1. Mess hall


2. Bloody window


3. We never close


4. This way up


5. Cover-ups never last


6. Bunker entrance (full of water)


7. Missile elevator


8. Guard tower


Altho we visited on a bleak midwinter day, the mood of this Cold War relic was restful. In the mess hall, I smelled cigarette smoke. TunnelRunner33 saw someone outside; "It's okay, she has a camera." Moss squelched sponge-like under our boots, indoors and out; and brambles tore at our legs. This place is well along on its way back to the earth. Even tho we couldn't go inside them, the moss- and brush-covered missile magazines were awesome.

For more pics and details, see the Location Database, http://www.uer.ca/...ow.asp?locid=31844

Great photo's ! i love missile base explores

Still water in the underground silo? We attempted to drain it one time, in a horribly amateur failed attempt involving sprinkler line tubing (it was cheaper)

The other buildings have really started to deteriorate, ceilings falling in and all

I actually fell into the bunker while trying to drain it and after that I gave up fearing that someone else might fall in and without the water get seriously hurt. I didn't want to feel responsible if that happened.

-Tom

We'd heard talk of a draining attempt; these details are fascinating. Thanks!

Posted by TomUE I actually fell into the bunker while trying to drain it and after that I gave up fearing that someone else might fall in and without the water get seriously hurt. I didn't want to feel responsible if that happened. -Tom

Curious how you would go about doing that.

Reminds me of some of the old Nike sites up here. Pretty crazy how most of the windows are still intact despite the trashed and vandalized state of the buildings. Good stuff!

Posted by Cherokee Curious how you would go about doing that.

When we attempted it, we tried to siphon it with a small diameter, cheap hose- unfortunately the cheap hose got compromised, so air kept getting in the hose and the siphon wouldn't work. It would've taken a long time with such a small hose, anyway

really cool set

It was neat to stand there and look down into the bunker entrances. I can understand completely why you guys would try to drain them, but I imagine that such a feat probably wouldn't be successful without pumps. Still, knowing that there might be stuff down there waiting to be seen, that's a powerful draw. You'd probably go to all that trouble just to find an impassible section, intentionally collapsed or sealed, beneath the water.


1. Most of the graffiti was crap, but I really liked this scary guy:


2. Message from the heavens:


3. I Wish all warning signs were so subjective:


4. Someone forgot to mow the roof:


5. Ominous single shoe floating in the water:


All in all, it was a pretty interesting trip.

I swung by here last night, curious to check on the POE. As I drove up the dead-end road that leads to the compound's main gate, I saw movement in the shadows ahead of me. Reaching the gate, I did a U-turn, planning to park my car facing outward so that I could quickly get in and drive off if needed. As I turned, my headlights swept across two young dudes, kneeling down and turning their faces in towards a large bush. A little surprised at seeing them there, I called out "Sorry guys." They said "That's OK," but stayed kneeling down. It was kind of weird.

I thought for a second, then asked "Are you guys urban explorers?" Both of them replied with a tentative "Maybe..." I said "Well, there used to be a hole cut in the fence just south of the gate over there."

Suddenly, one of the guys excitedly said "Oh really?!" They both stood up and walked over to my car. Then another guy popped out of the buses, followed by two more, then two more! It was like the clown-car version of a shrub. Before I even realized it, there were seven or eight high-school-aged kids surrounding my car. They asked if I could show them where the hole was.

Now maybe I'm a wuss to admit this, but to be honest, I was a little anxious about stepping out of my car. The somewhat remote location, coupled with the speed at which this horde of explorers had suddenly materialized, had me imagining being jumped or robbed. I pointed out the general area of the hole, and as one the urbex crew all turned and began moving towards the fence with enthusiasm. At this point it was clear to me that these kids really were exploring, I have seen that excitement plenty of times. I hopped out of my car and went to join them.

We checked the fence, finding that it had been properly patched with another section of chain link. The drain next to the main gate (which people have been known to crawl through) had been filled in with concrete as well. I decided not to linger, figuring that with this many kids up here, it was possible that we'd be getting a visit from the local PD. I said my goodbyes and took off. As I drove away from the site, another 6-8 teenagers passed me on the road, heading in.

Maybe the sheer weight of all those explorers will topple the fence.

As a Canadian, I'm totally envious of you American explorers with your wealth of military abandonments! Peacekeeping may be a more sound global policy, but it makes for poor exploring.

Posted by Ganesha Maybe the sheer weight of all those explorers will topple the fence.

After reading that line, I can't stop thinking about zombie apocalypses.

As a Canadian, I'm totally envious of you American explorers with your wealth of military abandonments! Peacekeeping may be a more sound global policy, but it makes for poor exploring.

Yeah, we're such cool guys, we sometimes make abandonments out of other countries' military structures too. For what it's worth, as an American, I'm sometimes jealous of you Canadian explorers with your civil fines for trespassing as opposed to possibly being arrested (just what I heard, I don't KNOW this to be certain).

Just before I left, one of those kids said "You scared us sir, when you came driving up the road." I told him "Shit, you guys scared me when you all started popping out of the bushes like that." They chuckled.

This site is NOT safe anymore to visit and is currently being watched.

The last time I was out there with the crew, the fence had been patched up in the known entry point, there was another entry point south that hadn't been patched up however, it required swimming through sticker bushes.

When we got in there, they had put brand new chain link fences around the missile silos, which to me indicated a red flag that someone knew people had been up there recently, at that point I wrote this place off as hot and decided it was best to stop going up there.

Other members of the crew went up there and reported that they had put up barbed wire around the top of the fence as people had been hopping it, and the holes in the fence had been patched.

I do believe this property is owned by lake Washington school district as additional storage for odds and ends, there is a lot of play ground equipment scattered about the grounds.

This place is a true gem and is well worth the effort of getting in the first night we went there we spent well over 2 1/2 hours in there.

Another point, don't park or drive down the road where the main entry point is, it's better to park across the street as there are residents all around the old facility.

There ALOT of places in this area where Nike is to explore (you'd be surprised), but residents around these areas get annoyed quickly due to immature high schoolers doing stupid things.

I enjoyed it. But the site is so far gone and so stupidly painted up that I'd be embarrassed to show it. The silo would have made a neat Cold War museum if only ...

On the topic of trying to drain one of the underground storage magazines (aka "bunkers"):

The time & effort to do it would probably result in disappointment, as there really wasn't a lot of stuff in the magazine anyway, and when we shut-down our Nike installations, much of the equipment was salvaged because Nike missile programs were still very much operational in numerous other countries -- Greece, Netherlands, etc. & thus spare parts, etc. were needed.


Perhaps most importantly, it's very likely that the groundwater/rainwater accumulated in Nike underground storage magazines has picked-up a lot of residual chemical nastiness -- probably at a very bare minimum, hydraulic fluid & lubricants from the elevator mechanism. It's somewhat contained in the underground storage magazine, but you start draining it & let the thousands of gallons of that contaminated liquid run down the streets, into the local sewer system, etc. & you could get some major criminal & civil charges levied against you, even though yes, the site/area had some contaminants to begin with.


/-/oolie