Several every year. Must be a terrifying way to die.

A DETACHMENT
AK23050316
Location: Hope
Type: Search and Rescue / Death Investigation
Dispatch Text: On May 21, 2023, at 5:52 pm, the Alaska State Troopers were notified that an adult male was stuck in the tidal mud flats near Hope. Troopers and rescue teams from the Hope Sunrise Fire Department and Girdwood Fire Department responded to the scene. Rescue efforts were unsuccessful, and 20-year-old Illinois resident Zachary Porter died at approximately 6:43 pm after being submerged by the incoming tide. Rescue teams recovered Porter’s body at approximately 6:00 am on May 22, 2023. Next of kin has been notified.

That has to be one of the worst ways to go!

Even I've heard of this place and warnings about getting caught on the mud flats.

Grizz

Passed the paramedics and fire truck right at the Hope junction last night as they were responding to this. Terrible way to go for sure. Several people get stuck in the flats each year, but this was the first death in 35 years.

Certainly nightmare material. God rest that kid's soul. Anyone know if he was fishing? Clamming?

https://www.nbcchicago.com/new...de-comes-in/3146683/

Illinois Man Gets Stuck Waist-Deep in Alaska Mud Flats, Drowns as Tide Comes in

By Mark Thiessen • Published May 22, 2023 • Updated on May 22, 2023 at 9:53 pm



A suburban Lake Bluff man who was walking on tidal mud flats with friends in an Alaska estuary got stuck up to his waist in the quicksand-like silt and drowned as the tide came in before frantic rescuers could extract him, authorities said.

Zachary Porter, 20, of Lake Bluff, Illinois, was submerged Sunday evening as the tide came in, and his body was recovered Monday morning, Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel told The Associated Press. A member of Porter's group called 911 when they couldn't get him out, but it was too late, authorities said.

The accident was the latest tragedy at Turnagain Arm, a 48-mile-long (77-kilometer-long) estuary carved out long ago by glaciers that travels southeast from the Anchorage area and parallels a major highway. At low tide, the estuary is known for its dangerous mud flats made of silt created by glacier-pulverized rocks. At least three other people have gotten stuck and drowned there over the years. Many more have been rescued, including someone who was fishing there last month.

“It’s big, it’s amazing, it’s beautiful, and it’s overwhelming,” Kristy Peterson, the administrator and lead EMT for the Hope-Sunrise Volunteer Fire Department, said of Alaska. “But you have to remember that it’s Mother Nature, and she has no mercy for humanity.”

Peterson, who responded to the call, spoke with others in Porter's party but didn’t talk to him during the desperate rescue attempt.

“When we respond, we respond with the utmost of good intentions and as mothers and fathers and uncles and brothers,” she said. “We respond with as much passion and vigor as we can.”

The volunteer members of the department will gather later in the week for a debriefing, she said.



“I have been in contact with all my members, and they’re all heartbroken,” Peterson said. “This is a hard situation.”

The accident occurred near the community of Hope, a quaint community of about 80 people. It lies across Turnagain Arm just 22 miles — but a 90-minute drive — from Anchorage.

The estuary travels southeast from the Anchorage area and parallels the Seward Highway, the only highway that goes south and delivers tourists from Anchorage to the sportsman’s paradise of the Kenai Peninsula.

At low tide, Turnagain Arm is known for its mud flats that "can suck you down,” Peterson said. “It looks like it’s solid, but it’s not.”

When the tide comes back in, the silt gets wet from the bottom, loosens up and can create a vacuum if a person walks on it.

Signs are posted warning people of hazardous waters and mud flats.

“I’ve really got to warn people against playing the mud,” Peterson said. “It’s dangerous.”

Some people attempt to walk across Turnagain Arm or walk the 9 miles (14 kilometers) from Anchorage to Fire Island during low tide, sometimes prompting rescue efforts.

There have been other deaths on the mud flats. In 1988, newlyweds Adeana and Jay Dickison were gold dredging on the eastern end of the arm when her ATV got stuck in the mud, the Anchorage Daily News reported. She then became stuck when trying to push it out and drowned with the incoming tide.

