When I first got into urban exploration (back in 1998... damn I'm getting old), I knew there had to be a respectable storm drain in Blacksburg. I rode my bike as far as I could, scouting out all the creeks and valleys. Of course, with the notable exception of Stroubles Creek beneath downtown Blacksburg, I was out of luck. There was one location though, where I really  felt like there ought to be a large storm drain. As it turns out, there IS a big storm drain there... only it wasn't built until 2007!

Behold, Mary's Drain.

The outfall is a nice 8' corrugated steel pipe, emerging from a tall retention wall. It quickly makes a slight right turn, and runs straight for a long distance. A persistent fog at head level makes headlamps less than practical in this drain. There were numerous orange salamanders on the walls of the drain - I believe that these are cave salamanders. I also spotted several crawdads, and a pair of stonerollers (a type of minnow). Eventually, the drain made a quick zigzag, and then the 8' round steel pipe ended at a concrete wall, with a 90-degree right turn into a 6' tall ovalized corrugated steel pipe. This soon made a left turn, and transitioned into a 5' square concrete drain. The square tunnel soon ended, emerging into a tall concrete structure inside a large stormwater retention pond.

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