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No more than a few hours ago I embarked on my first draining experience with four friends of mine and I have emerged unscathed to share the tale with all of you! (that makes it sound far more exciting than it actually was)
Last weekend, I found out about this drain from one of my exploring friends and since I don't have to wake up early tomorrow, we decided to attempt it. The entrance has 1 foot ledges on either side that you can walk on but after about 300 feet, the ledges stop and the water gets very shallow allowing you to easily walk in it. The drain itself is very wide and tall for most of the way.
There were a few semi-interesting limestone and concrete formations such as this one throughout the drain, primarily at outfalls.
There was quite the ecosystem in the drain too. We ran across a few frogs, a couple of very white minnows and hundreds of these little (and sometimes not so little) crawfish.
The large portion of the drain ended here in this semi-cavernous space.
A smaller drain that is probably 6 feet in diameter branches off to the right at the end of the large drain.
We traveled a little ways into the smaller drain looking for a loose manhole cover to exit from but we couldn't find one so we turned back.
I intend to head back to this drain at least one more time with my DSLR to take some long exposure photos. Stay tuned for those!
Also, if any of you recognize this drain, please p.m. me. I am curious if anyone knows how far the smaller portion goes or where it ends up. I intend to check it out for myself one day but it helps to have a little bit of knowledge going in. Thanks!
There's the crazy one, the photographer, and me, the driver, a mix of both. And we're a pretty kickass team if I do say so myself. | |
Nice explore, I love drain flora and fauna. Uhhummm white crawdads..
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Nice pictures! I feel a little spooky about going into underground/possibly floodable places (I ain't claiming to be any kind of urbex badass here, fer sher) but, much like people's rooftop and crazy-man-climbs-the-crane adventures, I really enjoy getting to see other people's photos and stories. 
input: bacon | output: fiction | |
I personally don't have any experience draining, but from what I've read here on UER it seems like exiting through a manhole cover would be a bad call. You never know where you'll poke your head up, but that's just what I've gathered. Obviously there are always exceptions, just a word of caution. I bet some long exposures down there would be cool. Good stuff!
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| Nice explore, I love drain flora and fauna. |
Thanks! It was certainly interesting to find the frogs and minnows. We had been told ahead of time about the crawdads so they weren't such a surprise but still cool nonetheless!
| Nice pictures! I feel a little spooky about going into underground/possibly floodable places |
Haha I don't really blame you. This drain was huge though, so the claustrophobia was at a minimum lol. We did get a little worried when we passed two water main covers. They appeared to be pressure blowouts but I'm not too sure. Nonetheless, it was enough to keep us on our toes!
| I personally don't have any experience draining, but from what I've read here on UER it seems like exiting through a manhole cover would be a bad call. You never know where you'll poke your head up, but that's just what I've gathered. Obviously there are always exceptions, just a word of caution. I bet some long exposures down there would be cool. Good stuff! |
Yeah I've read the stories about manhole covers too. We did our best to listen for cars for a few minutes before attempting to exit but even then, I realize we were still taking a big risk. As for long exposures, yes, there would certainly be some cool pictures down there! Hopefully I can head back before it gets too cold up here.
There's the crazy one, the photographer, and me, the driver, a mix of both. And we're a pretty kickass team if I do say so myself. | |
Interesting system! Clean as hell too, must be newer?
The underground gets in your blood, careful now.
Libera te tu temet ipsum ab inferis!
52389, 118604 | |
Posted by Akron
The underground gets in your blood, careful now.
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I never really understood the appeal. I feel like you could get a better adventure above ground without getting as grimy.
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| The underground gets in your blood, careful now. |
You may be right but only time will tell... The system itself is a storm drain that runs under the town and when it emerges, it flows on as an above-ground river. So that would be part of the reason it's so clean. As for how new it is, I'm not too sure but I would venture to guess no more than 50 years old.
There's the crazy one, the photographer, and me, the driver, a mix of both. And we're a pretty kickass team if I do say so myself. | |
A drain with no graff. Awesome! Cool explore!
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Nice trip. Look forward to seeing more.
It's probably just me, but I enjoy drain photos with an explorer in them. It gives you some contrast & also shows everyone how awesome ALL drain explorers are.
Posted by TD
I never really understood the appeal. I feel like you could get a better adventure above ground without getting as grimy. |
The thrill of the hunt. Finding the outlet or Inlet which I see as a giant question mark. Where will it come out? Will you come across a waterfall, slide. Stairway or a junction room? Will it turn to brick/metal/plastic/sandstone or change shape? Will I see Sioligen?
It's also the most social form of urbexing, but also, if you wish, the most peaceful (unless you are scared of drains) ;) )
I really like abandoned prisons, schools. Power Stations. Hotels, hospitals & the like, but in most cases you just Google it, drive up to it & look for a hole in the fence & you're in (yes, I'm generalising  ) then you need to be quiet, avoid creating a mini London blitz with your flashlight(s) or falling through the floor & landing on a junky or homeless person.
To be honest the only true remaining form of Urbex is feet-dangling off of sky scrapers.
Cheers
Doug
[last edit 10/14/2015 1:23 PM by Doug - edited 1 times]
The Urbex Zine Guy
https://www.cavecl...wtopic.php?t=12259
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| A drain with no graff. Awesome! Cool explore! |
Thanks! There was a bit of graffiti at the beginning but nothing worth photographing. Just some tagging from a few kids on the cross country team at the university.
| It's probably just me, but I enjoy drain photos with an explorer in them. It gives you some contrast & also shows everyone how awesome ALL drain explorers are. |
Haha me and one of my buddies have a really good idea where that's concerned. Think very well known video games... Wa-hoo!
| Finding the outlet or Inlet which I see as a giant question mark. Where will it come out? Will you come across a waterfall, slide. Stairway or a junction room? |
Update on what we thought was the end of the large drain. Turns out it actually descends underneath a highway so had we walked closer to that sloped ceiling, the bottom would have gave out. No way in hell am I swimming underneath a highway in a flooded storm drain hahaha.
There's the crazy one, the photographer, and me, the driver, a mix of both. And we're a pretty kickass team if I do say so myself. | |
Posted by TD
I personally don't have any experience draining, but from what I've read here on UER it seems like exiting through a manhole cover would be a bad call. You never know where you'll poke your head up, but that's just what I've gathered. Obviously there are always exceptions, just a word of caution. I bet some long exposures down there would be cool. Good stuff!
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Absolutely a bad call.
Here's the thing: Gasses accumulate underground, especially around manhole covers. If you need to enter or exit through a manhole, first use a gas meter to check if there are gasses sitting there. Any gas that displaces oxygen is harmful.
Another thing to keep in mind is that when crews enter the drains for maintenance through manhole covers, they vent the shaft first.
The gas you'll really want to look out for is H2S, which numbs your smeller, so you won't smell the gas. Next thing you know, you're out. Then, your friend runs towards you to assist and bang, they're out, too.
It's dangerous. But avoidable. Just be smart.
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DRAINAGEEEEE! DRAINAGE Eli you boy..
Nice shots man!
I thought it was Bon Jovi but it was a screaming goat.
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