An experienced hiker on Sunday escaped with his life after traversing Arches National Park in Utah and getting trapped in quicksand, showing that the dramatic staple of old television shows and adventure films is indeed a real-life danger.
“The page went off and I kind of shook my head and said: ‘Did I hear that correctly? Somebody is stuck in quicksand?’” said Grand County Search and Rescue incident commander John Marshall during an interview Tuesday with NBC News.
Aerial footage of the extraction showed Marshall and his team helping rescue the hiker, who was not injured but reportedly spent several freezing hours fighting to get out and was trapped up to his thighs.
The New York Times identified him Thursday as Austin Dirks, a Colorado man in his 30s.
Dirks was reportedly on his second day of a 20-mile solo hike on Hayduke Trail when he got stuck, telling the Times that his right leg “was fixed in place as if set in concrete.” Without cell service, Dirks used a Garmin satellite messenger to send a distress signal.
