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Holy shit, SteamPunk....an exploding hippo!!!
Nice one yosh kow.
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Late last night, NinjaKlutz and I finally made our way over to the Burrow of the Beast. It's an oldie, but a goodie. I expect many of us have seen these same pictures many times before, but I hope you like my take on them anyway.
It would have been nice to have a proper light source, a tripod, and something other than a point-and-click digital, but complaints aside, I am happy with the way some of these shots turned out.
NinjaKlutz and I arranged to meet at 2:30am at the cul-de-sac. The outfall is not a possibility for the next few months (unless you go in during the day) due to tides, so the cul-de-sac provides a good isolated, yet traffic-noisy entrance.
We got the manhole open and scrambled our way down. It took a bit for us to get the cover back on once we were inside (cursed little notch!), but we finally got it. Personally, this is as far as I had made it before. Last spring, I had gotten that far too by myself one night, but after seeing the six foot drop into the main drain, I wasn't convinced that I could make it out alone once I dropped in. I had to turn around last spring, but this time, I came armed with a Ninja and a twelve foot stretch of rope that I wrapped around my waist as a belt to prevent suspicion.
I was glad for thinking ahead since it proved helpful for getting in and necessary for getting out later. Dropping down from the street access, we were both surprised to see a teardrop tunnel that stretched as far as our lights could shine in both directions.
We knew we wanted to head towards the outfall first, so we followed the water.
We were both impressed by the size of the drain. Walking took some getting used to thanks to that stupid missing-brick-gutter down the middle of the floor. You either have to straddle it (which is nearly impossible without slipping) or you need to pick a creative foot positioning that spans your boot perpendicular to the trough. I elected to walk a weird sidestep with both my feet pointing 45 degrees to the left.
The water ripples beautifully around your boots when you stop walking. I guess NinjaKlutz didn't mind getting his feet wet; my gumboots didn't look so soggy.
After a little bit, we started to hear water rushing. Having seen the pictures before, I knew what was coming. We came across this large set of steps.
The steps not only take the drain to a different elevation, but they act as a water brake to slow down the water - especially during heavy rain. The water flows back and forth from one granite block to the next, slowing down every time it makes the ninety degree turn.
We kept going towards the outfall and came across another set of steps, arguably more beautiful than the first.
I lucked out and got a picture of NinjaKlutz taking a picture of me. His picture must look the same but with me lower.
I didn't think we would make it all the way to the outfall since the tide was high and still had another ten centimetres to rise. We got as far as we could before the water got deep and turned around to head back to our rope and head on in the other direction.
Traveling now in the direction away from the outfall, we kept opening up into various manhole access shafts.
As you can see, some of them are made of concrete and feel much newer. The ladder rungs aren't too rusted and are big enough to fit two boots or two hands at the same time. Others are much older. The rungs are spaced farther apart.
The brickwork has aged with ornate colouring on many of the older access shafts.
The rungs in these older shafts are full of rust and could easily cut your hands.
As we sludged our way onward, we found this root system that found its way down to a good water source. It's amazing how once the roots get into the main drain, they just spread out and cover the entire wall.
A little later, we saw a smaller root system hanging off the ceiling like tendrils.
It's no wonder the roots like that area - with all the water and all. There were spots where the ceiling was covered with droplets of water. It was nice of them to stay where they were and not to drop on us as we were exploring.
Despite all the moisture, I was surprised by how little organic material was down there. The notable exception of course was the Vomit of the Beast.
Organic and rust and water, oh my!
This drain, in the direction away from the outfall, is relatively featureless. It doesn't have the beautiful steps of the Burrow. The most photogenic features seem to be the different side drains that feed into the main drain.
As it got closer to dawn, the outside air cooling down produced some fog in the moisture-filled drain. We started to see the beams of our flashlights and headlamps. Every time we used our flash, we would pick up the fog with the bright light. Some of the pictures have a real ghostly feel to them - will-o'-the-wisps playing tag with the light.
A few times, I let NinjaKlutz get far enough away from me that I could get a picture of him and his light source in the distance. Sometimes, it felt like an afterlife experience.
Other times, I felt like Wile E. Coyote chasing Road Runner into a train tunnel.
Three hours underground, we made our way back to the exit. Glad to have tied the rope, we climbed up and out.
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.”
- Helen Keller | |
Very nice! Looks like you had fun.
"...let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure." - Dumbledore | |
Yoshkow, I really enjoyed looking at your photographs and reading about your exploration.
Thanks for posting this information. It IS appreciated.
Tom
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Ah, that was by far the most stunningly beatiful man-made thing i've seen in this city ever before! I just loved how it felt so.....secret....so cool...
This was also my first drain ever. I remember the shock I felt when i was looking at this drain map, and suddenly realized that this drain was verrrryyy long.
Very nice post, Yoshkow, your pix turned out nice! Thanks for illuminating this so nicely.
Once again, it was a real pleasure to explore with you.
Now, about all those other drains under the city.......
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Awesome. Sounds like lots of fun was had. Good pictures and great stories. Thanks for sharing, guys.
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Posted by NinjaKlutz
Ah, that was by far the most stunningly beatiful man-made thing i've seen in this city ever before! I just loved how it felt so.....secret....so cool...
