Possibly the only good drain in Sitka, not counting the ones at the old pulp mill,
This drain passes under several buildings and is usually flooded. To explore it,
one needs hip boots, wading shoes (brrrr!) or kayaks, as we used.

This map is not to scale, and is probably not very accurate.
The only real map I have of this drain is from the '50's when it was still a stream.

New Pics from Spring 2000.

These should be fairly self explanetory. The third one is where we usually yell at little kids on the street above.

More pics from the drain. So that's what side tunnels are for!
 
 

The Kayak Expedition of 1999

For those of you who don't know, a kayak is a small, narrow boat which uasually holds one or two people. They were first used as hunting craft by the native people of Alaska and were made of animal skins. Today they are made of plastic and fiberglass, and are mainly used for recreation (insane people have been know to fish from them). We used two small plastic kayaks which were short enough to fit around curves in the drain.
 

The entrance to the drain at medium tide

Partway up the first metal segment, with a shaft entering on the left

Just entering the deeper water inside the first concrete section

The square concrete part

Some calcium straws leaching from the ceiling

Farther up the drain, a downpipe is visible ahead

Halfway through we encountered a sandbar and had to pull the boats across

Strange mists shroud the first "chamber"

I hope that fog isn't toxic

Runoff from above threatened our dryness

A transition between concrete and corrugated metal, looking up at the steep "rapids"

Emerging from the depths

On the way back we slid quickly down the steep part, narrowly missing this spikey log

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