The Chapter 12 Brownfields.

In Chapter 12 of Mix Tapes and Stuff, Mix explores the brownfields on the edge of town to look for any sign of the entrance to the old Schulyer Mine.
Even though the story is fiction and the town of Schuyler is not real, I used this area as inspiration for that chapter. You'll notice that the area isn't brown, because the story is set in 1986 and this is what that area looks like today. (Actually what it looked like in August 2014.
The top picture is what I envisioned Mix had to walk through to get to the main fields. It's would be accessible from the street when he slipped in behind the barriers.
I envisioned some old stuff, maybe discarded junk, some things that others have left behind when they snuck onto the brownfield. The hill slopes modestly as you walk down.
The third picture is a view of Manhattan. That will become important in book 3.

So when you get to chapter 12, this is what I'm describing.