This was also my first drain ever. I remember the shock I felt when i was looking at this drain map, and suddenly realized that this drain was verrrryyy long.
Very nice post, Yoshkow, your pix turned out nice! Thanks for illuminating this so nicely.
Once again, it was a real pleasure to explore with you.
Now, about all those other drains under the city.......
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You haven't seen the monster truck I built out of jelly beans, Lego and Hershey Kisses. It's awesome!
"The truth is knowable. But probably not, ever, incontrovertible."
--Don DeLillo
PICS | |
Posted by KublaKhan
You haven't seen the monster truck I built out of jelly beans, Lego and Hershey Kisses. It's awesome!
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I'm not even going to try to Photoshop that one...
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.”
- Helen Keller | |
Thanks for the comments everyone. I'm slowly building my photo library along with my time in the field. I don't get out very often, but sometimes I like to try to share the experience with y'all.
Good pics, NinjaKlutz. I'm soooooo photogenic whilst scrambling down those steps, don't you think?
It was a wonderful experience and a pleasure for me too.
Now about those other "drains"...
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.”
- Helen Keller | |
Hey everyone, I finally got the pics I have been meaning to post for a while, from inside the Royal Theatre.
This used to be the entrance to a walkway that led from the 2nd floor to one of the smaller balconies, now covered with drywall.
this is inside the main balcony
and to the right of where we were in the last picture, is a hole in the wall that leads to the closed-off walkway
this one is inside the walkway, looking towards the wall in the first photo
this is underneath the walkway, looking up at at dip in the ceiling where the walkway is
this is the back wall of the are in the balcony, it is covered in graffiti, carved into the wall by the janitors who worked there over the years, I think this one says "1917" although I'm not sure if the building was there at that time, maybe "1947"??? (sorry about the blurriness)
inside the boiler room
some old type of machinery, I'm not quite sure what it is...
a small utility tunnel that runs from the boiler room to the other side of the basement, unfortunately, we couldn't explore it because there was a bit too much stuff in the way
this is from the other side
standing at the base of a giant shaft that runs all the way to the roof
and looking up
this is what we had to go through to get to the shaft
this is the outside of that vent
and going into the basement on the other end of the utility tunnel
I was really glad I had the chance to explore that building, thanks KH + MH.
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Verrrry nice. Good work!
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Posted by skipideedoo
some old type of machinery, I'm not quite sure what it is...
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Well that looks like your basic R4- unit to me. she'd be a beaut if you scrubbed her up a little. I know a droid guy just a few clicks from Mos Eisley who'll fix you up just fine.
ANYWAY, yes, those are awesome pics. I haven't seen shots from an active site in Victoria in quite a while!
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Posted by lupurus
Well that looks like your basic R4- unit to me. she'd be a beaut if you scrubbed her up a little. I know a droid guy just a few clicks from Mos Eisley who'll fix you up just fine.
ANYWAY, yes, those are awesome pics. I haven't seen shots from an active site in Victoria in quite a while!
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Is that like R2's older brother?
"The truth is knowable. But probably not, ever, incontrovertible."
--Don DeLillo
PICS | |
KK - In honour of the recent Victoria Film Fest, are we ever going to get to see an encore screening of UtGC? (Or a first-core, for those who missed it? *cough*) I'll bring the popcorn!
"...let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure." - Dumbledore | |
Posted by yellow_wallpaper
KK - In honour of the recent Victoria Film Fest, are we ever going to get to see an encore screening of UtGC? (Or a first-core, for those who missed it? *cough*) I'll bring the popcorn!
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Followed by KK's personal hard-core video!!
I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems weird and scary to me, and it'll happen to you, too! | |
Posted by SteamPunk
Followed by KK's personal hard-core video!!
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Indeed. But you'll need a 'special pass' to get in.
"The truth is knowable. But probably not, ever, incontrovertible."
--Don DeLillo
PICS | |
Posted by KublaKhan
Is that like R2's older brother?
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http://www.r2-d2.de/Character/r4-m9.jpg
: )
Also, screening plz.
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Posted by SteamPunk Followed by KK's personal hard-core video!!
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Already seen it.
"...let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure." - Dumbledore | |
This site has some beautiful pictures of underground rivers and drains, granted, none are local- but they certainly are pretty.
http://www.underci.../explorations.html
Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places.
~ H.P. Lovecraft
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I hope none of my brothers were underground when this happened.
- M
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www.cfax1070.com/n...ry.php?newsId=8210
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MANHOLE COVER BLOWN OFF HOLE ON VIEW STREET
Feb 28, 2009
A MANHOLE COVER EXPLODED OFF VIEW STREET FRIDAY EVENING.
VICTORIA FIREFIGHTERS WERE CALLED TO THE SCENE ON THE 700 BLOCK OF VIEW AROUND 5:00PM AFTER A LOUD BANG WAS HEARD AND THE COVER BLEW OFF THE HOLE.
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT TURNED THE PROBLEM OVER TO BC HYDRO, AS A CABLE FAULT WAS SAID TO THE BE THE CAUSE OF THE INCIDENT.
IT'S NOT IMMEDIATELY CLEAR HOW THE ELECTRICAL CABLE FAULT FORCED THE COVER OFF THE HOLE.
ONE BUILDING ON VIEW STREET WAS WITHOUT POWER AS A RESULT OF THE INCIDENT.
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