It took me some time to edit this, because I underestimated just how bad the audio pickup would be from my GoPro. I had to add sub-titles so you could understand what I was saying. I couldn’t just throw away the clip, because those wet jeans fit me so well. (there is a download link right under the video to download the HD version of this clip)
Exploring, Day 2
On Sunday, April 27, I ventured out to Hunter’s Creek, alone. I went out several hours before low tide, so I put in several miles upstream from the mud spot and paddled further upstream, just beyond a beaver dam. The scenery above the beaver dam was spectacular, and the wildlife was abundant. I got out and walked around a bit, in search of mud, but I didn’t have a lot of time to spend there, if I was going to make it to the place I spotted the day before, which was miles downstream.
I made good time, going back downstream, as the stream was flowing nicely and the tide was going out. I was going about 4 miles per hour, so I arrived at my final mud destination about an hour early. I was going to paddle further downstream and back up, while I waited for the water to drain out of the silty pond, but I got curious about the stream bed that was feeding into the silty pond. I figured this was a result of sedimentation from the fields adjacent to the creek.
I slogged a good distance up the stream; always walking in thigh deep silt with a fairly solid bottom, and a lot of submerged timber. It wasn’t too difficult to walk, since the silt wasn’t very thick. I was forming a picture of what this stream looked like before it filled up with sediment.
After exploring for a while, and rinsing off as well as I could in Hunter’s Creek (that side channel was shallow with a muddy bottom, making it impossible to get clean), I shot a short video-blog clip (pictured in this post), explaining where I was and what I was about to do. As usual, the GoPro recorded very poor audio, so I can barely make out what I said in the video. Then again, who cares what I said; I look pretty good in those wet jeans!
By this time, the pond was draining, so I started to get my audio and video gear set up. It was about 4:00pm, and I had a long way to paddle, against the current, to get back to my car. My first plunge into the mud on camera was pretty dramatic. The mud was about waist deep, but it was so fluid, that I could easily go under with my legs out in front of me. I think it made a pretty convincing quicksand scene.
After I drowned the first time, I slogged around a bit on camera, then I got cleaned up and did one more drowning scene, in the white bikini. The first scene was in jeans, boots, and a cropped t-shirt.
Around 5:00pm, I got cleaned up as well as I could, packed up my gear, and headed out to the main creek where I could find deeper water to get really clean. I paddled hard and arrived back at the car around 6:30, with plenty of daylight to spare. It was quite and expedition.
Categories: Deep Mud Adventures, Exploring, Total immersion
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Exploring
I was out paddling on Hunters Creek, yesterday, with a group of paddlers, when I stumbled upon the scene pictured here. The mud probably isn’t very deep, and it may be full of timber, but it looks like a treacherous swamp scene. I’m pretty sure I will have to check it out, soon. I’m entertaining the thought of going back, today, but I’m not sure I have time.
Hunters Creek is not as close to home as my usual creek, and the put-in is not as easy to access. Back in the 90’s, I used to mud on that creek a lot. That was some of the first mud I found in this area, although I only found one spot with good, thick mud that wasn’t ruined by buried debris. I eventually found better mudding spots on the White Oak River. When my sinking spots on the White Oak got more difficult to access, I renewed my search for good mud, closer to home.
Finding good mud spots is not as easy as one might hope. You really can’t tell much by looking at the surface of a muddy area. You have to get into the mud and find out what it feels like, how deep it is, and whether or not there is too much timber mixed in with it for safe, unobstructed sinking. You can check an area and think it is too shallow or obstructed, but there may be a spot, only a few feet from where you walked, where the bottom drops off and the mud is clear. Even worse, at higher water levels, you might paddle past a good spot and never see it. An exhaustive search can be exhausting, and there may be hundreds of spots to check!
I’m always excited to find new mud prospects; especially ones that are visually appealing and close to a body of water where I can clean up. This new prospect is both of those things. You can expect an update, soon.
Old Photos
I stumbled across these photos from back in the mid 90’s. I used to wear these shorts to the mall when I was in my 20s. These images are scanned from prints; sorry about the dust.
I took these photos on film with my 35mm camera. I had to pre-focus the camera and use a 10 second timer. These were not the most difficult photos I took that way, but it’s much easier to do this kind of thing today, with my digital camera.
My goal is to look this good by the end of this summer. I’m on a new exercise regime, and I’m trying to lose some of my abdominal fat. If I’m going to be prepared for another cold winter, I will need to cut and split a lot of firewood this spring.
I don’t have those shorts, anymore. I miss them. I suppose I could tailor a new pair, so I can do “then” and “now” photos.
Categories: Mudding Attire, The Back Yard
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By Special Request
Someone asked me, more than a month ago, if I could pee in my jeans for a video. It didn’t sound like much to ask, so I said I’d do it. Then I started thinking of a scenario where I might have to pee in my jeans and I landed on the idea of being tied to something and unable to escape.
