I have always been fascinated with abandoned places, and I always thought one of the coolest places to check out would be an abandoned missile silo. I posted briefly in another post (near the end) about an Atlas launch facility that I went to, but that wasn’t too exciting because it was all above ground. I wanted to go underground.
After talking to some people and doing some online sleuthing, I managed to locate a Titan I missile complex in Colorado, which wasn’t too far away from us in Laramie, Wyoming. I talked to a friend who was interested in going, so we headed out early one day.
Like the Atlas missiles, the Titan missiles were developed mainly to be intercontinental ballistic missiles that could be launched at the USSR during the Cold War. The Atlas missiles were stored horizontally and needed the roof of the warehouse to open before the rocket could be turned upright, fueled, and then launched. This meant that it took a few minutes before they could be on their way. The Titan missiles were stored vertically in underground silos that could open up, which meant that they could be launched a bit quicker, although they still could only be fueled right before launch. The Titan I system wasn’t around long, only a few years in fact, but it was a step in developing other rockets.
Most, if not all Titan I missile silos were decommissioned in 1965 as the rocket program developed other missile systems. All the silos were scrapped, and a lot of them are no longer accessible due to being filled with water, but at least one is still viewable.
As such, it was kind of hard to find the entrance, but find it we did. We were technically trespassing, but luckily, we didn’t get caught.
The entrance is hidden in a big ditch. It leads right into the pipe between the air exhaust structure and the powerhouse on the map.
Looking up through the air exhaust structure
Climbing through some connecting tunnels
This is a very poorly lit photo of the powerhouse, where all the power generation equipment used to be when it was operational.
Looking up the entry portal, which was an elevator shaft
Looking down the entry shaft
A nice and creepy surprise at the base of the entry shaft
Going down the “steel tunnels” (on the map) toward the radar antennas
Someone spray-painted on the water. There is no wind or water movement down that far, and the water was utterly stagnant, so the spray paint dried and caked on the surface of the water. I thought it was so cool.
Actually looking into one of the silos. It was huge and had a lot of stagnant water at the bottom.
I would like to take a moment and describe the energy I felt there. Can you imagine what it must have been like to be there; constantly prepared, always in fear of a nuclear attack—ready at a moment’s notice to launch nuclear warheads at the USSR. It felt like there was such a heightened, anxious energy still resonating there from the people that used to work and live there. It was quite an experience.
Looking down a missile silo
The door of a launch silo above the ground
It could have very well just been a concrete parking lot or something like that when viewed by a spy plane.
The radar antennas above ground
Our trip was quite interesting, and it was wild to be inside a structure that was at one time top secret.
I have heard that there are abandoned missile silos in the former USSR that are much easier to get into, so maybe one day I will check those out too.