[Paddlewise] mud

     Brad confessed:

Boy, was that ever a big mistake.
>     Willapa Bay mud is real gooey, sucking mud. You put your foot 
>in, and it doesn't want to come out. It pulls the Teva sandals right
>off your feet. In a matter of minutes, you and everything you own get
> caked in thick, rich , black, smelly, slimey gunk. And that's just
>in the first few minutes. Pulling a kayak across mud is work. And
>dangerous too. There's no guarantee you will ever get out of that
>morass. 
>     I suppose it took an hour or more to cross that mud flat. 

     And George said:   
  
   I can't believe that you didn't get mired so deep that it
        would
become the lead on the local news. Willapa Bay has mud flats like none
I've seen. In some places they're fine for digging shellfiss, but
they're potentially dangerous! The bay is great when it has lots of
water in it, but when it's empty it can really suck! (Couldn't pass up
that pun!) 

       And Brad footnoted:

The kayak was used as a "mud pontoon". The only way I could lift my 
feet out of the primordial ooze and take a step was to lean on the 
kayak and purchase some leverage. Without the boat, I would have 
joined the slime world forever. And missed dinner.
**********************************************************************
Bradford R. Crain                             E-mail: brad_at_mth.pdx.edu
Dept. of Mathematics                          Phone: (503) 725-3127
Portland State Univ.                          FAX:   (503) 725-3661  
P.O. Box 751
Portland, Or. 97207
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