I call this one MacGregor's Folly: "MacGregor" after the cute little planned community in South Burnaby where it is located ...
and "Folly" because it only runs the width of Marine Drive before it ends in this wall.
I didn't realize this at first. My flashlights are so weak that I couldn't make out what was ahead of me. The water dripping down the wall seemed to shimmer like a giant spiderweb, beyond which I caught glimpses of what appeared to be maybe plants in a ditch ... This was my first drain, and it was dark and damp and spooky in there, and, though the explore only lasted about five minutes, kind of exciting.
These stepirons, which I couldn't quite lift myself onto, appear to lead to the sidewalk on Marine Drive. No reason to climb them really, anyway.
My next drain I will call Crüe Tube.
This outfall lies near the bottom of a ravine path on the south slope, adjacent to an open stream in a manmade bed. I had to wade through the basin in swim shorts and sandals, ducking under that concrete barrier.
Crüe Tube is a round segmented drain that appears to be quite new. It is remarkably clean and unslimy. Even in rainy weather, it never seems to have more than a trickle of water coming out of it. And it has great acoustics. I sang a few bars of some song, and the reverb, especially on certain notes, was tremendous.
The stream which it appears to run alongside of extends about 400 meters down the slope, but I was never able to progress very far in Crüe Tube. It's a backbreaker. (The first time I visited I was also paranoid about oxygen deprivation.) There are stepirons up to manholes at intervals, but they are bolted down. Back topside, I could not determine where exactly the manhole covers were: they weren't in the path where you'd expect them. (But there are some covers in the path higher up the hill.) Alas, I'll probably never explore to the top of this drain.
I also spent some time investigating Still Creek. Here is your intrepid adventurer more or less directly underneath 29th Avenue Skytrain Station, I think:
If any beginner drainers are looking for a nice entry-level drain, you can't do any better than the section of Still Creek that runs under 22nd Avenue, by Renfrew Community Centre. It's extremely easy to access, you can move through it upright, and it's just long enough to be dark and exciting. Call it a super-culvert.
I upgraded my flashlight, and elsewhere, I won't say where, I found this place:
It's the best thing I've found in a drain. Not just because of the memorial, or the canning jar of goodies (including a map! which I photographed), but because it's large, light, and airy, due to the overhead grate, and has a dry barrier you can sit on, if you don't mind some grit falling on you from passing cars. It feels both cozy and exotic.
All in all, my first foray into draining was pretty rewarding. But I still prefer a good hotel pool.
