|
Akron
     
location:
Colorado
Gender: Male
Ab inferno te libera, ignave!
 |  | South Platte Drains: Colorado
< on 5/15/2005 10:26 PM >
|  | | | For those who don’t know, the South Platte River runs very close to downtown Denver, and like any city river, is an excellent place to search for drains. So I’ve got some new finds to report folks! This Saturday, Roy and I found three new ones on a scouting run. Two have great potential, and one looks like it could be massive as well, we also came back with a few questions. (Maybe you can answer them?)
All the new finds are north of Phantom Creek but not by much, probably only about three miles at the most. You could ride a bike to the drains, but I’m not sure how you’d go about stashing it. Oh, and this place is chock-full of bums, some of ‘em are not exactly friendly.
Here is what we found, the names are likely temporary until the drains are explored.
Waterfall Temple
Isn’t this place awesome? I’ve never seen such an elaborate outfall that’s ‘deco like this. Some outfalls are beautifully functional, but this one is just… a temple doorway.
Inside you’ll find two short slides/falls and then a very low portion where they tore out the original redbrick section where the street crosses over the drain. Could this be for the same reason that Phantom creek’s redbrick system had a chunk taken out of it? Past the low section is where the drain becomes exciting – a redbrick tunnel that you can comfortably stand in! Sadly I didn’t go very far, but I’m definitely coming back here sometime soon.
Crystal Pepsi
This is the kinda drain that you just know is either gonna suck, or be freakin’ awesome. The outfall structure here is also pretty weird. It consists of the actual outfall, a short GPT pond, and then a massive twin slide that goes under the bike path and into the river. Even though the outfall looks deep it actually isn’t any deeper than about five inches. We didn’t get to go in this one, but we will someday. Oh, and it looks like it runs under the entire coliseum complex. Sweet.
The Refinery
Redbrick is goodah. You’d probably have to use the nearby train bridge to reach this drain, but we didn’t attempt that today. Man does it look big, I’d say at least seven feet in diameter.
The Great Iron Door is no longer singular, and will now be referred to as the Colorado Vault Complex. Take a look at this reoccurring theme:
The weird part
The Platte is flooding a bit, so the drains(?) are inaccessible now, but this is nuts. Some of these doors were bigger than the original Great Iron Door; check out that last one! That thing must have been nine feet high and six or seven feet wide! There is almost no reasonable way anyone would be able to get in or out. Scary.
This brings me to the questions. Each one of these outlets exposes a huge metal pipe running parallel to the river. Was ist das? Sewer? Water main? And what is the reason for those doors? Are they actually for flood control? Or are they trying to keep people out for some reason? CSOs maybe?
A great day in all though, I don’t think I’ve ever found that many good drains in a single day!
I’ll keep you posted.
Libera te tu temet ipsum ab inferis!
52389, 118604 |
|
Kbasa
location:
Gunnison/Crested Butte, co
Gender: Male
High Hopes
| |  | Re: South Platte Drains: Colorado
<Reply # 1 on 5/15/2005 11:40 PM >
| | | | yeah, ok we need another drain meeting like the one i missed last summer, where i hurt my ankle right before we went. Lets schedule it!
Also great finds
Shut the fuck up and ride that fucking Couchmobile!
|
|
Sinister Crayon
  
location:
Colorado
Gender: Male
| | Re: South Platte Drains: Colorado
<Reply # 2 on 5/16/2005 4:22 AM >
| | | | Posted by Kbasa
yeah, ok we need another drain meeting like the one i missed last summer, where i hurt my ankle right before we went. Lets schedule it!
Also great finds
|
good plan. I sorta want to finish phantom creek as well... but these look promising.
|
|
Twilo
location:
Denver, CO
Gender: Male
Wake up and smell the ashes...
| | | Re: South Platte Drains: Colorado
<Reply # 3 on 5/17/2005 4:22 AM >
| | | | Awesome finds Akron! I'm all for another drain meet this summer.
I checked out Phantom Creek about a week ago with Sai, and nothing much has changed. The antechamber has more tagging and less trash under the grates, and the shopping cart/chair still remains, even with the massive rains of last year. Sadly, the chair is no longer in the cart...
Since I'm out of school after tomorrow, I'll likely be checking out a few of these places pretty soon.
