The outfall that begins the North Branch Storm Channel is concrete, and the mouth of the pipe is guarded by a light, easy-to-swing-open grate. Ducking underneath this, I entered the 1500x1800 duct pipe- just tall enough to walk comfortably. Flat-bottom pipe is always nicer to walk through, and I enjoyed it even when the accumulated sediment on the bottom forced me to walk a bit hunched over.
The most beautiful aspect of this drain is probably the frequent, random shafts of light. In many areas, the drain is fairly shallow and manholes, along with a catchbasin or two, let in wonderful rays of daylight that can be seen when approaching from down the line. The manhole rooms were a little strange- the top of the pipe would be completely chopped through and removed, with a large square room constructed of cinder blocks above. The first few manhole rooms I passed throught didn't even have ladders or stepirons, just a lid in the middle of the ceiling high above. The first manhole shaft I came to that could actually be climbed had a rusty iron ladder at its base, which turned into single stepirons above the level of the drain pipe.
During a certain stretch of this drain, the air become corrupted by a horrible sanitary sewage stench. It was powerful, but I've been through far worse, so I carried on. I never saw a definite sewer connection, or much sanitary debris, but there were a few questionable side pipes. The stench seemed confined to a certain length of the drain, and I eventually passed back into (relatively) fresh drain air.
Eventually (after a half hour of walking?) I came to a junction room. Here, the duct split into two 1650 RCPs; one low on the left, and one high above in front. The RCP on the left lead a couple metres into another manhole chamber, which served as a dropshaft for a smaller RCP above. Testing the depth of the water in the bottom of the dropshaft with my foot, I couldn't touch bottom, so I turned back to the first junction room.
The other RCP, directly in front at about head level, was a much easier bet. I climbed up using a little rusty ladder & the provided stepirons. Starting into the pipe with a slight crouch, I found the bottom was pretty slippery, and there was only silence ahead. After walking about 10 minutes, I did a few echo tests, with the result that I suspect the pipe went a long, boring way, before presumably getting even smaller. Figuring it wasn't worth the effort, I went back down to the junction room to shoot some photos.
On the walk back to the outfall, I took more photos along the way, marveling at the simple beauties that can be found in a drain. Light seemed so important, further reinforcing my belief that drains are almost always better during the day.
The outfall that begins the NBSC.
Just inside the drain- it was the perfect shape for walking, with a bit of troublesome sediment.
Reduxzero in a typical manhole room.
Rusty reinforcing bar ends protrude through the chopped concrete in a manhole room.
Looking up the manhole shaft in the junction.
The small junction room with the 1650 RCPs. Note the small, rusty ladder on the left.