Hiker Rescued from Quicksand in Arches National Park

An experienced hiker from Colorado was rescued Sunday after becoming trapped in quicksand for about two hours in a remote canyon of Arches National Park in Utah. Austin Dirks, 33, of Glenwood Springs, was on the second day of a 20-mile backpacking trip along the Hayduke Trail when he sank into the saturated sand near Courthouse Wash, park officials and rescuers confirmed.

Dirks, who has logged thousands of miles on long-distance trails including the Arizona Trail and Colorado Trail, described the incident in a detailed account shared online. He said he stepped into what appeared to be ordinary sand before sunrise, with his left foot dropping to the ankle. As he shifted his weight to free it, his right leg plunged to the knee, locking in place like concrete. "It felt like I had stepped into concrete, and then it hardened around my leg," Dirks told reporters. Trekking poles sank immediately when he tried to use them for leverage, and every attempt to dig with them filled back in with sand and stones carried by a nearby stream. The water-saturated ground, chilled to near-freezing temperatures around 21 degrees Fahrenheit, left his knee bent at a painful angle and his hands numb...