Hiker stuck in quicksand on Hayduke Trail: ‘Nothing seemed unusual or dangerous’

TO A hiker was forced to seek rescue last weekend after becoming trapped in a pool of quicksand in Utah’s Arches National Park. Austin Dirks, 33, was hiking a 20-mile section of the Hayduke Trail, an 800-mile largely off-trail hike between Arches and Zion national parks, when his right leg sank knee-deep into what initially appeared to be dry land in the upper reaches of Courthouse Wash, a canyon in Arches.

Dirks says he is an experienced hiker who has logged thousands of miles on and off trail, including hiking trails in Colorado and Arizona, the southern half of the CDT, and extensive off-trail travel in the Utah interior. However, his ordeal at Courthouse Wash was a first.

«I had hiked through dozens of canyons like this and nothing seemed unusual or dangerous,» Dirks wrote about the area in a post on reddit. Even after sinking, he said he felt no fear at first, having gotten stuck in sand and mud on previous trips. But when he discovered that his right leg was completely stuck, he realized he was in trouble.

Public Service Announcement: Quicksand is real

«Quicksand is real,» Dirks wrote in a public service announcement-style post on Reddit. «I didn’t believe it before today. It doesn’t matter how much experience you have. It only matters that you stepped in the wrong place at the wrong time.»

Quicksand can form when loose sand, silt, or clay becomes saturated with water, reducing friction between the particles. Under these conditions, sudden shaking (such as that caused by a hiker’s footsteps) can cause an otherwise solid, but sandy, patch of soil to liquefy. It looks for all the world like a normal piece of wet ground, but when you step on it, it can’t hold your weight and you sink (to some extent).

Quicksand can form and disappear from an area if soil saturation conditions change, making it difficult to predict exactly where you might find it.

Because the buoyancy of the human torso is greater than that of quicksand, there is no real risk of sinking overhead (unlike how it is often depicted in Hollywood). But it can be very difficult to break free, as Dirks quickly discovered.

«Standard quicksand advice didn’t help.»

Dirks looks at a Grand County SAR drone, still stuck in the quicksand. Screenshot of drone footage provided by Grand County SAR

“My leg was caught behind me at a bent angle and locked in place as if it had been poured in concrete,” he said in an email to The Trek. «I tried small movements to break the suction, but it didn’t budge.» He also tried digging with his trekking pole to free up space around his leg, to no avail.

«Standard quicksand advice didn’t help my situation. People say to spread out, lie down, increase the surface area and swim. None of that was possible,» he said, due to the uncomfortable angle at which his leg was trapped and the risk of hypothermia.

The quicksand was at the bottom of a shallow stream over which about an inch of water was flowing, just above freezing. Air temperatures were around 20 degrees. That morning I had passed through areas of ice. Lying down and getting soaked in those conditions would have been a recipe for disaster.

Dirks had informed his family members of his hiking plans ahead of time, but he knew they wouldn’t start worrying about him until that night, when he missed his planned check-in call with them. Since he wasn’t making any progress trying to get out, he finally decided to call for help via the SOS button on his Garmin inReach.

Press SOS: «If it fails, no one would know I’m missing.»

Rescue vehicles parked in the desolate and remote landscape near the top of Courthouse Wash. Screenshot of drone footage provided by Grand County SAR

«The Garmin SOS process went smoothly overall,» he told The Trek, except that he couldn’t get the device to pair with his phone and had to type on the device’s small screen, a process he likened to «chiseling messages in stone.» But it worked.

«The hardest moment was the half minute after I pressed SOS and waited to see if it was sent. If it failed, no one would know I was missing for 12 hours and they might not find me for a full day… Once the confirmation came, I knew I had a chance. I had enough warm gear to last me.»

He put on some dry layers from his backpack to keep himself as warm as possible and waited.

Utah’s busiest SAR unit

A full SAR team uses boards, ladders and shovels in an attempt to free the trapped hiker from the quicksand. Screenshot of drone footage provided by Grand County SAR.

