I would recommend walking along waterways and river/stream parks and looking for places where underground rivers emerge, especially at ends and under bridges. Online maps and street view can save some of the physical labour. May be less effective in other countries.
Comparing old maps showing streams above ground with current maps will often reveal where a creek has been routed underground. Also, use Google’s satellite images to scan around the edges of areas with large concentrations of buildings and parking lots. All that rain water landing on impermeable ground has to go somewhere, right?
Also, popping manhole covers is what got my crew detained by police on several occasions. I don’t mind it as a quick exit strategy but never would use it for entrance again.
All that water has to go somewhere, so I find it easiest to look for outfalls and work backwards from there. Trawl Google Maps for drainage ponds, lakeshores, and riverbanks and see if you can spot the outfall from there. Then, if your city has GIS maps of the storm drain system publicly available (many cities do), you can just find the outfall on the GIS maps and work backwards to find manholes and junction rooms.
Pretty sure this goes without saying, but if your in a colder area with snow. Don't chance it if it's all melting. There's drowning in a drain, then there's drowning in a drain with hypothermia.
Everyone here has great advice: look for outfalls along bodies of water (39.610120, -105.023541 this might be walkable just from a quick peek), pop manholes (cat claws are easily concealable), and look at GIS maps (the city sometimes has sewer maps).
Also just reemphasizing some important points. DON'T DRAIN WHEN IT RAINS! Urbexing the inside of a bodybag is pretty lame and the pictures are boring. Speaking of, taking pictures of drains and posting them here so I can ogle them is very appreciated. Bring at least 3 real sources of light (phone lights don't count). And last but not least, keep an eye out for CHUDs. Happy draining and good luck!
Everyone else here has posted some stellar advice, but I will add a bit!
Bike paths are your friend. Often these run near bodies of water or canals that have explorable outfalls. I've probably found more drains by keeping my eyes peeled while biking than any other time. I don't see a lot of folks mention this but it's been the single biggest way I've found spots to explore! Plus, a bike is small enough to take into the drain with you, should you be impatient like me and not want to walk back to the spot later.
In the same vein, keep a good lookout when driving! Sometimes there are massive canals and drain openings that just get overlooked, especially in areas where a lot of overpasses exist, in my experience.
As others have mentioned, google maps is your friend! Arc GIS maps are even better.
As for some general draining advice– always mind the weather, as others have said. Always have backup batteries for your lights! And I highly recommend a waterproof case for your phone if it's coming with you, that's saved my ass on several occasions. I recommend bringing water, especially if you're doing a lot of crouching, you can get dehydrated pretty fast. And always pay attention to where you're going... "slides" can be pretty dangerous and if you slip down one that you can't climb back up, you're going to have to find a different way out of that drain system. And sometimes they have very deep water right at the base...
There's more to life than what you see on the surface...
Thank you for everyone that has responded . So far, the tool I have used for opening a manhole is the head of a pick mattock. It is amazing for opening drains because you can just put the pick section between the cover and ring and add slight pressure with your foot to pop it right open!
Posted by Wowee So far, the tool I have used for opening a manhole is the head of a pick mattock. It is amazing for opening drains because you can just put the pick section between the cover and ring and add slight pressure with your foot to pop it right open!
I'm sort of curious to see how that works. I can't imagine the leverage being that advantageous.
I'm sort of curious to see how that works. I can't imagine the leverage being that advantageous.
Here is a video of my method of opening a manhole. Sorry about the poor filming angle, was trying to video it as quickly as possible to avoid being seen.
Here is a video of my method of opening a manhole. Sorry about the poor filming angle, was trying to video it as quickly as possible to avoid being seen.
Thanks, that makes sense now, good job.
Some of the manhole covers I see have holes like that, while many others have different things, or nothing at all.
By the way, when looking for images of manhole covers in Korea, I came across this alarming article. New way to go draining!
Here is a video of my method of opening a manhole. Sorry about the poor filming angle, was trying to video it as quickly as possible to avoid being seen.
Posted by Aran All that water has to go somewhere, so I find it easiest to look for outfalls and work backwards from there. Trawl Google Maps for drainage ponds, lakeshores, and riverbanks and see if you can spot the outfall from there. Then, if your city has GIS maps of the storm drain system publicly available (many cities do), you can just find the outfall on the GIS maps and work backwards to find manholes and junction rooms.
I can't stress this enough. A lot of cities/counties GIS Data is public, and you can, at least in King County, Washington find a map overlay with every manhole location, along with the storm drains, CSO outflows, and processing facilities. If you spend a couple hours digging through really crunchy websites and in some cases have the right software, you can get somewhere! I'm working on a fairly complicated map for some of my PNW buddies right now, but check out a service called ARCGIS. A good portion of public utilities host their maps through it, and just the storm-water utility point layer is gold. It's wise sometimes to download this stuff, because I'm pretty sure the Superfund index got taken down because of some idiots talking about it too much. Google earth can also be a bit more helpful as sometimes the higher res and 3d makes it a bit easier to find stuff.
Hey everyone, I'm hoover 2, I find drains by using Google Earth, street view and just simply driving around (especially in the winter due to the trees, weeds etc being dead. When I use Google Earth to look for drains I write down addresses and directions, then I put the addresses in my GPS so I can drive there and walk around a lot to explore areas for new drains preferably 6 feet tall and bigger but I have gone into drains that are smaller thinking that the tunnels might open up. I also look for manhole covers anywhere but in the street because you never know what you can find. Any manhole covers that say "sewer" on them are the only ones I'm looking for. Most of the time I don't like to pop manhole covers that are in the street but there are some exceptions.
Is there a way to pop manhole covers that are stuck tight (rusted in place, welded, concrete underneath)? I pop a lot of manhole covers in St.Paul and I've found several manhole covers that have concrete underneath the cover, making the covers very heavy.