Hiker is Rescued at Utah's Arches National Park After Getting Stuck in Quicksand

A 33-year-old hiker, Austin Dirks, was off on an outdoor adventure in Utah’s Arches National Park on Dec. 7 when he got himself stuck in near-freezing temperatures. Fortunately, he had a GPS with him that sent out a signal for help. After a while, he was finally rescued from quicksand in a shaded canyon.

Austin was on his second day of a 20-mile hike in the park when he got stuck in the quicksand.

Hiker Gets Stuck in Quicksand

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“I’m no stranger to getting my feet wet, or, you know, having to trudge through mud even,” Austin said. “So [initially] it didn’t, it didn’t strike me as unusual … I’ve hiked in conditions almost identical to that. There were no immediate red flags that stuck out.”

Dirks sent out a signal for help on his Garmin inReach GPS.

A park ranger reached Austin with a shovel, but the hiker could not dig himself out. More than getting deeper in the quicksand, the danger lay in the sand’s freezing temperatures.

Grand County Search and Rescue arrived after sending a drone to scout his location.

“He described it as like being in a ski boot, how your ankle is bent forward and it’s in that forward position,” John Marshall, the incident commander of the rescue team, said. “He found it painful to try to sit back and lean back out of it, which is a method that you can use to extract yourself.”

Hiker Rescued from Quicksand Just in Time

The team used a ladder and vehicle traction boards to get closer to Austin and dig him out.

“One of the first things that we said was just, ‘Hey, how’s it going?’” said Jake Blackwelder, a rescue technician. “He was pretty tired and stuck and ready to get out.”

He added that the quicksand was “the consistency of wet concrete.”

“When they finally pulled me free, my shoe almost tore off but held on,” Austin said. “My leg had no feeling left in it and nearly collapsed when I put weight on it. I carefully crossed the ladder to solid ground.”

The team gave Austin warming packs and a heated blanket and drove him back to his car.

Austin said he was “sore but intact.”

Rescue Team ‘Did Everything Right’

“The National Park Service, Grand County Search and Rescue, EMS and the Garmin dispatchers did everything right,” Austin recalled. “Without them, I would have been stuck there until nightfall. My family wouldn't have called it in until I was overdue at 6 p.m. I would not have been found by chance. I owe them more than thanks.”

The incident commander warned that quicksand has “a good bite. The more people struggle, the deeper they go. So, one or two footsteps into that sand is really all it needs to initiate that initial stuck factor.”

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“Having a device that can communicate via satellite can sometimes be the difference between life and death,” Jake said, adding, “Being there for someone in their time of need is one of the things that keeps me coming back to this job.”

Experts recommend that hikers and others who venture off like this have at least two kinds of GPS satellite devices so that they are not solely reliant on one device. 

If Austin didn’t have his GPS with him, it would have been harder for him to get the help he needed when he needed it. Thank God that he thought to keep that with him and that the rescuers got to him before he froze!

WATCH: Hiker is Rescued at Utah's Arches National Park After Getting Stuck in Quicksand

LISTEN: Teen Scouts Spend 2 Hours Carrying Injured Hiker to Safety | Students Learn Sign Language to Sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Therapy Dog

h/t: People

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Michaela Gordoni is an avid reader and part-time globe-trotter. With a bachelor's degree in International Relations and experience in the non-profit world, she has a passion for people and reporting. You can check out her portfolio here.