Back when Municipal Heroes had more recently formed, we played a game where we would point out buildings that we would want the most to explore as an abandonment. The idea of infiltration hadn’t occurred to us back then, so our locations that we had hoped would become abandoned one day, were virtually untouchable. We could only drive by them and hope. One of these fantasy abandonments was Highbridge Power Plant. Looking at it through the windows of the car was nearly enough to cause an accident, the road forgotten in the majesty of the plant’s massive size. Production links lead off from the main complex like the arms of an octopus, and all of us could easily imagine walking down those corridors in our minds.

Time progressed as we gathered more experience, and pushed the idea of what was possible in every way we could have imagined. Soon enough, we realized that Highbridge Power Plant was coming down, and it shot to the top of our list of things to do. Plans were made, charts were plotted, and scoping missions were set out. Gahein and a friend of MH made station at the top of the adjacent cliff side, and proceeded to take notes and photographs for the day that we would use for our grand entrance. This kind of business went on for awhile, as we felt the need to be 100% prepared when we finally would set foot on Highbridge territory. This method turned out to be a lesson in the making for MH.

The air was ridged chilly with frost as Gahein and I drove towards the day’s mission.  The temperature was at that spot between rain and snow, but this was one of the first times that year where it had gotten that low.  Compared to the summer temperatures we were used to, this day was awfully cold.  We decided to park in a school lot on the cliff across the road from Highbridge.  The plan went as the following; Gahein would sit with a scope and survey the entire situation, while I walked down and attempted an entrance.  Once inside the perimeter fencing, I would tell Gahein to make his way down, while I surveyed the scene from the second level of Highbridge Power Plant.  We had purchased these fancy earphone devices for our cellulars so we could talk hands free the entire time as well.  Even with all the equipment, our plan didn’t go a thing like we had thought it would.

I started my trek down the cliff roads, waving bye to Gahein, and wrapping my construction suit closer around my face.  That’s right; we were even dressed as construction workers with boots, dirty hoodies and all.  After around 15 minutes, I was positioned near the fence, waiting for my signal from Gahein to dive into the ditch.  He watched from the top of the cliff, and through the ear device, told me when things were clear.  Traffic was slow and I slid down the slight incline to my working space.

No one could see me from Highbridge or from the road.  I had the freedom to walk around until I found the perfect spot to crawl underneath the fence, and from previous scouts, I was told it was just further down the way where the chain links became rusty.  I tested a few different spots, and eventually found a section I thought would be perfect to allow me to crawl underneath.  Pulling the bottom towards me, I wedged a rock to keep it from snapping back into place.  I could tell the metal was straining in its current position, but would stay in place long enough for Gahein and I to get through.  First I slid my camera bag through, and then I got onto my back to make a go at it myself.  Getting half way through, I felt pretty successful, that is, until my construction vest became caught in the barbs that lined the bottom of the chain links.  I had not seen these barbs when preparing to enter, and now they had me caught, lying on the cold ground, while Gahein listened to me mutter and swear over the hands-free telephone device.

The next 10 minutes were spent trying to push the fence up to gain more wiggle room, which eventually caused the rock to be shifted.  This caused all of the tension of a chain link fence wanting to be ridged straight, to push down onto my chest, barbs and all.  I felt truly stuck at this point, the only way out I figured, being to push up on the fence and get the rest of the way through.  This might have worked out if my vest wasn’t still caught on the barbs.  Being unable to untangle the two, being unable to move, and being unable to do anything to assist myself, I explained to Gahein that help was necessary at this point.  He started on his way down from the adjacent cliff edge, and knowing that he would be some time getting to me, I began to try and lift the fence again.  I pushed as hard as possible, and soon enough, expelled all of my strength, settling with simply waiting for the incoming help.  The tension in the fence pushed those barbs further still, until even keeping them at a somewhat comfortable position was out of the question.  The sky turned to slush as a mixture of rain and snow began falling from the sky, most of which found its way into my eyes, or simply caused me to shiver from chill.

I was fine with waiting for a little bit, but the minutes were starting to feel like hours.  In a last ditch effort, I slid my gloves between the fence and my chest for some temporary relief, and gave it a last heave.  The effect was almost unnoticeable.  It was up to Gahein now.   My lament towards the situation didn’t last much longer though thankfully, as Gahein appeared above me, the scene much funnier from his perspective I would assume.  He lifted the fence to give me some temporary relief, and then furthered his efforts to allow me escape.  I decided to wiggle back the way I came, with the understanding that this passage was slightly too difficult to make.  Safely able to sit up, I warmed my hands and rubbed my chest.  Life was woozy, and I hadn’t even gotten to see Highbridge yet.

