Phalen Drain-Boarding

Mouser Week IX is coming to a close (officially), so its time to head back below ground.

Drain-boarding in Phalen Creek (underneath St. Paul) with Benagain, his girlfriend, and her roommate.



It was cold! Really cold! We parked near some rather shady industrial/commercial offices after driving through some shady St. Paul streets, and walked down a shady-ass road to jump into the drain. and we was COLD! 33 below cold!



The drain was warm though, once we got through the silt sludge shit that just about ate our boots.



Our objective was to find the dry round-concrete-pipe section of drain for drain-boarding, which is a long way from where we entered.



The drain is what used to be Phalen Creek before it was buried, bit by bit over the past 100 years (more on that). The fact that the drain was not built all at once means that walking upstream feels like walking through a scrambled time-capsule. Construction ranges from a concrete box, brick, a section of massive stone tunnel, and the more common eggish RCP. The walls a covered in mineral formations of many different colors, icicles, and stains. In some sections tiny holes on the floor make mini drain-geysers that shoot up several feet.
We even saw a frog float by us down stream.



We finally got to the dry section and hung around for what must have been a long time trying to get some bad-ass drain-boarding shots.



On the way out I dropped my brothers mini-mag that I 'borrowed' in the silt-sludge-shit. Reaching in and grabbing it, and then having to deal with keeping my hand warm was not the kind of thing I wanted to deal with, so there wasn't allot I could do but watch the light slowly sink and fade into the abyss. requiescat in pace



We had a bit of the scare on the way out with a Park-Police vehicle driving along our stretch of road, but we just laid low and didn't waste all of time climbing out.

Dinner was at the Riverside Perkins again, and we ran into what was left of the rest of the Mouser Week crew, and ate Perkins food.


Group photo


This one is from Ben

Update:
So apparently Freak found my light when he and the Perkins crew went to Phalen later that evening, shining from the bottom. Crazy.

MW IX Update

Everyone + Junkyard at Perkins.


[almost]everyone (photo by Ben). Click to view it bigger.

Fun evening, got to meet everyone at Perkins, drank a few cups of coffee and a malt, chilled, and then headed to West Kitts. Ben and I hooked up with GoxKok and his crew and we made it to the top of the third helix. Ben and I wanted to check out some other stuff that evening, so we left them there to wait for everyone else to show up. We both slipped and fell in on the way out, Ben got his leg hurt, and I had to head home, so that pretty much ended the exploring for us that evening. Totally worth it though, I got to meet allot of really cool people that I need to go exploring with more often.

Update (2/7/08):
Ben just sprained his ankle, nothing terribly exciting.

MW IX

http://www.flickr.com/photos/goxkok/2233437909/
Photo by Ben (aka goxkok1 over on Flickr)

Some Mouser Week infos here
http://urbanwanderers.blogspot.com/2008/01/this-upcoming-week.html

Urban Explorers: into the Darkness

I made it to the show at the Riverview tonight, very cool. So there are actually other people out there who are more than just internet posts then right? DVDs were $15 each, but only if you were there (you can still order them from the film's website for $35). Its worth watching for sure, even if its just for kicks.

http://urbanexplorersfilm.com/

"Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness" DVD Release Party

December 6th at the Riverview Theater, 7pm.
The fun plan includes a screening of the film, possible live music, and very interesting people watching!

The details
http://www.slugsite.com/archives/617

Official Film Website
http://www.urbanexplorersfilm.com/index.htm

Tradgedy in St. Paul Storm Drain

I don't mean to over-hype the incident, but it hit very close to many in the local UE community and deserves at least some mention.

Two contractors working for the City of St. Paul were killed Thursday when they were swept away after the storm sewer they were working in flash-flooded (flooding being a normal occurrence) during the afternoon storm around 3:00 pm. A massive rescue attempt was launched after emergency services were notified four hours later. Teams entered drains and covered outfalls to try and recover the lost workers.

When it rains, no drains.

This should never have happened. There is somewhat of an international motto among explorers and the like, considered even more paramount than the "Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints".

• Never enter a drain if there is even the possibility of rain in the days forecast.
  
• Examine side tunnels and shafts to determine possible emergency exits.
  
• Know what is down stream of you, so if all else fails, you can try and work with the flow to get you to an outfall.
  
• The most important thing is not to find a place to hold on to or hide in, but get the hell out.

The following like takes you to a page with a first hand account about when things in a drain get out of control, and this wasn't even during a flood. Attempting to follow these guys yourself is highly discouraged (if I say something like that on this site, it has to be something I wouldn't consider doing myself).
http://www.aberrant.org/~sand/drain/archive99.html

I can't recall ever hearing of the death of an explorer in a local drain. A private firm that claims to have had monitoring deceives and weather spotters in place should have bean able to avert this tragedy.

I think it's fair and accurate to say the hearts of the entire TC UE community are with the victims' friends & families, and they share their frustrations, some, more than they may ever understand.

Story
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1327616.html

Update
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1328116.html

Map of the storm drain/sewers in the search area
http://www.startribune.com/10072/rich_media/1327723.html

"Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness" Minnesota Debut

Here are the details:

Closer to home, Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness makes it’s official Minnesota debut on Friday, March 16th, at 9pm, followed by a second screening a day later, March 17th, at 4pm. Both are at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, whom you should contact to reserve or purchase tickets. To judge from the turn-out at the last fundraiser for the film, I would not show up fifteen minutes early and expect to get in.

-taken form http://www.slugsite.com/
For more information:
http://www.urbanexplorersfilm.com/
http://www.walkerart.org/index.wac

WCCO Urban Exploration Story

This is an interesting story regarding urban exploration that appeared on WCCO yesterday. It features Mike Gilday, a local explorer and photographer. It is a little shallow when it comes to photos and content, but there is nothing really negative in it, no mention several recent deaths in local grain elevators that were rumored to be urban explorers.

Link to the transcript and video at WCCO.com, or watch it below...

Urban Exploration Film Screening

This new documentary, co-produced by Channel Z Films of Minneapolis, delves into the world of urban exploration, a growing subculture of adventure-seekers from around the world who explore places most people would never dream of going.

Doors open to Mill City Museum at 6:30 p.m. with a cash bar and an exhibit of photographs of hidden Twin Cities locations taken by urban explorers during their "missions."

After the screening, audience members can discuss the film with the director and several of the urban explorers featured in the film. Participants can take guided mini-tours of hidden places in the Washburn A Mill, a destination for urban explorers in the decades before it became Mill City Museum, and visit the museum's exhibit galleries, included in the ticket price.

More info:
Tickets
The MySpace