Light Painting in Queens Sewer

     I took many hikes by Astoria's waterfront last fall so that I could locate a certain brick-arched sewer. This particular sewer lets in the Hell Gate waters which, at low tide, stays dry for a while; however, once the tide rises the choppy stream begins to fill the sewer pretty quickly. Despite Steve Duncan probing past sealed iron blocks, which looked as thick as the locks protecting a bank vault, my group and I were absolutely stumped as to how to make our way into the deep sewer by any means other than a blowtorch.

    Upon entering the outfall, we saw several musicians singing and playing instruments at the mouth of the cave (presumably because the sewer has interesting acoustics), and other explorers who we waved to, grateful that we weren't the EPA. Unable to venture further than about 100 feet into the tunnel, we did the only thing we could in this dark environment... Light Painting!

This homage to Pink Floyd took 3 people to "paint."