Since I could shoot that video in my yard, I figured the best way to do it would be to enlist one of my videographer friends to tie me up and shoot the video. I did just that. Mr. Monday tied me up in the woods and we shot a 10 minute struggle leading up to the final scene, at which point I tried my best to pee, but all I could manage was a few drops of urine. At first I thought it was performance anxiety, but I was actually quite dehydrated.
Yesterday, I was feeling the urge to pee, and there was a window of opportunity to set up a shot and record it, so Mr. Monday and I went to work on our second attempt. It felt like my bladder was going to be ready, this time. I got into my tight, faded jeans, we set up lights, and Mr. Monday chained me in the corner of my steel building. The shoot was successful, and I released the clip last night in my clips store.
Clip link: Abandoned! 2014-04-18
Categories: Clean Bondage Adventures
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Three consecutive days of mud
setting up for the clay dig
I don’t even know where to start. You probably saw my previous post from Friday’s adventure. I tried again on Saturday, but this time I took my professional audio gear to deal with the wind. Saturday was a rough trip; my toes got so cold in the mud that they were pins-and-needles for at least 10 minutes after I got out. Saturday’s mud was thick, but not too thick. If it hadn’t been so cold, I’d say it was perfect.
digging for the ring
Sunday was quite a workout, too, but it was much different from the previous 2 days. I started out by uncovering the clay pit and making another failed attempt at reaching the ring I installed at the bottom. By the time I gave up, I was a mess, so I did some bondage in the clay to make it worth the cleanup. After cleaning up my mess from my clay adventure, I had just enough time to paddle out to the swamp and catch the late day low tide. I did more painful bondage in the swamp which pretty much wore me out.
I’m winding down for the evening, so I’ll just leave you with a few more video frames to illustrate my weekend. The image to the left is from Saturday, in the thick mud. That was some truly amazing mud. I hope to return to it, soon.
The last two images are from my messy bondage adventures, today. One from the clay pit and one from the swamp. I’m sure you can figure out which is which.
Categories: Clay Pit, Deep Mud Adventures, Inversion, Total immersion
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Follow Cam
I had an idea for a mud clip. I would chain my ankles and try to escape the swamp, again. In order to give myself a competitive advantage, I decided to wear running shorts.
Of course, this would be a test of the follow-me camera rig. When using the follow-me rig, I need to record audio separately. It turned out that the wind was gusting terribly, and my external audio was adversely impacted by wind noise, in spite of my best efforts.
Getting on with the story … I started shooting in the sandy part of the creek, so I could run through the shallow water and fall down a couple of times to get good and wet. I then moved on to the salt marsh; ankles still chained, and resumed my “run”. Slogging through the mud and swamp grass with my ankles connected by a rather short chain was bad enough, but I also had to keep up with the audio recorder. I spent a lot of time, setting up one shot after another. I realized that this clip would be more out of the mud than in the mud, so I wanted to make the struggle as realistic as possible.
After much running and tripping, I finally took the plunge into the really deep mud hole. I sank up to my chest right away. After that, it only took a couple of minutes for me to disappear below the quaking surface. It’s always sad to see me go, but at least I went out, doing something I enjoyed.
Unfortunately, the cool mud, combined with a brisk wind, gave me a chill, so I moved quickly to get back to my kayak, rinsed off, and into some warm, dry clothes.
Since I arrived home, I reviewed the audio and the video. I think I can cut together a short clip from the hour of video I shot. I’m pretty sure I’ll be tossing most of it. The good news is that I may have another chance to shoot in the swamp tomorrow. I’ll probably try something less complicated, so I can set up a shotgun mic with a good windscreen.
Categories: Deep Mud Adventures, Total immersion
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A New Camera Operator
I was finally able to coordinate a trip with a friend of mine who has offered to operate a camera for me on a mud shoot. I wanted to do a Tarzan themed video in the woods, so I put on my lace-up, leather thong and we went to the peat swamp. Since this was my friend’s first trip into the deep swamp, I tried to make it easy for him. As it turned out, he strayed from the trail and got stuck. He managed to record his some of his predicament on video.
For the main feature, I climbed around in my leather thong until I just happened to fall out of a tree and into a pool of bottomless peat mud. I struggled and eventually slipped below the surface of the quaking quagmire. I’m not sure how I manage to fall into a bottomless mud trap almost every time I go out. I guess it’s one of life’s great mysteries.
At least I manage to get it all on video!
I had a pretty good time. The wind was a little chilly, so I didn’t stay in the mud as long as I would have liked. Once I was cleaned up, dried off, and dressed in dry clothes, we paddled around and shot some video on the creek. It was a pretty day to be out, even if it was a little cool for mudding.
