Hiker Finds Self in Muddle

ENCINO — You can call Karin Wakefield a stick-in-the-mud.

She was walking in the Sepulveda Basin on Monday afternoon when the earth gave way “like quicksand,” authorities said.

A passerby called 911 after spotting her waist-deep, just north of Burbank Boulevard, west of Woodley Avenue shortly before 3 p.m., said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Bob Collis. Wakefield was not injured.

Wakefield had one leg in the mud and one leg free, which saved her from sinking deeper into the muck, Collis said. About five firefighters placed boards around her to keep themselves from getting stuck in the mud and used a ladder to help free her.