Hollywood Quick-Sand is Real?

[Markuson]

So the wife and I went for a drive yesterday and ended up in the very dry Borrego desert, east of San Diego County's Laguna Mountains. Had a blast heading through dirt surrounded by off-road guys on all manner of vehicle.

As I was about to pull back onto the highway, I headed across what looked completely dry...

But underneath? The nastiest, most glue-like mud ever. I was instantly stuck with front tires down into it.

Two vehicles failed to pull us out...and finally a massive pickup from a 5th-wheel toy trailer pulled it backward and out.

The weirdest part? The ground looked basically like what you see above. But underneath, it was so mushy that standing on it (where I got stuck) sunk my boot more than a foot down.

This photo doesn't look so bad, as it was the LEFT side that was the nastiest...but keep scrolling... Left side was hopeless.

Looks dry up there, right? But...

The right side wasn't as bad and not as wet, but still unmovable. Look at how dry the surface looks. That's exactly how the left side appeared too... but got nasty less than one inch beneath.



So... Be careful. When you see ground like this:

...it could be hiding THIS:

Edit:
The reason there wasn't much mud in the wheel well is because I never spun the wheels with any speed. The top dirt was literally dry...and it wasn't until the wheel sunk down deeper and deeper that it got to the truly nasty stuff. By the time I got out...the wheel had "churned" the goo like butter, and completely filled every crevice in the brakes, etc. until it was literally a solid mass on.

Other than that...it was a great time and a gorgeous day...

 

[Willy beamin]

good thing you had people around to help ..... thats scary

 

[Output Shaft]

Yeah, Anza Borrego State Park has plenty of "dry" mud flats. I've spent many months out there. Most of the "dry lakes" are closed to vehicles for this reason. A big rain saturates the mud into bottomless goo. Then a few weeks of sunshine dries out the top crust and it looks hard as pavement. But under the dry crust, the goo remains....as you discovered.

In the future, and not just at Anza Borrego, when you want to cross a "dry mud flat", always, always, always walk it first and carry a long thin pole/stick/pipe/rod and poke down HARD into the surface to make sure there isn't pudding below.

I made the same mistake in Mexico attempting to cross a "dry" salt flat and almost lost my cruiser.

Also air down the tires to 12 psi at first hint that you're sinking in.

 

[Angelo1]

That's insane! Very fortunate for the 5Th wheeler and you didn't get all four tires in the goo. Not sure a winch would have helped without you getting stuck yourself.

 

[Markuson]

Yeah, Anza Borrego State Park has plenty of "dry" mud flats. I've spent many months out there. Most of the "dry lakes" are closed to vehicles for this reason. A big rain saturates the mud into bottomless goo. Then a few weeks of sunshine dries out the top crust and it looks hard as pavement. But under the dry crust, the goo remains....as you discovered.

In the future, and not just at Anza Borrego, when you want to cross a "dry mud flat", always, always, always walk it first and carry a long thin pole/stick/pipe/rod and poke down HARD into the surface to make sure there isn't pudding below.

I made the same mistake in Mexico attempting to cross a "dry" salt flat and almost lost my cruiser.

Also air down the tires to 12 psi at first hint that you're sinking in.

Ya... That's exactly what it was. Bottomless goo.

What was weird was that this was not a lake area or mud-flat area at all. It was just about 25 yards off the 78 highway. Bizarre.

I ended up driving to a near-by Border Patrol traffic stop on the highway, and they were nice enough to fire up their well-water pump and let me borrow their hose for at least SOME mud removal from my steering/brakes.

Border Patrol said three others had discovered similarly strange spots last week in places they've never seen anyone stuck before. All due to record-setting period of rain last month.

 

[Markuson]

That's insane! Very fortunate for the 5Th wheeler and you didn't get all four tires in the goo. Not sure a winch would have helped without you getting stuck yourself.

People in Borrego are pretty helpful. Tons of dune-buggy, quad, truck types out for the long weekend. I set out a couple of red light spinners on the highway, and eventually three vehicles were ready to help. Would not accept gas money, etc. -even though one got in their vehicle, drove back to their camp, and came back with a CREW, including the monster truck that eventually was able to handle the weight & mud grab...

Funny thing is...I've never actually been stuck before. I used to routinely pull others out in my fully built 100, but this was a full-on rescue. Doh!

 

[Markuson]

Ignoramus question:

What is a red light spinner?

Is it some commonly recognized distress marker or something?

Picture?

Not your fault. I made up the term "red light spinner" because I couldn't remember what they are called...but IMHO, they're the most effective emergency road-side markers. Super visible.

I've had these for years, and more recently, other companies have sort of cloned them.

Here's their web page:
PowerFlare Corporation

The guys who stopped wanted to know what they were, because they said it was like a "red-light magnet" making them WANT to stop.

You can drive over them (super tough) and their lithium batteries last for years before easy replacement. I picked up a set of 6 of these some years ago...still using original batteries after at least 6 years.

This is a view from above...but when they lie flat, the "spinning" lights are extremely visible to oncoming traffic without being at all blinding.

 

[Angelo1]

I'm going to get a set of those! Thanks Mark

 

[Markuson]

I'm going to get a set of those! Thanks Mark

I'd encourage you to buy the real deal from the same original company. Lots of cheap knock-off lately. The original company sells a ton to emergency/police and I know they are incredibly robust. I've had a huge firetruck driver over two of mine and they just kept on working as though nothing touched them.

 

[Angelo1]

I'd encourage you to buy the real deal from the same original company. Lots of cheap knock-off lately. The original company sells a ton to emergency/police and I know they are incredibly robust. I've had a huge firetruck driver over two of mine and they just kept on working as though nothing touched them.

I rarely buy knockoff anything because of you generally get what you pay for...except when you buy a RR. Lol

Those little flashing disks are spendy but for an extra amount of safety is worth it. Upfront cost stinks for a set of these. Would be nice if we could get a group buy for a better rate.

 

[Markuson]

I rarely buy knockoff anything because of you generally get what you pay for...except when you buy a RR. Lol

Those little flashing disks are spendy but for an extra amount of safety is worth it. Upfront cost stinks for a set of these. Would be nice if we could get a group buy for a better rate.

I have 5 of the orange with red LEDs, but tend to keep just three in the truck. Never really felt the need to use al 5 at once.

They DO fit in the left-side tailgate hide, by the way. Handy spot.

 

[studawg]

Just curious, what did you do to try and unstuck yourself? 4hi, 4lo, center diff, Crawl, etc....?

 

[Markuson]

Just curious, what did you do to try and unstuck yourself? 4hi, 4lo, center diff, Crawl, etc....?

Center diff locked, 4Lo, crawl wasn't working in reverse (and forward not an option).

I did not air down the front, because it was already sitting on the undercarriage...so the tire wasn't going to spread without weight on the tire. Eventually aired down rear, but even pull vehicles were spinning on the dry, harder dirt.

It was like sitting in a bowl of extra thick chocolate pudding...

The deeper down it went, the more soupy. Brake calipers, steering...solid shroud of the stuff all the way though.