In 1978, an unnamed Air Force sergeant attempting to cross Turnagain Arm was swept away with the leading edge of the tide. His body was never found, the Anchorage newspaper reported. In 2013, Army Capt. Joseph Eros died while trying to cross from Fire Island back to Anchorage.

Earlier this month, a man was rescued from the mud flats after one leg became stuck, and he sank to his waist while fishing in Turnagain Arm.

Peterson said they got the rescue call after Porter was in serious trouble, and it takes time to mobilize. Another department — about an hour’s drive away — also responded.

Peterson urged people to call 911 as soon as possible.

“If you think that there’s an issue, if you think that there even might be an issue, call," she said. "Because we can get resources moving, and we would rather turn around and go home then it be a disaster.”

quote:

Originally posted by Alaskan Sourdough:
Several every year. Must be a terrifying way to die.

A DETACHMENT
AK23050316
Location: Hope
Type: Search and Rescue / Death Investigation
Dispatch Text: On May 21, 2023, at 5:52 pm, the Alaska State Troopers were notified that an adult male was stuck in the tidal mud flats near Hope. Troopers and rescue teams from the Hope Sunrise Fire Department and Girdwood Fire Department responded to the scene. Rescue efforts were unsuccessful, and 20-year-old Illinois resident Zachary Porter died at approximately 6:43 pm after being submerged by the incoming tide. Rescue teams recovered Porter’s body at approximately 6:00 am on May 22, 2023. Next of kin has been notified.

What a shame, not the first & won't be the last!

I have sat in a restaurant in Anchorage looking across that flat. Damn, it looked dangerous to me then.

May he RIP

I currently live in HOPE/SUNRISE, Alaska. And have for most of the last 53+ years. It is beautiful country. The area is located inside "The Chugach National Forest" Seven MILLION acres of wonderful wilderness, with all the potential pain, anguish, and HELL nature can offer.

This was vividly smashed into my tranquil reality, when my neighbor & friend of 19 years, was mauled to death and eaten by a Grizzly Bear, in our back yard. When the Grizzly was full and walked away, Black Bear came forward and ate on Dan. (I would rather live & die here than any place on earth).

Very sad to hear this.

Apparently, in England, this happens quite often to Chinese fishermen picking shells when the tides are low.

They cannot swim, and the tides come very fast, and very high.

In certain areas, harbors are left totally dry at low tide, and fill up very fast may be to 20 feet or more very fast.

Funny enough, when I was young a sand bar forms in the middle of Dubai Creek.

And we used to walk there.

When the tides come up, we have to swim back.

But luckily we all had to learn to swim from a very young age.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Certainly nightmare material. God rest that kid's soul. Anyone know if he was fishing? Clamming?

Clamming is closed in that area, and has been for a long time. The only fishing going on right now out there is dip netting for hooligan which is resident only. My guess is he was just out walking/exploring, maybe taking pictures, and didn't realize that the muddy silt is not like a sandy beach.

You would wonder if he could have been saved using scuba gear with divers providing support for bottle changes etc. I suppose it would depend on how high the tide was and how long he would be submerged for and importantly how calm he would stay.
Remember the Thai kids that were brought out of the flooded cave a few years ago, they had no diving experience and had to be sedated and have bottle changes on the way out of the cave system. Of course they had time to assemble experts from around the world for this rescue.

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:
You would wonder if he could have been saved using scuba gear with divers providing support for bottle changes etc. I suppose it would depend on how high the tide was and how long he would be submerged for and importantly how calm he would stay.
Remember the Thai kids that were brought out of the flooded cave a few years ago, they had no diving experience and had to be sedated and have bottle changes on the way out of the cave system. Of course they had time to assemble experts from around the world for this rescue.

Would still die of exposure in 40 minutes. The water is 37 degrees.

I've been down in the Turnagain Arm many times and you can certainly see the danger of the mud, especially when the bore tide is coming in. Looks like a mini Tsunami. People come from all over to surf the bore tide there. The face of the bore tide can get 5-10 feet high and it's fast. I believe that the mud flats of both the Knik Arm and Cook Inlet are also quite dangerous and people have died there as well. Sad thing is that there are signs everywhere warning of the dangers. Regrettable loss of a young life in his prime.