Edit: Forgot to ask: anyone think a handheld GPS would work in the RBP if the antenna was placed through the hole of a manhole cover? Might be interesting in knowing exactly where the RBP leads. Might also make a neat shortcut for further exploration of the RBP, assuming the manhole cover isn't precariously placed in the middle of a street or such. Strangely enough, Sai and I heard spanish music/television emanating from the smaller ceramic/concrete sidepipes in the manhole rooms along the RBP on two occasions.
[last edit 5/17/2005 4:27 AM by Twilo - edited 1 times]
|
|
SnArF
| | Re: South Platte Drains: Colorado
<Reply # 4 on 5/17/2005 8:09 PM >
| | | | Posted by Twilo
Edit: Forgot to ask: anyone think a handheld GPS would work in the RBP if the antenna was placed through the hole of a manhole cover? Might be interesting in knowing exactly where the RBP leads. Might also make a neat shortcut for further exploration of the RBP, assuming the manhole cover isn't precariously placed in the middle of a street or such. Strangely enough, Sai and I heard spanish music/television emanating from the smaller ceramic/concrete sidepipes in the manhole rooms along the RBP on two occasions.
|
It will work if you can get the antennae through the hole, usually a GPS antennae is about the size of a silver dollar (Thats how big mine was anyway) and assuming there are no tall concrete buildings or vegetation around, it should acquire a signal.
|
|
snappo
| | Re: South Platte Drains: Colorado
<Reply # 5 on 5/18/2005 7:20 AM >
| | | | Hey people,
denver local, new to the forum. *waves*
those look like a great find, Akron. I know quite a few drains around town, especially in southeast denver/burbs. a drain meeting sounds awesome, I'd love to hook up with some local spelunkers and share finds.
|
|
Kbasa
location:
Gunnison/Crested Butte, co
Gender: Male
High Hopes
| | | Re: South Platte Drains: Colorado
<Reply # 6 on 5/18/2005 11:46 PM >
| | | | for those close to that area of the city....theres a drain right near the City of Cherry Creek, feeding the cherry creek river, some where around washington street i think, probably about a 7 footer...
here, right next to speer
EDIT: removed link cause it was broken
[last edit 5/18/2005 11:47 PM by Kbasa - edited 1 times]
Shut the fuck up and ride that fucking Couchmobile!
|
|
snappo
| | Re: South Platte Drains: Colorado
<Reply # 7 on 5/22/2005 3:48 AM >
| | | | akron,
I figure that with a car jack of some kind you'd be able to prop open those iron gates. just be damn sure it's secure before going in.
I've encountered similar gates along cherry creek.. with three guys we were able to get in and out... two to hold it open while someone slipped in. I dunno about that big rectangular one though.
|
|
silentscream
location:
Colorado
Gender: Male
| | Re: South Platte Drains: Colorado
<Reply # 8 on 5/26/2005 1:48 AM >
| | | | Interesting - perhaps I'll have to reconsider draining. I haven't been in one since I was small enough to not be at all troubled by going through 36inch pipes. You guys wouldn't happen to know of any good places in Co. Springs would you? Or for that matter, know of any places anyone wants recon info on in Colorado Springs?
|
|
autowitch
location:
Colorado/New Mexico
Hey! Where did all the explorers go?
| |  | Re: South Platte Drains: Colorado
<Reply # 9 on 5/27/2005 1:26 AM >
| | | | C-Springs doesn't have much in the way of interesting buildings - lot's of empty gas stations these days, some vacant offices and that's about it. There is one painfully obvious exception. Fortunately, Pueblo is not that far away 
There's some interesting drains - there is supposed to be some stone rooms in some of the drains, but I haven't found them yet. There are also quite a few other tunnels in the older areas. I've been able to confirm the existence of some of these.
--autowitch
Hey, where did all the explorers go? |
|
Mr. BLAB
Gender: Female
| | Re: South Platte Drains: Colorado
<Reply # 10 on 6/4/2005 10:38 AM >
| | | | Kinda off-topic, but I was wondering if any Utahns were planning on attending this. Just a quickie. Thanks.
|
|
Powered by AvBoard AvBoard version 1.5 alpha
Page Generated In: 85 ms
|
|
Ethics