I was thinking about trying to go someplace else, perhaps Island Station, and put this terrible failure behind me, but Gahein was suddenly more motivated than ever to get into the industrial giant.  I was willing to try again as well after having recovered a bit of warmth, and besides, my photo bag was still sitting on the other side of the fence, and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to pull it back through.  Walking the perimeter, another deceivingly tricky, but far easier entrance was provided.  A hop, skip and jump later and we were in, with the understanding that if we ever wanted to take another visit, it would require a different approach.  Now we only had a field to traverse before we were inside, a large tarped hole being our target entrance.  The ground soon became mud, and sucked at our boots with vigor, threatening to ruin our legitimate body language.  Construction workers don’t get stuck in the mud, and make a big deal about trying to wiggle out of it.  Our guises must have been well worn though as both Gahein and I were rather sure we were spotted making our entrance by an oil truck driver waiting off to the side of the complex.  We received no hassle for this, as we readied a tale about taking a concerned visit on our own time to make sure progress was on schedule (or something like that).  An honest back story could not be produced that had the potential to calm our apprehensions of escaping prosecution should we have been discovered.

It didn’t matter as soon as we stepped within the walls of Highbridge though.  The idea immediately occurred to the both of us, that we had just been set free to roam an entire indoor city.  There were gauges in every corner, steam shooting out of massive pipes, and uncovered light bulbs illuminating the most beautiful walk ways we’ve seen in the industrial world.  The first level was fascinating, but our nerves wouldn’t allow time for photographs sadly.  We had been seen entering, and we were not sure if our disguises had held.  Finding a set of stairs, we reached the second level, and quickly following, the turbine hall.  Even on the stairs, the building looked as if it were straight out of a billion dollar movie set, concerning living in the future or on the moon.

A peek from one of the windows revealed that the oil truck had moved right in front of the building and was being filled by a large pipe.  The whole thing was being controlled by a worker who had appeared out of nowhere, his appearance strangely similar to our own.  It was a large relief, but presented some escape issues should neither of them move before we were ready to get out.  Our exit was about 15 feet away from the both of them, truck and worker.

I found some hand warmers in my bag by this point, becoming slightly worried that I might contract hypothermia from my wet clothing, or lose a finger or two.  Shaking them up, and snapping a few photographs, we moved up.  Each new sight was just as good as the last, and we soon began to realize that Highbridge was something even more special than we had anticipated.  Each section of the building was different.  It wasn’t the same cookie cutter machine layout every 20 square feet, but instead, an intricate system of interconnected walkways and asbestos chambers, sealed off in plastic wrap.  Huge lamps cast shadows onto these plastic walls from within, making us guess what was on the other side.  It added to the whole elaborate idea of a space community I began working on in my head.

Certain chambers had ceilings that stretched high above our heads, others were mostly filled with large unknown devices lit by construction pod lights.  We then found a series of belt runs connected to rooms bare and empty, and where windows may have once been, large gaps in the wall that allowed us to gaze out upon downtown St. Paul in its rainy brilliance.  Soon enough, the ceilings became shorter, and certain sections of flooring were not flooring at all, but horizontally laid plastic sheeting.  This stuff wasn’t see through, so we opted only to step on what looked like metal from there on out.  It was too easy to picture walking over a section of flooring, and falling right through however many feet it may have been to the next level down.

The final set of steps lay in front of the two of us.  We hiked past the elevator machine room and out onto the pebbles of the roof, finally standing on the top of Highbridge Power Plant during the middle of the day.  Sadly enough, I get the feeling that the experience would have been much more fantastic if we were not already freezing cold.  The wind combined with the rain, and my constant efforts to keep the camera dry made up for an awful roofing experience.  After a short two minute jaunt, I escaped back inside to the elevator machine room, and waited for Gahein while trying to get my hand warmers back into action by shaking them.  My gloves had become maracas, for those of you who are familiar with the things.  It had been decided that it was time to head out, and our feet began working their way to the first floor again.  Halfway down, we remembered the hike that was ahead of us to reach the car, and we desperately wished we had parked closer.  With a building like Highbridge, we had no choice but to get sidetracked on the way down.  We found levels that afforded first to top level views, very similar to Zion from the Matrix series.  Our heads were on a constant swivel, soaking in the views as much as possible before our inevitable exit.

As beautiful as it was, a growing desperation to get warm was developing.  Not seeing any workers or semi trucks this time, we took the opportunity to walk back out the same way we had entered.  The path was excruciating and full of sharp wind gusts, but it gave us a firm reflection period to take in what had happened that day.  A final sundae topper greeted us in the form of a malfunctioning heater in the car, so the trip to Burger king was a bit more numb than we had planned on it being.