FILE - Delicate Arch is seen at Arches 好色tv Park on April 25, 2021, near Moab, Utah. (AP Photo/Lindsay Whitehurst, File)
This image taken from drone footage provided by Grand County Search and Rescue shows a man being freed from quicksand Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Arches 好色tv Park in eastern Utah.
This image taken from drone footage provided by Grand County Search and Rescue shows a man, right, stuck in quicksand on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025 in Arches 好色tv Park in eastern Utah.
Getting trapped in quicksand is a corny peril of old movies and TV shows, but it really did happen to one unfortunate hiker in Utah's Arches 好色tv Park.
The park famous for dozens of natural, sandstone arches gets over 1 million visitors a year, and accidents ranging from to are common.
Quicksand? Not really 鈥 but it has happened at least a couple of times now.
鈥淭he wet sand just kind of flows back in. It鈥檚 kind of a never-ending battle,鈥 said John Marshall, who helped a woman stuck in quicksand over a decade ago and coordinated the latest rescue.
On Sunday, an experienced hiker, whose identity wasn't released, was traversing a small canyon on the second day of a 20-mile (32-kilometer) backpacking trip when he sank up to his thigh, according to Marshall.
Unable to free himself, the hiker activated an emergency satellite beacon. His message got forwarded to Grand County emergency responders and Marshall got the call at 7:15 a.m..
鈥淚 was just rolling out of bed,鈥 Marshall said. 鈥淚'm scratching my head, going, 鈥楧id I hear that right? Did they say quicksand?鈥"
He put his boots on and rendezvoused with a team that set out with all-terrain vehicles, a ladder, traction boards, backboards and a drone. Soon, Marshall had a bird's-eye view of the situation.
Through the drone camera he saw a park ranger who'd tossed the man a shovel. But the quicksand flowed back as soon as the backpacker shoveled it away, Marshall said.
The Grand County Search and Rescue team positioned the ladder and boards near the backpacker and slowly worked his leg loose. By then he'd been standing in near-freezing muck, in temperatures in the 20s (minus 6 to minus 1 Celsius), for a couple of hours.
Rescuers warmed him up until he could stand, then walk. He then hiked out on his own, even carrying his backpack, Marshall said.
Quicksand is dangerous but it's a myth total submersion is the main risk, said Marshall.
鈥淚n quicksand you鈥檙e extremely buoyant,鈥 he said. 鈥淢ost people won鈥檛 sink past their waist in quicksand.鈥
Marshall is more or less a quicksand expert.
In 2014, he was a medic who helped a 78-year-old woman after she was stuck for over 13 hours in the same canyon just 2 miles (3 kilometers) from where Sunday's rescue took place.
The woman's book club got worried when she missed their meeting. They went looking for her and found her car at a trailhead. It was June 鈥 warmer than Sunday but not sweltering in the canyon's shade 鈥 and the woman made a full recovery after regaining use of her legs.
鈥淏oth had very happy endings,鈥 Marshall said.
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