I dearly love walking. I’d love running even more, but that’s not an option right now. So at least twice weekly I’ll be taking a walk in places where I know I can’t ride. I may start riding to some places to walk, but that will come later.
Today I wanted to visit that storm conduit that feeds into Crutcho Creek. I came around through my neighborhood to the out of service railroad tracks that run alongside Midwest City High School and the VoTech Center. From there I want straight across Air Depot, and then cut around behind 10 Gym and dropped down into the back streets. Right there at Sandra Drive the wash comes out with high walls on either side. Down that back sidewalk and through Holoway Park, I came to a place where the walls of the wash were sloped to allow yet another storm drain to connect. It was simple to climb the welded iron railing and walk down the steeply sloped concrete apron to the bottom. This one image shows what I saw. That double pass-under was high enough for me to walk through standing erect, with at least a foot to spare.
It was entertaining to read all the graffiti and see what kind of stuff kids drop down in there. The concrete floor was nearly smooth, with a gentle slope to the center that contained just a few millimeters of stagnant water here and there. At the end of that curvy section running between rows of private backyards, I came to a very large pipe. It was a little tough to duck under, but I made it. A quick climb up another concrete apron and I was in Quinlan Park. Here the wash remains wide and dirt bottomed, with heavy rip-rap on the sloped sides, all the way around to the railroad bridge. That’s the same tracks running at an angle across Midwest City, not connected to anything on either end.
But I had climbed out and wandered up over the tracks and back into another neighborhood. I took the swooping path of SE 5th back to Air Depot, crossed over and then back to our apartment complex. It was just enough to be exercise at that pace, but not enough to wear me down. I have to make a computer service house call later today.
