This brings old memories. I have a similar photo of my tracks around my glider when I landed in a similar "dry lake" 15 years ago. In my case the mud was way to deep to walk away from the glider. It was bottomless. I was 1 mile from the shore and needed a helicopter rescue. I know much better now to avoid dry lakes and as Bumper says, look for the brighter spot and car tracks if you have to land there.

Ramy