Belt Line Drain

After the morning expedition to the Park Drive drain, Kowalski invited a few of us along for some more draining- this time, to a location he'd never explored. The five of us (Kowalski, TBone, Steve Duncan, N-Rock and myself) followed a creek through a ravine, until we came to an outfall. The large rectangle was very tempting, but Kowalski assured us it was well secured, and that we'd have to pop in via a nearby manhole.
We followed a path into a nearby cemetary, where we located a promising manhole in the middle of a roadway. We sat out in the sun, on the grass, and leisurely got out flashlights and changed into our boots while we waited for several cars, groups of pedestrians, and one old woman to move along. Then, when the coast was clear, we all scurried out onto the roadway. With my popper, I dragged open the manhole and everyone climbed down. I was the last one inside, and watched a car park down the road just before I dragged the manhole lid back into place over my head.
With everyone inside, we went down to the outfall first to get some photos. The drain looked to be 1800 RCP, with a bit of water flowing steadily in the bottom. After a quick walk in the darkness, it was a magical experience entering the outfall. The triangular concrete room was bathed in warm green light, and there was a flow channel down the middle of the chamber. The walls were covered in old graffiti, mostly unimaginative tagging. Steve Duncan, Kowalski and I all got out our tripods and started shooting- that green light was fantastic.
Soon, we turned around and went back up the pipe. I love exploring a drain with no idea what lies ahead- especially if there's a good chance it won't be constantly shrinking RCP. The Belt Line Drain had some cool surprises in store for us.
Not long after passing some manhole rooms, the RCP stopped, and we emerged into a fantastic stone room. I had never seen anything like it, and was completely blown away. The ceiling was arched, made of large, rough stone blocks; a small sidepipe spat water from a wall. Although not very long or large, this room was my favorite part of this drain- I'd go back just to visit the room. Of course, we all had to stop and take photos of this wonderful structure, before continuing upstream.
The pipe we were following was now a wonderful horseshoe shape- but after a couple twists and turns, I think it went back to RCP. We entered an odd junction room, which seemed to be a strange sort of connection between two different storm sewer lines. My memory of this part of the trip is pretty hazy, but I remember Kowalski and Steve shooting a bunch of photos of the different A-shape and horsehoe pipes we traversed. It was interesting to watch a couple good photographers at work in a drain.
I know the drain eventually shrunk to a 1650 arch, and we encountered a nasty sewage-type smell. We passed by a couple of old, shallow, brick manhole shafts, with rusty stepirons leading up to the lids. The section of drain seemed old and cool though, so we decided to keep going. But the drain shrunk again, to 1500, and we decided to try popping out through one of the infrequent manhole shafts we'd passed. Steve managed to unseat one manhole, but after flipping it open and taking a peek outside, he reported that it was about 30 feet from an old man, sitting on his back yard porch.
I popped the next one, but it was no better. After climbing up some stepirons that disintegrated when I put weight on them, and pushing up the manhole, I head some kid's voice say "Mommy! There's something moving over there!". Needless to say, I quickly dropped back down and told everyone to head downstream.
The third manhole I refused to pop because of a spider infestation in the collar, but Steve bravely pushed it open and went up. Watching from below, the rest of us could hear him having a conversation with some lady. Unsure of where we were, but tired and ready to leave, we all just followed Steve up. We came out at the edge of a public park, next to a walking path where the woman had been passing as Steve popped up. After replacing the manhole cover, we sat out on the grass, and changed out of our boots and gear. The same woman passed by us as we were getting ready to leave, commenting that we "must be a real hit with the ladies". Her sarcasm was lost on me- I was just happy to be above ground once more.
Thanks Kowalski, for taking us through this remarkable little drain! Here's his report on the Belt Line Drain