Today I finally decided to explore a nearby quarry that I found on Google Maps. It looked like it might have some promising mud from satellite photos, but upon looking at it in person it's hard to decide...

The area was surprising easy to hike through thanks to deer trails through the woods and it wasn't even fenced off. Poking through some of the mud with a walking stick, there were a couple of really creamy deep spots.

But... as tempted as I was to strip down and jump in, I wasn't sure if it'd be safe. It's apparently part of a stone and lime company and I dont know if any of these materials are harmful for humans. The unnaturally blue water was a bit of a warning sign to me that it may not be safe to explore any deeper.

Would anyone who has any quarry mud experience weigh in? I don't wanna return if people think these photos give away that it would be harmful to do so.

Even if it's a bust, it was a fun time trekking through the woods and exploring nature and the quarry itself. Let me know what you guys think. Should I go for it? Or stay away?

The water pigment might come from the clay itself. E.G. Blue Lias clay often used for cement production, is a particularly good sealant, hence the amount of water retained. We as kids used to swim in the local disused Blue Lias quarry and didn't come to any harm. The rocks and stones might graze your knees.

I guess I couldn't tell if it was a type of clay or limestone, and if it was the latter, then if it would be harmful (either the mud or the water itself)

Everything there was light grey if that is an indicator of anything. The best mud I found was in the latter pictures where the bank I was standing on above it was extremely soft and loose, almost like sand. I'm guessing that helped create the very smooth silt at the bottom that was very easy to poke my walking-stick through. Couldn't get down further to poke it any deeper though, since there was about a 2-foot drop, so who knows how deep it really goes...

The rock did catch my attention, and who knows how many are submerged in there.

The quarry I most often play in often has some sediment pools with a layer of water on top that has a bluish tint to it. It's a sand and gravel quarry, and I think it's just the nature of the dust/sediment after cleaning the rock to produce the sand and gravel, rather than harmful chemicals...at least in the quarry I play in (so I can't totally speak for yours!). The spot looks great, though!

The mud at the quarry I play in is sometimes brown, but often more grey, as you can tell in some of my pics:

hi i dont know much about quarries but id love to get in one this summer with someone. that wat if anything goes wrong i got someone their to help. use the buddy system

It's directly to the north of Yoshi's Island and the southwest of Vanilla Dome. Don't leave until you've found the green "!" switch and the hidden path to Star Road.

In all seriousness, its in central Pennsylvania.

Do you know what's up stream from the quarry?

Well, these pools I found were at higher elevation relative to the area surrounding it. So it wasn't really "down stream" from any obvious water source.

Btw, I did it! I went for it! And it was not quite what I was expecting but it was super fun!

While it looked more like clay/silt at first glance, It ended up being more like quicksand, which I was able to sink as far down into as my ribcage. I felt (almost) legitimately stuck, and it took some considerable effort to get my legs out of there, but I'm still alive, so, mission accomplished!

But I'm still trying to wash everything off at home lol And I'm exhausted... I need a bath...

Sooooo jealous!

My best advice is don't get arrested. But it seems you already went and came through unscathed. Gotta say, it had to still be pretty chilly. How was it? The pic make it out to look rather sandy.

Also, I don't live too far away from "Donut Land" I had two friends fairly close get Lyme so far this year and we're barely into May. Please, please, please anyone going into the woods, triple check for ticks. Lyme is no f-in joke

Glad it worked out and that you had fun!

Honestly, I was more worried about being seen by other wanderers than security. There were footprint in the mud beforehand; maybe some kids sneaking around the area. The air temperature was perfectly comfortable but everything past the first 6 inches of mud was quite frigid. Honestly, I didn't spend as much time there as I could have because the breeze was making me cold.

Some of the mud was rather smooth, at least on the top layer, but a lot of it was rather sandy and gritty and tough to break through. But once I did, it acted like true quicksand - slow sinking and hard to move around in. It was also hard to get very deep. Perhaps thats for the best, as trying to move my legs out was a challenge. Wish it could have been more clay-like, smoother and deeper, but I'm glad I got to experience something akin to real quicksand

I am super jealous of you as that sounds like my dream mud location. Hopefully you will get to have many more amazing muddy adventures there.