Members: ToXiC & -[Annonymous]-
Pictures by: ToXiC

This was an unexpected trip, I was talking with a certain person about Mouser Week IX 2008 and we ended up exploring that night, -[Annoymous]- wanted to check out a possible new cave system under Downtown Minneapolis. Having no reason not to go down some place I havent been to before, I accepted the trip.

(Left: About 1.5" height)
(Right: A buried metal object)

We ended up meeting around 9pm and heading to the river we were talking about favorite stories on the way. Mentioning I hadnt ever heard of the Hellcrawl he said it was about as bad as a crawl can get except it could be longer. Thinking ok, were gonna have to do a shitty crawl for like 300ft, I was down. When we arrived it didnt look to bad, hah. We crawled over and under glass sharp limestone rocks, old U shaped utility tunnel support beams, rat turds, and glass for 2 full city blocks. That dosnt sound to long but you try doing it!

After the intial crawl we ended up crawling into pipe that only went about 6 feet or so and into the Washington St. runoff drain system. The water wasnt that cold but just getting wet I kind of regretted later. We then proceeded North Bound up Washington St. heading towards Nicollet & Washington which was about 6 blocks away, once reaching Nicollet we ended up then going up to Nicollet & 8th St. where there was rumored to be a possible entrance into the IDS Center Caves. Having no luck we started going back checking out a couple side tunnels that had some potential promise. We did end up finding a 25' sanstone tunnel that at one point may have led somewhere in the past but at this time had filled in and going farther would have meant getting stuck.

(Left: The end of the worst part of the Hellcrawl)
(Right: Our initial investigation)

We ended up hitting I believe Washington & 4th St. when we saw lights down the tunnel maybe 3 blocks away. Deciding to check it out or not, we decided it couldnt be the MPLS Sewer Department, it was about 2am at this time, and -[Annonymous]- who had alot of experiance in drains had never seen them down there that late, so we thought well it could be someone taking photographs in the Drains. We started walking cautiously toward the lights.

(Above: -[Annoymous]- heading towards the light)

We didnt know who it was while heading towards them, but they didnt notice us until we were about within a half block of them. We finally got into a decent visual range, we saw Fixed Halogen Lights and Hardhats and at the same time one of them noticed we were there. They asked who we were, we didnt answer, they asked whoever else was down there with them is there supposed to be anyone else down here working. We heard that and decided it must be MPLS Sewer workers, opting to head back they started yelling "Who is that". We just kept going kind of increasing our speed. By the time we ended back at Washington St. we looked back, one of them was following us, we bailed on that note. Deciding that the Hellcrawl would take too much time, we decided to check out another exit that would be alot more cooler. It would have been if there wasnt alot of runoff coming down the manhole. Bear in mind I didnt mention before when we entered the Hellcrawl it was about -15 degrees outside with the windchill making it feel about -45. So we already knew our boots and pants were going to instantly freeze.

So compelled to find another way out, there was another manhole not far away, this one wasnt draining, I started climbing to the top to see if I could budge it, not realizing that my gloves were as wet as they were my hands instantly became numb on the climb up, that kind of numb where they still get that cold burn. So -[Annoymous]- went up having a spare set of dry gloves. The manhole was frozen. We didnt know how far the workers might come to find us so we ended up pounding the manhole cover too try and break it from little ice that was keeping it down. It worked, we popped the manhole, it was clear. Bailing out of the drain system and onto the walkway as fast as possible. We had about 1 block to walk before getting to the car, walking for only about 50 feet, I noticed I now had Ice Armor Jeans instead of Denim Jeans. We got to the car without dying. We're free!

Starting the car, letting it warm up we decided we were extremely happy not to have been caught and to be out of the wind. We decided some hot food sounded good. Heading over to the University Campus McDonalds, on the way we saw the 2 Sewer Department trucks with 2 squad cars parked nearby. We had escaped the Sewers, MPLS Sewer Department, & the Cops. The trip, even though not being a success, was fun as hell. As I write this, about 16 hours after the trip, my boots are still drying by the radiator. I still had a blast, even without finding a new cave.

Also being of importance, what did we learn?

Urban Explorer Myth #59: Sewer Workers dont work late at night.

BUSTED.