A Journey Into Darkness (Part 1)

A friend and fellow urban explorer, had told me about an incredible CSO (combined sewer overflow) tank in the east end of Hamilton Ont. Most of these underground structures are mainly for storm drain overflow since sewer overflow is extremely rare, so with the right PPE. They can be incredible explores.

So we ventured down a manhole that was strangely in the outfield of a baseball diamond and were instantly in a 12 to15 foot tall tunnel.

The one side wall has a one foot gap at the top of it, so we knew we were in the right place. Both of the other CSO tanks that I have been inside of, had those along the tops of them. This tunnel also ran in a half circle and this is the only CSO in the city that is a half circle (all others are rectangle).

Unfortunately the tunnel just ended at each end, with no way into the tank. So we went back to our starting point were there was a drop down and another tunnel. Oddly a metal tunnel.

Before venturing into it, we decided to play with light painting a little bit.

The metal section of the tunnel is tall and very wide, but only about 20 to 30 feet long.

Ending in a T junction.

I decided to go left first and was greeted with fog, a staircase and a metal door.

Backtracking again! This time we went to the right side of the T junction.

This ran for a little bit longer but reached a slant down with a drastically lowered ceiling.

This turned out to be an outflow into a nearby creek.

At first we were very confused! How did our friend get into the CSO? Did we miss something? We went back out the same way that we came in and did not find anywhere else to go.

After getting back outside I messaged asking what the heck? lol where is this tank. Well as it turns out, this baseball diamond has more than one manhole in it. We went down the one that goes into and overflow tunnel for the tank.

We had to call it a day thanks to low battery in our lights etc. But did return the next day and finally found it! That will part 2 of the multiday journey into the dark!

Here is a preview to what we found.