New guy in Tulsa..

Urban exploration in Oklahoma
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JAC
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New guy in Tulsa..

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Hi guys! I recently moved to Tulsa, OK from Washington and have always been intrigued with Urbex stuff. I've been here for about three weeks and have gone draining twice. Do y'all have any advice on what I should/shouldn't bring while draining? I've gone once with a buddy who had a conceal weapons permit and was carrying a pistol, but the other time it was just me and a few other guys with nothing but some knives. I brought a gas mask both times, just in case (from what I've read online there's some nasty gas down there? Will a painter/dust mask work or should we all have NBC gas masks?) along with five flashlights with a ton of extra batteries.
So far we haven't encountered anyone, just some catfish in one plus a bunch of bats (at least 20) in another. What dangers are there besides coming across a homeless guy, pockets of bad air, or animals? Do gangs ever hang out down in the drains? We've seen a lot of graffiti...
Are there any laws about entering an open drain? In Washington all of the drains I saw were closed/grated...but down here there doesn't seem to be any signs and a lot of them are open.

Thanks!!
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Fiend
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RE: New guy in Tulsa..

Post by Fiend »

No gas, no gangs (except some parts in the north side), no homeless, definitely no need for weapons, a crowbar should take care of anything. Drains around here are pretty harmless.

A gas mask wont help if there is low oxygen or high amounts of methane or h2s.

Most all drains around here are underground creeks, and well, I'm pretty sure its legal to go down a creek.

Oh, and welcome to drain city!
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RE: New guy in Tulsa..

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Wow awesome! Do you know if there is a map of the drainage system floating around anywhere? I tried looking a bit online and couldn't find any maps...but I'm guessing most drainers are pretty secretive about their drains?

Also, is it legal/illegal to pop a manhole cover? Should all of our access points be from the river or basins or are we allowed to pop a manhole and go underground from there?
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RE: New guy in Tulsa..

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Oh there are always maps, but the ones around here aren't exactly "floating around", haha. I'm not secrative, I just dont like giving hand outs, you gotta work for it and search like I have done ;) .

And I dont think we are "allowed" to do anything haha. I think popping a lid would be frowned upon by say, the fuzz, but the act of doing it isnt illegal, however if you have bad intentions that could be seen as illegal (like carrying a gun or C-4), then ya got a problem.

Access points are everywhere, not just the river, not all drains go there, directly anyways. Sometimes you have to pop a lid, it could be the only way in.
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Re: New guy in Tulsa..

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haha alrightie, I'll dig around a bit harder :D
Mmk... what's the best way to pop one? A crowbar?
Aight.. I've been looking around with Google Earth and have found a bunch of ones that I'll check out this weekend.
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Re: New guy in Tulsa..

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JAC wrote:Mmk... what's the best way to pop one?
Knock on it and wait for a CHUD monster to answer. Yes, a crowbar, one with a think hook about 3/4"-1" wide will open 80% of the lids around here.

But you really dont need to do that in most cases, just look for an outfall.
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RE: New guy in Tulsa..

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Haha okay :)
Are most of the drains in tulsa already explored by people? Like will I just be basically following in the footsteps of someone else or are there some that have been unexplored?

Thanks!
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Re: RE: New guy in Tulsa..

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JAC wrote: Like will I just be basically following in the footsteps of someone else or are there some that have been unexplored?
Well, I've been in most of them (the biggest ones anyways). But even still, I've probably been in 20 different systems around town, and I think there is atleast 35+ from my estimates. Thats just counting the ones that are over 8-9 feet in size, there is a shit ton of smaller ones if you are willing to crouch. Some of them I havent even explored all the way.

When you do it enough, you get bored after a couple of miles and turn around, potentially missing out on something awesome, but I plan to go back to some of them.

I've been in a couple that had zero evidence of people other than city workers being in them, and I know there are a few of those like that still around that I havent explored yet, they are hard to find/access for obvious reasons.
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RE: New guy in Tulsa..

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sweet...okay. My buddy and I were thinking about getting some cheap skateboards and coasting through some of the smaller tunnels...but our main concern about that was the lack of ventilation in them.

How about caves/tunnels through hills or underground (like not man-made)...are there any around here?
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Re: New guy in Tulsa..

Post by VBJag »

Don't know about Oklahoma, but Arkansas has a ton of caves along with Missouri. Most of them are closed right now though.

There are a couple abandoned and active train tunnels in the Ozarks.
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RE: New guy in Tulsa..

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wow nice! train tunnels sound fun... as long as a train doesn't come through :)
Where might I find one of those abandoned tunnels? Are the Ozarks pretty far from Tulsa, OK?

[EDIT] I found the Holiday Island Train Tunnel..about 3 hrs from Tulsa in the Ozarks of Missouri... are there any closer?
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Re: RE: New guy in Tulsa..

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JAC wrote: How about caves/tunnels through hills or underground (like not man-made)...are there any around here?
I know for a fact there are 3 caves in Tulsa. I know the general area where they are, but have yet to find them.
No tunnels through hills to my knowledge.

And there is plenty of ventilation in storm sewers around here, shouldnt be a problem at all. I mean, I'm still alive haha.
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Re: RE: New guy in Tulsa..

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JAC wrote: [EDIT] I found the Holiday Island Train Tunnel..about 3 hrs from Tulsa in the Ozarks of Missouri... are there any closer?
There's several that run along U.S. 71, they're all about a 2 hour drive for you.
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RE: New guy in Tulsa..

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Fiend - Awesome! Do you know if they are like hardcore caves or if they are more just like an indentation in a rock? And haha..that's not very comforting :D

Jags&Pointers- Sweet.. I'll try checking them out over one of our breaks.

Oh and hey, do you guys know of any tunnels/drains beneath ORU? Rumor has it that there are a lot...but other than some big ones connecting the buildings, we haven't found anything else nor have we found any easy drain openings that go below campus.
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Re: New guy in Tulsa..

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Oh yeah forgot to mention that line is owned by the A&M Railroad. It's active... so be careful.
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