In the dark I thought I heard somebody call

Okay, so I have a THREE DAY WEEKEND coming up (any enthusiasm there you see should be read as highly sarcastic) whcih means I am free from Saturday morning to Tuesday night.

I am thinking I should get someone to go draining with me, to that one Dinkytown/University drain me, Charlie, and Emily visited years ago (I'm pretty sure there was a prototypical 'draining report' posted to the blog, but hey I don't remember when it was so you don't get a link) and got all of, like, 300ft down before going back. Mostly because I sucked.

Nevertheless, it's THREE YEARS LATER now, at least, and I think we should go for it again.

(even though I kind of expect John to make frowny faces because... he hates freedom, and Charlie to be inept, and... I don't even think Candice checks the blog ever. So I'll end up going draining alone again. Seriously, if I die I'm totally going to blame you guys)

[EDIT] okay, or not. No three day weekend; they just messed up my schedule. downsides: well, more time at the soul-crushing job, maybe I won't get to visit Arise! for cupcakes today. upsides: more time to spend furthering my hopeless co-worker crush. and I guess $69.37 more in gross income.

didn't die while draining.

I'll edit this post with a recap later.

next time, I'm bringing a ladder, for serious.

(and the edit!)

okay. so. Set off around four fifteen in the morning, arrived at the drain entrance (same one as last time) at around four forty-five.

The entryway is really misty, seriously. I don't know if I just didn't notice this last time, but the area was suffused with mist. At any rate, walked right up to the 1600ft marker where I turned back last time. As with last time, the water spread out at this point to cover the entire floor. But this time, I didn't care. So I just walked on through, getting my feet slightly damp, and after twenty-five or so feet the stream receded to cover only the center half of the drain. That made me feel kind of lame.

This time I wasn't really paying attention to the offshoots— there were several of them, most were really short (I'm talking under one hundred feet, in most cases under twenty-five feet) and most (but not all) ended in the same kind of circular vertical drain I described in the last post.

There were a lot of Moose Youth Pluto tags on the walls. Although my favourite was one next to the first circular manhole-size chute in the ceiling of the drain— an arrow pointing to it and the words "don't look up". ...Of course, I had to look up. It actually kind of looked like a straight chute up to ground level, although I honestly have no clue. Depth perception + vertical distances + narrow chute = no clue.

At around... I think it was the 3300ft marker, there was an offshoot drain about twenty-five feet deep, from which a lot of water was pouring down. It was loud enough so that one could hear it from the 1600ft marker, actually. But hey, echoes. Labelled on the left side of the entrance was "upshits creek" and then a name I don't remember.

There's a "almost there (100 yards)" tag on the wall at one point before that, I assume pointing to the 'upshits creek' entrance, although since there's another offshoot like, fifty feet further on that I didn't explore it could be pointing to that, too.

Anyway. Between there and the end of the drain, pretty much the only significant thing was another short offshoot, this one reeking really strongly of metal.

5500ft. End of the drain. There's a circular vertical drain, and this one is big enough so that I can see the top of it without stepping inside (which is good for two reasons, those being 1) I don't know how deep the water inside them is and 2) there's a lot of water coming down inside the entire circumference of the drain. seriously, it's like rain) and it appears to simply be the 'main drain' of another, higher up drain.

In fact, I'm fairly sure all of the circular drains are connections to other, higher up drains. Hence, next time I go back I'll be bringing a ladder.

Tags nearby: "I broke the law. It was fun" & the ubiquitous MOOSE YOUTH PLUTO.

On my way back I went in the 1600ft drain and found my vague suspicions were correct: fifteen-or-so feet in, there's a sleep slope (like, 80 degrees up) and another fifteen-or-so feet past that, there's yet another circular drain. Did not try climbing up the slope; even though it's maybe four feet tall it's still covered in gross brown slime.

Next time I really need to get someone to come with me, because hey, using a ladder means potential for FALLING TO ONE'S DEATH. also: I need to get a folding ladder.

So here's a summation:

• Entered graffiti-covered entrance. A few feet in, I turn on my flashlight and discover that there is a giant gaping hole in the floor a few feet ahead, which explains why there was no water coming out of this drain.
• I skirt around the edges of the hole. It's only a few feet deep, but it's got a fair amount of water rushing through it, and I would rather not get wet because it's below freezing out. So there's a decently broad ledge around it
• One of the things you don't notice from photographs of draining expiditions: your depth perception is totally messed up. There's not a lot of light and what with the lack of landmarks it's hard to tell just how far ahead you can see. So I see what looks like two pillars in the distance-- one flush with the right side of the tunnel, the other crooked and maybe leaning against the right pillar? But no, that's not it-- it's steps! The right 'pillar' was the steps themselves, the left pillar was the water rushing down the slope. So.
• After the steps I get out my non-sucky flashlight (i.e., not the pocked maglite) and continue on. The tunnel gets a little narrower and changes texture. Also, there is a offshoot tunnel. It's narrower and about as tall as I am in the very middle, and since I want to avoid walking in the water I have to stoop to do walk up the tunnel.
• This tunnel turns! and turns. it's significantly more crooked than the main tunnel. It eventually dead-ends in what looks like a rain chamber-- water keeps falling in big drops down to the chamber floor, at which point it runs out down the tunnel I was travelling up. I don't check it out in a lot of detail; I'm trying to avoid getting wet.
• So back down to the main tunnel! It is at this point I notice the bright orange distance markers on the walls. Evidently, the tunnel I just went down starts 660 ft. from the entrance.
• And so I keep walking down the main tunnel. At around 1575~ ft there's another offshoot tunnel-- this one is much wider, slightly taller, and it starts halfway up the main tunnel's wall, at about shoulder or neck height. As far as I can tell, it looks like the water there flows down a steep step. I decide not to try and scramble up there, because water is sheeting down onto the floor and (say it with me this time) I don't want to get wet. After this offshoot, the water in the main tunnel becomes deep enough to cover the entire floor. I decide to turn back, because I'm alone and using two flashlights with who-knows how old batteries, and I don't want to get wet.

So I guess I'll try again in the spring once all the snow has melted and it's warmer and dry! But this was totally awesome! But more interesting than the first expedition.