Is it still possible to walk the High Line?

August 10, 2005 2:48 PM

Is it still possible to walk The High Line? I know Kottke did it, but I haven't found any more recent accounts anywhere, and I'm concerned that since the High Line has attracted more attention (and federal funding) recently, they may be taking stronger steps to prevent trespassing. Will my trip be ruined?

Also, if anyone can recommend an entrance, that would be fantastic. I know that I could just wait a year for it to be a public park, but I love urban ruins, so I very much want to see it before it's cleaned up.

posted by tweebiscuit to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

I went as part of a design team walk-through, and a couple of staircases we tried were locked. We could only access the one we had been given a key to.
posted by jamesonandwater at 3:07 PM on August 10, 2005

Best answer: This looks pretty recent and it tells you where to enter.
posted by cmonkey at 3:08 PM on August 10, 2005

Yeah, it's pretty easy to get up on. You can see people on it pretty much every time you walk by. Technically illegal or something, but whatever. And those directions cmonkey linked are accurate. It's pretty obvious.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 3:35 PM on August 10, 2005

What kind of precautions should one take to avoid being caught? Is there a particular time one should go? What will they do to you if they catch you?

(If, that is, one were to break the law, which of course I wouldn't do.)
posted by Vidiot at 3:50 PM on August 10, 2005

Michael Barrish's account from his group trek last October may be helpful.
posted by rhapsodie at 4:54 PM on August 10, 2005

At worst, you're trespassing and will be asked to leave. When you consider the vast numbers of homeless people who are constantly being chased out of railroad property that's presently in use and even electrified, what you're doing is pretty minor. That said, don't get caught with souvenirs or, you know, other things that they might find while searching you.

I still wish I'd walked the Jersey City equivalent, which has had its bridges removed, and now faces demolition and redevelopment. It ran right by my house, and I even figured out how to get up on it, but I would have been "trapped" for a considerable distance and got jittery about the idea, without anybody to reinforce me. I actually used to ride (well, walk) my bike across a railroad trestle in Wisconsin on the way to college classes when I was 17, but once I got caught and nearly arrested when a train came and they called the cops. I had to bike like a maniac to make myself scarce enough. I wasn't so sure they cared that much in Jersey, but ....
posted by dhartung at 12:24 AM on August 11, 2005

Best answer: My girlfriend and I walked the High Line about a month ago. We walked it on midday on a weekend. Access is easy -- the above linked directions pretty much cover it. Follow the tracks on 34th St. until you're about half way between 11th Ave and the West Side Highway. Climb up the berm (there's a worn path you can follow) and you're on the tracks. The path is right about where the tracks reach the trees. (The High Line is the curved track in that image.)

We walked as far as we could go and took pictures all along the way. We did not see anybody else on the tracks. On the return trip, some cops who were parked down on 24th St. saw us and shouted up:

Cops: Hey! You up there!
Me: Uh...yeah?
Cops: You're not supposed to be there. You could get in trouble.
Me: We're heading out now.
Cops: Okay.

And then we walked on out of sight. So, obviously, visit the High Line at your own risk. Keep in mind, though, that the cops can't do much unless they catch you right at 34th St., since that's the only access point.
posted by event at 11:39 AM on August 11, 2005

I was there on Sunday. I went at 7am.
posted by exhilaration at 12:32 PM on August 11, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks guys! These answer pretty much all my questions.
posted by tweebiscuit at 1:02 PM on August 11, 2005

Oh yeah, I should have mentioned this, but on Sunday (at 6am) there were two national guardsmen (armed with M16's) guarding the trainyard that the beginning of the High Line goes over. I'm guessing they've been there since the London bombings.

Be really, really careful. They're probably not as lax as the NYPD, and you're visible to them, though the way they were sitting they were facing the other way. We spotted them when doing a driveby of the block. If I had been alone I would have bailed, but my friends talked me into going anyway.
posted by exhilaration at 1:52 PM on August 11, 2005