Nicollet Island IV

Its been a while. Have you noticed that it seems like I'm saying that every time I post after I've been exploring? Anyways though, a few days ago Scout asked me to go back to Satan's Cave with him so he could show it to a friend who was interested, and I said that'd be awesome.

[fast forward to the weekend]

We met in a parking lot next to the Hennepin Ave. Bridge in the late afternoon at the back of Scout's unmarked white Econoline van, and I got introduced to Kanskje. From there, we had to do a bit of calling around to let someone know where to find us if we never came back, then down we went. We used an entrance on the side of the Island, trying to make sure we didn't get seen by any of the people out in the 60+ heatwave we had, damn Americans trying to be fit and healthy. After we crawled through the collapsed "room", under the sewer, and into the tunnel, we decided to just head for the "cave", all the side tunnels were were pretty wet, and we were already going to have to walk through allot of black sewer sludge as it was.

Kanskje behind a fire-hydrant pipe

Scout and Kanskje in the brick water-main tunnel that roughly runs-around the north half of the island

Flow-stone at the base of a hydrant

Math

There isn't really a whole lot to see in the brick tunnels, except for some very interesting white fluffy looking mold that we passed by pretty quickly.

We made it all the way to the "cave", took a look at the tags and carvings, met a few bats sleeping upside-down in niches on the walls, but didn't stay too long. The air this time was particularly bad, the worst I've ever had down there yet, really thick and lacking real oxygen. It got to the point that Scout and I were really starting to notice it, so we decided to book before we got to take a look at the shrine again. We ended up going straight for the manhole that opens into the middle of the field.

I popped it without anyone seeing us, about and hour and a half after we went down. Just as soon as we slid the cover back in place, a police car pulled up about 60 yards away. I'm pretty sure they never saw us, but we got out of there pretty quick. We took our time getting back to the parking lot, and split up.

The river was like glass

It's fun exploring with awesome new people, so hopefully, we'll all go do something like this again soon, but somewhere besides Nicollet Island. Its kinda starting to get old now, and conditions down there don't seem likely to get better to soon, so its time to find somewhere new, maybe a grain elevator, we'll see...

Me on top of a light tower next to the Hennepin Ave. Bridge

Preacher or dictator?

rise!

Making a point

Meh?

Nicollet Island (3rd Times the Charm)

Weer'e baack! No more silly reports stolen from other sites, its time for some super bad ass urban exploring! I was chatting with a friend I hadn't seen since school ended (Sparkling Wild Berry) and she brought up the idea of going exploring with another friend (Scout) that I had talked about doing something like this over the summer with. Long story short, Thursday morning we were on the way to Satan's cave. Yeah, I know we've been there half a half dozen times before, but there is still plenty of it I haven't seen, and its sort of like a good place to get back into shape.

Every trip we had made before this, we had used a manhole located on a hill in the middle of a field to get into the tunnels, and we were more than lucky no one ever saw us. A few days before this trip, I had spent an afternoon walking around the island, trying to find a better way in. I found one.

We crawled our way up into a partially caved-in "room" littered with slabs of limestone and sleeping bags, then down a length of sandstone tunnel before emptying into another large space, this one bisected by a branch of the large brick sewer tunnels found under the island. We has two choices, over or under. Scout and I took the high road, and SWB managed to get through underneath. We had to take turns tossing packs and gear back and forth to fit through some of the tight spots, but it wasn't long before we ended up in a brick water main tunnel. We followed that for a long time. We didn't take any side tunnels this time, it was wet, heck, our main tunnel was flooded enough in parts that even by walking on the top of the water main pipe, our shoes were sinking into about an inch of nasty smelling black sludge shit.

Eventually we got to the cave. Out came the cameras, we admired the artwork, and moved on. We took the long way out and headed through the "other cave" that loops into the brick tunnel again closer to our old entrance.

Scout in Satan's Cave

Lick Nuts. If ya haven't figured it out by now, yeah, we're weird

Scout, art aficionado

Sculpture in the cave

SWB documenting

In the belly of the beast.

Check that?... err, still here

Not even alcohol

The shrine

Hugh?

Light writers

Artists

Maybe

Scout BW

Sparkling Wild Berry

Me (thanks Scout)

SWB again

Back into the brick tunnel

It was actually open when we got there. Weired. At the top we found a flashlight someone had left. Double weird. Call us lucky or Scout's got mad skilz, cause no one saw us this time either! Afterwards, we stopped by the Aster Cafe' on the mall there for some lunch and a few rounds of Jenga. Great place. Got to go back there some time when I'm not covered in clay.

