The writers discovery of Lower Gwynns Falls Run Storm Sewer Interceptor Drain was a mix of casual topographical and historical research. Assessing the topographical features, its existence as a sizable tunnel was one that just “made sense”. Not only, the initial reconnaissance trip was one that was just such a huge success. Safe and inconspicuous parking was stumbled upon next to a business. Which allowed for the sometimes crucial, rapid inconspicuous deployment. The on foot portion could not have gotten any more straight forward. A series of bum trails were ultilized that lead to some animal trails, cris crossing through light poison ivy patches that crossed close by to a what looked to be a gully that lead right down to the stream bed laced with the unmistakable smell of sewer fresh. If only every drain discovery was that easy.
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Now back in the summer of 2017 when all of this manifested, it was apparent that this drain would require paddling/ floating in. A ledge wrapped around inside the culvert traveling back inside about 8 meters before dropping off into an abyss. There was no way to tell how deep it was where the ledge stopped. The writer initally estimated it was probaly 2-3 metersdeep just at a wild guess. None the less, this system was a priority tunnel to be explored and early on in the 2018 season an inflatable kayak was purchased.
The spring of 2018 had above average rainfalls and the height of water table was in congruence with this. However, It had not rained in over 20 days. So conditions were ripe to push into this unknown high volume storm drain interceptor. When comparing access to other drains and sewers, it was not as treacherous to get to it however it did entail the furthest distance (approximately 550 meters as the crow flys).In addition to carrying the default draining gear a 20kg kayak would need to be carried to the site. The decision was made to slim down my pack both in physical size and by weight from 13kg to 7kg. Basically only carrying the bare essentials (camera gear, PVC chest waders, H2O, 5 small torches, small med kit). Still longing for a mixed-gas monitor, I intended to bring a home CO detector for some sort of atmosphere monitoring but forgot it.
Edit History//
August 07 2018 – Article Creation
November 2018 – added action photos
April 2019 – edits, formating, linking