Regarding these pictures, the first one in the upper left is me, setting up for one of the first scenes. The top right image shows where I got stuck and drowned. The next image on the left is after I dragged my muddy body out of the mud, and the lower left image is what I looked like immediately after my immersion in the thick peat mud.
Categories: Deep Mud Adventures, Tarzan, Total immersion
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Weekend in the Forest
In case you all think that I can’t leave the house without getting muddy, I thought I’d share some “action shots” from this past weekend in the national forest. I was with a small group, but most of them were out on the trails when I set up my GoPro to get some video clips.
We arrived fairly late on Friday, camped out for 2 nights, and returned on Sunday. I had a video shoot on Sunday night about 90 miles away, so I had to hustle to get ready for that. I finally arrived home around 4:30am on Monday.
Nobody in the camp had a good saw, so I chopped and split the logs with my ax. I enjoyed chopping wood while everyone was out hiking.
The campsite was right on the river, so I couldn’t resist taking a dip, even though the water was a bit chilly. It seemed warmer the 2nd day when I took another dip. It was refreshing.
It was a pleasant weekend. Aside from a steady wind, the weather was perfect. I didn’t get much sleep while I was in the forest, and I only got 4 hours this morning, so I’m still dragging. I should have my batteries all recharged by Tuesday. I am looking forward to a trip into the swamp, this week. There will be mid-day low tides for several days this week, and the weather is warm enough. The forecast is calling for rain, today and Tuesday, but Wednesday and Thursday look promising. If I do go mudding, you can read about it here. If you subscribe to my Twitter feed, or the RSS feed for this blog, you’ll be notified of updates. It sure looks like it’s going to be a good year for mudding.
Categories: Uncategorized
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April 1 Foolish Mud
Low tide was just 1 hour before sunset, and the temperature was already dropping when I put my boat in the water. However, it was April Fools Day, and I am a fool for mud. I took some warm clothes, in case I got chilled by the cold water.
The tide was still going out when I arrived at the mud. I had less than an hour to sunset, so I couldn’t wait for low tide. I was also sure that I would not be getting very muddy. I arrived wearing jean cut-offs and a cotton shirt. I wasn’t there long before I stripped down to my Tarzan thong. I wandered around, barefooted, in the soft swamp mud, and sank up to my thighs a few times.
I don’t really have much to report. It was a very short trip. The mud felt good on my legs, and I longed to go deeper, but the temperature was dropping noticeably as the sun met with the western horizon. It was a nice day to be out. I would have gone out sooner, but I’ve been busy, and there wasn’t going to be any mud to play in until 6:30, anyway.
I did get some video of my bare feet, for people who like muddy feet. I also shot as much of the “action” as I could, so I’d have something of a video-blog from the trip. The video will be pretty short, when it’s ready. I’m not sure if it will be a free video, or an inexpensive for-sale clip. That will depend, in part, on whether or not I get a lot more video in the coming weeks. I’m going to update the 2014 gallery with a couple more frames of me in my thong.
Categories: Deep Mud Adventures
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Spring has officially arrived!
It was just warm enough to take advantage of a 9:30AM low tide. I did my best to take you with me. The images you see in this post are from my GoPro, as it follows me though the mud-flats.
I put on my really short denim cut-offs and a sleeveless black t-shirt when I got out there, because I knew they were going to get very muddy. It was a relatively warm morning, but it wasn’t warm enough to forgo a dry change of clothes.
I didn’t have to slog through all of that deep mud to get where I was going. Actually, I paddled right past my intended sinking hole, just so I could shoot video, as I slogged my way back to it. That’s how much I love you guys.
The tide was pretty low, and I had enough time to play, given that it’s still too cold for an extended wallow, but I got off to a late start and cut it close. If I had gotten out there sooner, I might have played a little longer.
After my long slog through waist-deep mud and some rather cold water, I got mired down in the thick mud you see in the picture above. As is common with deep, thick mud, I got trapped. When I tried to escape, I sank deeper into the quagmire. Frankly, it was hopeless; all attempts at escape were futile. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite get a total immersion out of it. I was almost up to my ears when I gave up. The tide was coming in, and I knew it was going to take a while to go those last 6 inches, if I could even do it. Thick mud feels great, but it’s not so great for the classic “glub, glub, glub” scene.
I sort of dread editing the video I shot today. There is a lot of it, and I think it will need a lot of editing. I think the video quality is pretty good (I haven’t seen it all, yet). It should make for a fun clip, once I get it together.
On a funny note, I knocked the GoPro face first into the mud, while I was recording. The scene goes completely black, and when I resurrect the camera, the lens is mostly obscured by mud. The only way I had to clean it sufficiently was to lick the lens. The camera was recording the entire time. Hopefully, this will be the last time I have to lick my camera clean to keep shooting.
Categories: Deep Mud Adventures
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