Return to the Nicollet Island Utility Tunnels (Satan's Cave)

4

Location: Nicollet Island
Crew: Cheese & Spaz
Mission Time: 2 hrs (underground)
Difficulty: Moderate-Easy
After an unsuccessful attempt to make a return trip several weeks ago (in which incompetence on the part of all involved caused us to believe that we were trapped beneath the manhole through which we entered the tunnels), Cheese and I returned for a more thorough exploration of the complicated tunnel network (as that is what it was revealed to be).
Unlike in our previous expedition, we took time to explore many of the side caves (due in part to the fact that dry weather made their exploration possible without walking in several inches of mud), leading off from the main brick tunnels. Most were dead ends, or were blocked by sand, but more led into other small caves. We also realized that the main brick tunnel snakes all over the island. At one point, we found a manhole leading to the surface above with climbable rungs. It turned out that it surfaces right in front of someone's front yard!


This large sanitary sewer pipe crosses one of the first side tunnels we encountered after our decent. The iron panel is, in fact, a door that opens inwards to provide access, as we found later...


A more typical side tunnel for the first section of brick tunnel.


Pipes and hoses protruding from the water pipe that runs the length of the tunnel, into a hole in the wall.


Interesting drip-formations beneath a rung less manhole shaft.

We proceeded down the brick tunnel, and to the small hole in its side that leads to the first cave.


Cheese crawling through a side tunnel that opens up into the first cave.


The sand stone in this section was eroded up into the cave's limestone ceiling.

We made our way through the first cave more slowly than in our first visit, when we believed it to be the actual Satan's Cave, and were expecting to stumble upon the shrine, just around the next turn,


Cheese, about to climb down into the first cave.

On each side of the first cave is an entrance to a sandstone tunnel. I don't know where either lead, and will need to check them out when we return.


An entrance to tunnel that crosses the cave.


The tunnel continues on the other side.


A look at the roof of the cave, and what could come crashing down on us (however unlikely that would be).


"Dragons ^"

We continued on, back into the brick tunnel, passing by Satan's Cave for the moment to have a look at where else it goes under the island. We explored many sandstone side tunnels that at times became quite small. They connected to each other, and back into the brick tunnel in several places.


Another sewer pipe, very similar to the one in the first side tunnel, maybe another part of it. Note the open iron door in the brick-work.


"mommy, what does raw sewage look like?"...

Time waits for no man, and we were running short, so we decided that we had better check out Satan's Cave and the shrine before we had to leave.


graffiti on the wall, next to where we dropped in from the brick tunnel.


Looking back, in the opposite direction of the shrine. Barely visible to the right is the part of the cave that leads back the the drop-point.


An evil smiley carved into the sandstone near the shrine.


Another demon face.


This wax (actually, I think it is plastic) head sits in an alcove carved into the cave wall, and is probably the creepiest thing down there.


Another shot of Wax Head (and yes that is a proper noun now).

Cheese brought his Zippo down with us this time in hopes of lighting the numerous candles, but most had already been burned down to nothing. Note to self: Bring new candles.


Does anyone know Russian? What does the flag on the shrine say?


The shrine, with the one candle we managed to light.


Cheese poses with his Zippo.


About a minute of video from Satan's Cave.


More graffiti. Any NOFX fans out there?


"The Earth keeps some vibration going there in your heart, and that is you, and if the people find you can fiddle, then fiddle you must, for all your life."


"The world was not given to us by our parents, but loaned to us by our children" (actually a Kenyan proverb)

We eventually decided that it was time to leave, and headed back to the drop-point, facing a challenging climb out. On the way, I spotted a small sand stone tunnel, just large enough to crawl through. I had heard that there was a crawl tunnel that led from the cave, back up to the brick tunnel, and figured that this must be it. It followed a slight incline for several yards, before emerging back into the brick tunnel, just feet from the drop-point. I highly recommend this path as an alternative to the drop.


Cheese, about to start making his way through the crawl tunnel.

So yah, we came, we saw, we kicked some cave ass, and we will be back. We aren't finished with Satan's Cave yet.


Looking back down at Cheese again, as I climb back up the manhole shaft to the surface.