Family of Zachary Porter who drowned in Alaska mud flats speak out

The heartbroken family of a 20-year-old Illinois man who drowned Sunday after getting stuck in quicksand-like silt on Alaska’s mud flats said he loved to travel and was on an “adventure” when tragedy struck.

Zachary Porter, a college student from Lake Bluff, was on a trip with friends in Alaska when he got sucked into the mud while crossing the treacherous Turnagain Arm — a 48-mile-long estuary carved out by glaciers.

Despite frantic efforts by firefighters and Porter’s friends to free him from the waist-deep silt, the incoming tide submerged him.

Porter’s body was recovered from the estuary on Monday morning and his family was notified by police in his hometown of Lake Bluff.

His father, Todd Porter, said his son had a passion for travel and the outdoors, which he shared with a group of college friends.

“They were just going to have a little adventure before their summer activities started,” he told NBC Chicago.

In a separate interview with ABC 7 Chicago, the dad said that his son loved getting lost and “just wandering around” during their family vacations.

“Almost every family vacation, we’d get lost on a hike and he’d love that,” he recalled.

The youngest of three siblings, Zachary had just finished his sophomore year at Washington University in St. Louis. His sister said he was a role model to her.

“He was the most kind, compassionate, hard-working, smart, driven well-rounded person I know,” Elizabeth Porter told the local ABC station.

“The number of friends that are completely devastated by his death is really a testament to what a big heart he had, and how many people he impacted in his 20 years.”

Speaking through sobs, Zachary’s mom, Susan Rider, said her son “was on his way to being this amazing adult.”

“Part of what enabled him to do that was having a variety of experiences in a community that loved him,” she said.

Porter was also an avid sailor and dreamed of doing that professionally, his mother said.

His family is planning to launch a foundation in his name to help disadvantaged children experience the outdoors.

The estuary near the tiny community of Hope, Alaska, where Porter found his untimely end Sunday evening is known for its picturesque but dangerous mud flats made of silt created by glacier-pulverized rocks.

When the tide comes back in, the silt gets wet from the bottom, loosens up and can create a vacuum if a person walks on it.

“It looks like it’s solid, but it’s not,” said Kristy Peterson, the administrator and lead EMT for the Hope-Sunrise Volunteer Fire Department.

At least three other people have gotten stuck and drowned there over the years. Many others have been rescued, including a fisherman two weeks ago.

Signs are posted warning people to stay away from hazardous waters and mud flats.

“I’ve really got to warn people against playing the mud,” Peterson said. “It’s dangerous.”

In 1988, newlyweds Adeana and Jay Dickison were gold dredging on the eastern end of the arm when her ATV got stuck in the mud, the Anchorage Daily News reported. She then became stuck when trying to push it out and drowned as the tide came in.

A decade earlier, an Air Force sergeant attempting to cross Turnagain Arm was swept away with the leading edge of the tide. His body was never recovered.

In 2013, Army Capt. Joseph Eros died while trying to cross on foot the 9 miles from Fire Island back to Anchorage.

With Post wires