Acme at Night

Almost since the first time I visited the plant, I badly wanted to come and visit in the evening. A big part of that would be to have a beer(s), as I do my best to avoid day drinking. This would almost require staying the night somewhere in the area however due to the distance, and I have no interest in drinking and driving for such a great distance across the city. Hegewisch Fest was the catalyst that put this plan into motion. I knew I wanted to stay Saturday night (after the fest) so I could have a few drinks and ride a bike around the neighborhood, and soon this plan morphed into staying the previous night as well. This would allow me to get to the fest with ease as I’d already be in the area, but also would give me the evening to spend at the coke plant.

Logistically it made sense, but I also chose not to drive down to add to the challenge of traveling for the weekend. It came down to Hammond or Calumet City and I opted for Indiana in the end. I took the Metra to the loop, then the South Shore Line to Hegewisch. I stopped at Baltimore Foods for a 6 pack of Gumball Head and a sandwich then grabbed a Divvy and headed to the plant.

I thought long and hard about how to get to/from the plant. After consulting with a few others, I decided to take a Divvy down to save time, but to walk back due to the danger of Torrence Ave in the dark. So I locked up the bike at the bus turnaround just north of the plant (it was still there a week later) and walked over to the gatehouse.

I had planned all week to perch myself in the top floor of the gatehouse, as it would face west and also give me a good view of this portion of the plant so I’d be aware of anyone or anything else that decided to hang out during my night shift. Better I know before hand rather than once it was pitch black. I was able to exploit the SSL schedule to get myself to the plant by 715pm. I research showed that the sun would go down at 730pm and I determined that getting there BEFORE the sun went down was critical, to accustom myself to the darkness. To show up once it is already dark would be madness. Turned out the sun went down by about 8pm. I had a plan to set up a camera and get a timelapse of this (which I did, it is in the video below) but I was nonplussed with the results (more on that issue below as well). So I had a solid half hour to watch the sunset and relax. Honestly, this was and will remain one of my favorite memories of the plant, sitting up there and having a beer which I awaited for over a year. It was especially hot, even in the evening and the sweat just poured down. This only added to the challenge and urgency of the mission.

It is impossible to really prepare yourself mentally to spend any amount of time in an enormous property, dark as the tar once produced on site. I worried that maybe I’d become paralyzed with fear but I knew there was nothing I could do but to go there and see what happens. It was funny because after maybe 5 minutes I just felt at home. Until the day I perish or the site does under a convoy of dump trucks, this will remain my place, my secret spot that I feel so comfortable in. This has to be near my 30th visit and while recently I lost track, I know I am near 40 hours spent wandering around. That kicked in and I just had fun.

As the sun went down I was a bit unnerved when I heard an array of coyotes howling to each other, perhaps saying hello as the sun went down and they awoke for their nocturnal activities. I wasn’t worried about an attack from they or anyone/thing else, but I would not delight in a face to face with man or beast in these conditions. So I decided to make some noise everywhere I went, kind of like knocking on a door before you enter, to say ‘hey there, I am coming in!’.

I set some rules for myself before I went, because without a mission in an environment like this, things might get out of hand.

• wait for the sun to go down in the gatehouse but have no more than one beer
• have no more than 3 beers during the entire visit (so I can drink more once I get back to Hegewisch)
• enter every building, but only ground floors (disqualifying the coal bunker and main office’s 2nd floors)

I did not include but also shot a little footage around the quench station and pump house. After that my plan was to exit through the fence here on the south end of the property (as I need to walk south back to Hegewisch). But as well as I know the plant, I could not seem to find that damn opening in the fence! Normally, I use the quench tower as my north star, I know that the opening is almost square to the tower, just a bit offset. Part of the problem was that besides the darkness, the foliage is at it’s peak this time of year from lots of sun and rain. So as insane as it sounds that I cannot see a 40′ high structure, well that is the truth. So I wandered up and down the fence line for probably 10 minutes, getting eaten alive my mosquitos, struggling to find that familiar path I have used so many times. At one point I though maybe I would just climb the fence but bear in mind it is chain link plus sheet metal. I found a half collapsed area but with boots on it was tough to dig into the chain link. After about 10 minutes I ended up going underneath a section on my belly like a snake! Imagine anyone going north on Torrence seeing that – I’m sure I was quite a sight.

I wore my GoPro head mount and illuminated my way with a powerful LED flashlight. I had shot some video in this way in the basement of battery #2. There, I used my iPhone (handheld) and I assumed the GoPro would perform similarly. However, I overestimated the image sensor in my tiny Hero5 Session and it didn’t do great. So I’m not thrilled with the video and had to trash a fair amount of footage. However I think I salvaged enough to make it worthwhile and if nothing else, here is my bragging rights evidence. Perhaps not the first person who opted to wander the coke plant’s paths and buildings in the dark, but probably one of the only one’s who chose to go it alone. It was an experience I’ll never forget, especially combined with the rest of the weekend which included having a few drinks at Beacon (133rd/Brandon), spending 9 hours at Hegewisch Fest and getting to generally hang out at night in my favorite corner of the world, which is the SE side of Chicago.

I walked back to 126th Street to get a new Divvy which I took back to Mann Park for a sandwich and another beer (I also had one on the bridge over the Calumet on my walk) and of the millions of beers I’ve had, this one was special. I haven’t had millions of Baltimore Foods (damn close though) and this one was also pretty magical (albeit smashed). But all of these things are The Way of the Road. Buy the ticket – take the ride.