true killer of quicksand victims is exposure or possible drowning in nearby rising tides. The grainy mixture increases in viscosity as whatever is trapped in the quicksand struggles, making it extremely hard to get out of, particular if the victim is panicking and becoming exhausted. Often the sand on top may appear solid, but with the added pressure of a footstep, the sand will mix with the water beneath it forming a thick sludge. Often these traps are found near the periphery or edge of natural water sources. Quicksand occurs when fine sediment such as clay, sand, silt, or other grainy soil becomes saturated with water, typically from a subterranean source. In fact, studies have found it is impossible to be completely submerged in quicksand because humans are less dense than quicksand and a person would only sink to their chest before they begin to float.īut what can make quicksand deadly is its ability to trap and hold unsuspecting victims. Whether in movies or on TV, any consumer of popular media will be familiar with tales of quicksand swallowing people and animals whole, but as is often found in movies and entertainment, the science and reality behind the fantasy don’t always add up. Quicksand may not be the horrific danger we see portrayed in popular movies and television.
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