This summer, the High Line is offering tours of the third and final segment of the elevated railway to view the art exhibit Caterpillar, by the artist Carol Bove. The tour is not really a tour in the traditional sense. Tickets allows visitors to saunter over the section at any pace they would like, stopping to explore and photograph as they desire.
Entrance to the High Line tours begins at 34th Street, between 11th and 12th Avenues. The area in its natural state is idyllic (though far more cleaned up than our last visit in 2011) and will hopefully be maintained that way when it opens to the public next year. The tree coverings provide tunnel though which the vanishing point of the third section is viewed.
If you plan on going; make sure to reserve a ticket in advance and be sure to wear closed toed shoes or you will be denied entrance (for liability reasons).
The majority of this portion of the High Line is barren, just as it was when it was still an active railroad. Walking along, and balancing on, the rails provides a vastly different experience than walking along the landscaped pathways of the first two sections of the High Line.
Seven sculptures, including Prudence and A Glyph (pictured above), by Carol Bove dot the landscape. Collectively titled Caterpillar, the sculptures were commissioned by the High Line and are on view for one year during public walks and tours). Carol Bove is a Brooklyn-based artist known, according to the David Zwirner Gallery, for her simple yet intricate assemblages of found and made objects.” In Caterpillar, the sculptures “reveal themselves among the unruly vegetation like mysteriously pristine ruins of a lost civilization or a contemporary version of a Zen garden.”
In addition to the works of art, scraps of metal and other remnants of the railway are still visible, though they will likely disappear once the section is open to the public.
One other fleeting vista is the West Side (Rail) Yard or Hudson Yards, which will soon become covered, from which will rise the foundation for a new 27-acre mixed-use neighborhood.
Enjoy this opportunity to see the High Line in its “natural state,” with whatever flora and fauna nature has provided. Then look up, gaze towards New Jersey and watch the sun setting against the backdrop fo the Hudson River.
Check out our other High Line coverage:
The High Line at Night
Section 1: The Beginning of the (High) Line
Partners in Preservation: The High Line Section 3