The true history of Cook Inlet’s deadly mud flats
By David Reamer | Alaska history
Updated: May 23, 2023
Published: July 13, 2020

The mud flats of Turnagain Arm with the Kenai Mountains along the Seward Highway on Thursday, June 9, 2011. (Bob Hallinen ADN)
Part of a continuing weekly series on local history by local historian David Reamer. Have a question about Anchorage history or an idea for a future article? Go to the form at the bottom of this story.

The deadly mud flats that line Cook Inlet, Turnagain Arm and Knik Arm are the setting for some of the most enduring and gruesome Anchorage urban legends. All the stories begin with an unlucky soul wandering too close to the water and becoming trapped in the quicksand-like mud. From there, victims either drown in the rising tide or are ripped in half by a rope attached to a helicopter.

The exact details vary. Sometimes the victim is a tourist who strayed a little too far from the trails. Sometimes the victim is a member of a wedding photoshoot, an attempt for that perfect Alaska background turned tragic. Sometimes the victim is a duck hunter who pleaded to be shot, preferring a quick death over drowning. The longer you live in Anchorage, the more versions you will hear.

People have indeed died on the mud flats, but the reality is far more horrifying and haunting.

Though similar to quicksand, the local mud flats are unique. A geologist explained the science of the mud to the Anchorage Daily News in 1988: “The grains are highly angular. When they’re deposited, they’re in contact with each other in a delicate balance. When you step on it, you cause it to become more mobile. Then, when it resettles after you’ve disturbed it, it tends to be more compacted around your foot. The grains are so angular that they’re just locked together.”

While the mud flats are extremely dangerous to traverse, stepping onto the mud is not an automatic death sentence. Some Alaskans have survived walks across Turnagain Arm, or from Anchorage to Fire Island and back. Most who sink in the glacial silt are successfully rescued, but the survival rate says more about the skill and zeal of the rescuers.


Anchorage firefighters inject water under the feet of a young boy trapped in heavy mud at Ship Creek Sunday, Auf.5, 2001. The pressurized water broke down the sucking action of the Cook Inlet silt and the boy was freed in seconds. (Jim Lavrakas/ Anchorage Daily News)
In recent decades, actual deaths have been few, though they serve as gruesome warnings. As reported in the Anchorage Daily News, July 16, 1988, newlyweds Adeana and Jay Dickison went gold dredging around Turnagain Arm’s eastern end, near Portage. The 18-year-old Adeana tried to push their ATV out of the mud, became stuck herself, and eventually drowned in the rising tide. Her attempted rescuers waited for the tide to recede to allow them to recover her body hours later.

Can they use snow shoes and walk on top of the mud?

quote:

Can they use snow shoes and walk on top of the mud?

Read this on the internet:

Do snowshoes work on quicksand?
Snowshoes do work on quicksand because the number of sand particles on quicksand is higher, which blocks your snowshoe from sinking. The snowshoes will prevent your feet from grasping by the quicksand, and the frame will completely obstruct your feet from sinking.

And, then this:

Do snowshoes work on mud?
Snowshoes don’t work very well on mud, and it’s not very easy to get in or get out in mud by wearing snowshoes. As the snowshoes are the worst sticker, they get horribly stuck to mud and then break down. It is very hard to walk by wearing snowshoe, especially when there is no grass or cover to grip.

Never been on those flats and never will.

We have a local river with an extensive flood plain . We were duck hunting on it years ago. I was walking along . No problem. I took the next step and sunk in up to my waist . I was STUCK! I could not get out . There were two people with me that were able to help me. Fortunately, tidal surges are not an issue in that location.

It is hard to imagine what this guy went through unless one has had an experience like I had.

RIP

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Can they use snow shoes and walk on top of the mud?

No!

