The “Stairway to Paradise” is an approximately 2km long drain that runs downhill from near the basin of the Chedoke Falls, to a small creek that runs parallel to the 403. It’s most interesting feature is that, in order to reduce the effects of erosion, water is channeled down two massive underground staircases- which can be quite easily accessed and climbed.
The “Stairway to Paradise” was our first serious attempt at drain exploration, and also the first time I had the pleasure of working with “Kyle” and “Simon” (names have been changed to protect identities). While we entered the drain at the outflow, I only started taking pictures on the return journey, which explains the order of the photos.
This drain was quite similar to the Chedoke creek drain- pre-fab concrete construction in large solid blocks. Not much to look at from an artistic perspective. However, the drain did feature an unusual amount of graffiti, more than I’ve encountered anywhere since. Some of the messages were quite frightening, too, especially encountering them by flashlight in near-perfect dark.
At the top of the drain was a colossal intake structure, designed to keep the rubble of the continually-eroding Chedoke Falls from entering the drain. The only other feature of note was a heavy equipment drop shaft that was connected to the side of the passage, about 60 feet in from the upstream entrance. Waterflow was clean, and quite minimal, though we did get our boots wet trying to get past the small pond that had formed at the drain’s exit.
photography
This drain was the first time where I really began experimenting with low-light photography, unfortunately to little success. I did, however, manage to capture some excellent time lapses of the water entering the drain, as well as the leaves blowing around outside of the intake. Within the drain, I defaulted to using my SB-28 flash, bounced off of the ceiling. This provided for good readability of the wall-art, but if I had the chance to do it again, I would probably crank up the ISO and try “light painting”, which I’ve had a lot of success with elsewhere.
You may notice in some of the darker photos a scattering of bright red pixels. It was during this trip that I first noticed these defects in my photos, and I was afraid I had somehow damaged my D80. Having asked around a bit, I came to learn that these are called “Hot” pixels, and almost every dSLR has them, but they only become visible when the ISO has been turned up to its highest levels.
For more information on this particular drain, check out its page on Vanishing Point.