The Grand County, Utah Sheriff’s Office was notified of Dirks’ situation at 7:20 a.m., approximately 35 minutes after the hiker initially became trapped in the quicksand. It would be the unit’s 142nd call of the year. «We used a drone to confirm the location prior to our team’s arrival and also to locate a suitable access point,» confirmed Grand County SAR Vice Commander Scott Solle.

“Grand County Utah SAR was a true professional,” Dirks told us. «You could tell right away that they knew what they were doing. They had a drone over my exact location in about 90 minutes, which seemed miraculous given how remote it was.»

An Arches National Park ranger caught up on foot about 20 minutes later and threw a shovel at Dirks, but even this extra digging power wasn’t enough. Within another 10 minutes, a full SAR team arrived with more shovels, ladders and boards to carefully excavate Dirks’ stuck leg.

After the team used warm blankets and heat packs to revive his leg, Dirks was able to walk under his own power and carry his own backpack — “mostly out of pride,” as he wrote on Reddit — and did not require medical treatment.

Second quicksand incident at Courthouse Wash

Stories of hikers getting stuck in quicksand are rare, but it happens from time to time; This isn’t even the first time a hiker has been trapped in Courthouse Wash. “This is the second quicksand rescue in Courthouse Wash,” confirmed Solle with Grand County SAR. The first It was in 2014, when a 78-year-old lone hiker was trapped for more than 14 hours before rescuers could free her.

Dirks shared the exact coordinates where he was trappedbut as a reminder, quicksand is a changing phenomenon.

Dirks did pretty much exactly what you’re supposed to do to safely prepare for a hike. He had the right equipment, including a GPS beacon that eventually allowed him to call for help even without cell service, and he had left a detailed trip plan with his family before leaving.

Reflections

Dirks crosses a ladder to safety after his leg is finally freed. Screenshot of drone footage provided by Grand County SAR

Still, while getting stuck in quicksand during a hike is more or less a freak accident, it has led him to reflect on what he would do differently next time.

«First,» he told us, «I’ll try harder to bring a companion on the more challenging off-piste routes, like the Hayduke. Long-distance hikers end up alone most of the time, but I want to avoid being alone on the roughest terrain if I can help it.

«Second, I will be much more cautious in the wet areas of Utah. Before this, I thought I could get out of the mud or sand because I had done it dozens of times in places like Coyote Gulch, Escalante, San Rafael and Green River. I never imagined it was possible to get completely trapped. Now I will avoid these canyons right after the rain and try to go when the weather is warmer.

«Third, I’m going to carry a PLB in addition to my Garmin InReach Messenger. It may seem excessive, but relying on one device as a single point of failure no longer seems acceptable. The desert may be beautiful, but it doesn’t matter if you make it home.»

He also mentioned that he has since purchased a search and rescue insurance plan for Garmin. «It feels like cheap peace of mind,» he said. «As the rescue was carried out by public agencies and volunteers on public land, I owed nothing. I would have owed money if I had needed helicopter or ambulance transportation, but I was lucky enough to avoid medical treatment.»

«The desert teaches humility, whether you want the lesson or not.»

Dirks described returning to his normal life after the quicksand as «strange, loud, and a little dreamlike. I’m still processing it. Even with my experience, I find myself questioning my own abilities from time to time. I’m not going to stop backpacking, but I’ve been thinking about putting off some of the bigger goals, like rafting the Escalante or finishing the Hayduke. Maybe I’ll regain my confidence on more established trails first. I’m not ashamed of that.» The desert teaches humility, whether you want the lesson or not.”

After we initially contacted Dirks about this story, we thought of a question we forgot to ask and sent another email. «I completely forgot to ask: what is the name of your trail?»

«Funny you should ask,» he replied almost immediately. “I used to be ‘Doc Holliday.’ On Sunday I became ‘Shifting Sands.’”