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:
You would wonder if he could have been saved using scuba gear with divers providing support for bottle changes etc. I suppose it would depend on how high the tide was and how long he would be submerged for and importantly how calm he would stay.
Remember the Thai kids that were brought out of the flooded cave a few years ago, they had no diving experience and had to be sedated and have bottle changes on the way out of the cave system. Of course they had time to assemble experts from around the world for this rescue.

The tides in the Turnagain arm are +30'. The current is FAST and the water completely opaque with silt. Add in the temperature of the water and that just isn't a viable solution.

not in alaska but i ve seen in europe tides that are going at the path of a running horse. if you re stuck then it is rarely a nice outcome. i do remember as a kid there were many places where not to go and every year tourists were trapped. sometimes marine chopper saved a few but not all the time.

Peat bogs are the same, they can swallow grown man

I stepped into a sand/mud pit on a glacial river while wading down a river in SE Alaska which fed into the ocean, since the ocean was connected the tide would cause the river to rise and fall a several feet. sunk to just short of my knees, fortunately I believe more sand was involved and the guides helped me get out. The though of what happened to that fellow is scary, reminds me of a movie having to do with timber harvest on a coastal river where the logger trying to undue a log jam fell in and got pinned, other workers tried in vain to get him free including under water breathe exchange but fatigue set in.

I found the movie "Sometimes a Great Notion" 1971 actor was Richard Jaeckel. That scene still sticks in my mind

https://www.tvguide.com/movies...t-notion/2030161060/

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2...teammate-zach-porter



A miracle game follows the tragic death of former Lake Forest pitcher Zach Porter

The beloved Scouts pitcher lost his life in an accident during a hike in Alaska.

By Rick Morrissey May 29, 2023, 4:21pm CDT


The choice almost always is limited to believing in miracles or not. To believing in an invisible hand at work or not. No gray area. But what about a third option, wanting to believe? There’s a door for that, if you’re open to it.



Zach Porter, 20, died May 21 after getting stuck waist deep in an Alaskan mudflat and drowning when the tide came in. Friends and firefighters were unable to pull him out because of the vacuum-like properties of the silt. It was unthinkable and unimaginable. Of the thousand worries a parent, a family member or a friend might have about a loved one on a trip, that possibility probably wouldn’t register. It’s why the death of a young hiker made national and international news. Because of the capriciousness of it and the unfairness of it.


The Lake Forest High School baseball team took the news especially hard. Zach had been a pitcher for the Scouts before going to Washington University two years ago. He had been extremely popular with teammates, and many of the kids on this year’s team knew him well.

“I always looked up to Zach,’’ said Shep Graf, a senior third baseman for Lake Forest. “He was almost like a big-brother figure to me because he knew when to mess around with me and when to almost mentor me.’’

The idea for Graf to wear Zach’s jersey for a state tournament game three days after the tragedy came from coach Ray Del Fava, who knew the deep bond the two boys shared. So Graf switched jerseys with a teammate who had worn Zach’s No. 3 during the season, and the world seemed a little less dark.

After seven regulation innings against Wauconda, the Scouts found themselves tied 3-3 (interesting, if you’re into numerical coincidences). Everybody knows how the playoffs work: Win and advance; lose and watch a season go away. It didn’t help that Wauconda scored a run in the top of the eighth to take a 4-3 lead or that the Scouts had their Nos. 7, 8 and 9 hitters coming up in the bottom half of the inning.

Lake Forest’s Bobby Alzamora started things off by getting to first on a dropped third strike that rolled to the backstop. Let’s just say a dropped third strike isn’t an everyday occurrence. The next batter, Miles Specketer, laid down a nice bunt, and baseball havoc broke out. Wauconda’s pitcher tried to throw Alzamora out at second, but the ball went into center field. The center fielder then tried to throw out Alzamora at third, but the ball sailed over the third baseman’s head, giving Lake Forest runners on second and third.

After striking out the No. 9 hitter, Wauconda chose to intentionally walk Gianni Royer, the Scouts’ best hitter. Bink Hartline, who lives two houses from the Porter family in Lake Bluff, then carried out the assignment that the dice-rolling Del Fava had given him: He put down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt on the second pitch. Alzamora scored to tie the game. A bonus: The bases were still loaded.

