Woman describes being stuck in waist-deep mud for two hours at Utah Lake

PROVO, Utah – It was a long and cold evening for a 19-year-old woman and her father at Utah Lake last weekend. 

The two were boating when they got stuck in a swampy area near shore. It only got worse from there. 

Search crews say this time of year, the water can be very deceiving because even though it’s only a couple of inches deep, underneath is feet of mud.  

In this case, she sunk immediately waist-deep in that mud. The father-daughter duo knew they were in trouble and called for help. 

“We make it all the way down there, I don’t think we should have though,” said Autumn. She did not want us to use her last name. 

Autumn is back on the shores of Utah Lake but Sunday night things got dangerous for Autumn and her father. 

“She stepped down to walk over there and immediately fell down into the mud,” said Sgt. Spencer Cannon with the Utah County Sheriff’s Department. 

Autumn’s father called for help. Sgt. Cannon said these mud rescues are slow and complicated. 

“You’re no longer in maybe two to three feet of water. You’re in two to three inches and that’s where the problems start to happen,” he said. 

Crews used an airboat and slowly started combing the remote area of Utah Lake around sundown. It took them a couple of hours to get her out. 

Cannon said, “This time of year when the water temperature may be 40 degrees and the air temp is 35, it’s a bad combination. Puts people at risk the longer they’re out there.” 

Autumn said she likely won’t be venturing into swampy, remote areas of the lake anytime soon.  

“I really regret even coming into this,” she said.