And up came Graf, the No. 3 hitter in the No. 3 jersey who was having a conversation with someone he sure was in attendance.

“I was just asking him for help, saying, ‘Come on, Zach, let’s do this thing,’ ” Graf said.


On 3-1, he fouled off a low pitch that likely was ball four because A) he really wanted to get a hit B) this at-bat needed to go down to the last dramatic drop and C) if a high school kid’s job isn’t to drive his coaches crazy, what is?

And then, with many of Zach’s friends and former teammates in attendance, Graf lined a single past a diving first baseman, driving in the winning run.

“The Hollywood script,’’ Del Fava called it.

Graf pointed to the sky and celebrated with teammates.

“That was me talking to Zach again, saying, ‘That was you. Thank you,’ ’’ he said.


The eighth-inning chain of events raises questions of belief. Do you think someone up there was looking out for the Scouts? Would you like to make room for the possibility that someone was? Or do you just chalk up what happened to a good baseball team doing what good teams do?

“I don’t know if his spirit’s out there or not, but if it is out anywhere in the world, it would be with those boys playing those games, to root them on,’’ said Todd Porter, Zach’s dad.

There’s no definitive answer here, unless you’re Shep Graf.


“One hundred percent I believe because going into that at-bat, I was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts,’’ he said. “I believe Zach was there the whole game because he liked to mess with people. So it made sense that he made me have that kind of game before having that hit. Especially working the count and then fouling off a pitch and then getting a hit. That’s just how Zach would have had it.’’

Immediately after the game, the team bused in uniform to a candlelight vigil for Zach.

For the Scouts’ regional championship game Saturday against Antioch, Graf again wore Zach’s jersey, with another No. 3 jersey hanging in the dugout for good measure. The Porter family sent along one of Zach’s Lake Forest baseball caps, and that got a place of honor near the bench, as well.

The Scouts fell behind 5-3 and ended up winning 10-7. Graf drove in two runs with a single. They earned a plaque for winning the regional championship, allowing Del Fava to put #plaqueforzach on Twitter.

Lake Forest plays Cary-Grove on Wednesday in the first round of the Grayslake Sectional. You know what jersey Graf will be wearing.

Del Fava gave Zach’s dad the game ball from Saturday’s victory.

“I know they loved him, and he loved them,’’ Todd Porter said. “I know that his tragic loss inspired them to put it all on the field. And they did that. He’d be so proud of them.’’

We all can believe in that.

Sometimes, one cannot help those bent on self destruction.

Out side our sailing club, sea was quite rough.

We heard people screaming and we ran out to see what was going on.

An Indian man was being carried by the current.

We went in and got him out.

He was with his family, non of them could swim.

No long after we heard screaming again!

Would you believe the same idiot was in the same trouble again??!!

Again, we got him out, and told them this was the last time anyone will save him!

There was a big argument between them, and soon they left the beach!

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Sometimes, one cannot help those bent on self destruction.

Out side our sailing club, sea was quite rough.

We heard people screaming and we ran out to see what was going on.

An Indian man was being carried by the current.

We went in and got him out.

He was with his family, non of them could swim.

No long after we heard screaming again!

Would you believe the same idiot was in the same trouble again??!!

Again, we got him out, and told them this was the last time anyone will save him!

There was a big argument between them, and soon they left the beach!

you helped one that was not willing to learn.

There just ain't no easy way to die!! in Alaska or any place else..

I think I would rather succumb to drowning than being ripped apart by a bear especially if a loved one was involved

SCUBA gear will not work. It is not made to handle this specialized geo-mud. As a diver, and military-
the applications are for water only. Climbing rope
with padding and a 4XWD vehicle would work.

This month near Prescott, AZ a man working on his house stopped for a coffee break and was attacked and killed by a black bear. Moral: Take coffee breaks near the national forest with a 44/45
caliber pistol or rifle. Black bears are predatory. The number of citizens killed by bears, that would have been saved by a gun left at home-is shocking. Same with gang thug victims
in large cities. You have the potential to save your own life.
Alaska does not suffer fools gladly.

So did he get stuck in the mud and tide came up