Urban Exploration

[ExFlyBoy5]

I am not sure how many of the members here are intrigued by this activity, but it has always fascinated me. Perhaps it's a fondness for the past? Anyway, this is being practiced more and more and because of this, there are some very cool things that are being found. Could you imagine if you went to explore a very large building in Kazakhstan and you came across two SPACE SHUTTLES?!? Yeah, that's what this guy found!

A Man Discovered An Abandoned Space Shuttle Hangar

P.S. For those of you that aren't familiar with the term "urban exploration", it's basically a hobby of going into (often trespassing) into abandoned buildings to explore. It's something I wouldn't personally do (it's often illegal and very dangerous) but I am glad that the ones that do take great pictures and share it!

 

[gauss]

Interesting but I think I would avoid trespassing on any former Soviet government property for the near future -- especially considering current Russian-American relations.

-gauss

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Interesting but I think I would avoid trespassing on any former Soviet government property for the near future -- especially considering current Russian-American relations.

-gauss

Oh, for sure. Of all the places that I may have considered "exploring" in my younger years, the former USSR is *NOT* very high on the list...although I bet there are some VERY cool things to see. One of which is NOT one of the prisons out in the frozen tundra!

 

[savory]

Not exactly the same thing but perhaps related. The Green Mountain Challenge is like the Amazing Race. We had a blast doing it. http://www.greenmountainvermont.com/green-mountain-adventure-challenge.html

There is also a similar fun event to find the history of Grand Central Station in NYC. You can take a tour or play a scavenger hunt type game. Our adult children discovered Grand Central this way and loved it.

Perhaps there is something similar in your area if this location does not work.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

A more pedestrian approach to urban adventure -

Only a handful of people have done it. And now I can say I have. All 2,612 streets.
I have seen this city from every hilltop. Visited every neighborhood. Walked every street - from First to 31st. From Second to 48th avenues. From A Street to Zoo Road. From the bay to the Pacific. From the Golden Gate to the San Mateo County line.
It took more than 500 hours during a seven-year period.

SF Walking Man

 

[braumeister]

When I was young, I sometimes engaged in a bit of urban exploration. There are quite a few abandoned stations in the NYC subway system, along with some that were partly built and some passages that simply don't seem to make any sense at all. They weren't terribly hard to access, and as long as you had a decent flashlight with you they were interesting.

 

[Exilarch]

I've been a parkourist for some time now, and I always thought the urbex angle made it much more fun and interesting. It gives it all a point, and gives you an actual activity to measure your skills against.

As a calisthenist I basically urbex and find things to exercise on. I do it several times a week.

 

[Koolau]

I'm guessing there are lots of exploration opportunities at Chernobyl.

 

[Ally]

I watch some of the people who do that and film it in YouTube. There are some gorgeous buildings and homes abandoned around the world.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Nemo2]

I watch some of the people who do that and film it in YouTube. There are some gorgeous buildings and homes abandoned around the world.

+1

 

[Koogie]

I watch some of the people who do that and film it in YouTube. There are some gorgeous buildings and homes abandoned around the world.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

+2
I've done a little bit of it (mostly abandoned factories in and around Toronto). When I was a kid, where I grew up also had a lot of abandoned farms and small mines. Not very beautiful at all but spooky as hell !

A lot of the Youtube videos of people exploring abandoned infrastructure in Detroit is amazing... one was of a concert hall that was beautiful (art deco I think) that had hosted most every famous name and Motown people that you had ever heard of...

 

[omni550]

I'm guessing there are lots of exploration opportunities at Chernobyl.

Here's one elenafilatova.com

Her website has lots more from 2007 and more recent (2016), too.

omni

 

[Ally]

+2

I've done a little bit of it (mostly abandoned factories in and around Toronto). When I was a kid, where I grew up also had a lot of abandoned farms and small mines. Not very beautiful at all but spooky as hell !



A lot of the Youtube videos of people exploring abandoned infrastructure in Detroit is amazing... one was of a concert hall that was beautiful (art deco I think) that had hosted most every famous name and Motown people that you had ever heard of...

Yes! I love the Detroit videos. So sad to see the decay of once gorgeous buildings. I saw that same concert hall. I've seen some of old movie theaters that were decorated in Egyptian or Art Deco themes across the country, too. Amazing!

Good to know I'm not the only person doing this.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Beldar]

In our area, people have discovered concrete circles and parallel bars out in the desert. Apparently they are / were calibration targets for satellite cameras.

There are also a number of abandoned cold-war era bunkers and the like here in the mountains and desert.

Sounds like a fun hobby although I wouldn't want to go it alone (for safety reasons).

_B

 

[HFWR]

In our area, people have discovered concrete circles and parallel bars out in the desert. Apparently they are / were calibration targets for satellite cameras.



There are also a number of abandoned cold-war era bunkers and the like here in the mountains and desert.



Sounds like a fun hobby although I wouldn't want to go it alone (for safety reasons).



_B

Crawling into abandoned mines/bunkers/etc out in the desert sounds like a good way to meet rattlesnakes...

 

[Sunset]

When very young, I used to explore pretty much anything that caught my eye;
Storm sewer pipes even if you have to squeeze between the bars to get in.
Abandoned houses, very interesting the stuff folks left, some were supposed to be haunted.
Car junk yards, every car had a story, some stories were not so nice.
Caves, but I never found any really good ones.

Once I got older, I realized most of this activity was really trespassing at best.

 

[dixonge]

We're quite drawn to UrbEx - have done a lot more reading than actual exploring, but we did traipse through an abandoned orphanage. Nicely creepy, and we had to sneak through a gap in a fence to get there.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

The beauty of deserted underground rail stations.
Click on an image to advance -

Chris M Forsyth Photography

 

[aja8888]

When I was a young boy in the military (Air Force) in the 1960's in rural Germany, several of us Airmen decided to storm old castles. We found a few and in the middle of the night would climb walls to get in and explore them. They were all abandoned and were pretty much falling apart. One of our guys fell off a tall wall while exploring one at night and broke both his arms. That was the end of that adventure. I'm surprised we didn't get court marshaled over those episodes.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

When I was a young boy in the military (Air Force) in the 1960's in rural Germany, several of us Airmen decided to storm old castles. We found a few and in the middle of the night would climb walls to get in and explore them. They were all abandoned and were pretty much falling apart. One of our guys fell off a tall wall while exploring one at night and broke both his arms. That was the end of that adventure. I'm surprised we didn't get court marshaled over those episodes.

Back in the mid 90s, I did a deployment to Ramstein (I know..terrible, right?) But was staying at Sembach AB. While out exploring the portion of the base that was no longer operational (airfield was then used for grazing sheep) , we came across a remote command post. It was unlocked and still powered...it was odd because it was like everyone left one day and never came back. As I understood, it hadn't been used operationally for at least a few years when we found it.

Sent via mobile device. Please excuse any grammatical errors.

 

[aja8888]

Back in the mid 90s, I did a deployment to Ramstein (I know..terrible, right?) But was staying at Sembach AB. While out exploring the portion of the base that was no longer operational (airfield was then used for grazing sheep) , we came across a remote command post. It was unlocked and still powered...it was odd because it was like everyone left one day and never came back. As I understood, it hadn't been used operationally for at least a few years when we found it.

Sent via mobile device. Please excuse any grammatical errors.

Those names bring back memories. I was stationed at Hahn Air Base.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Those names bring back memories. I was stationed at Hahn Air Base.

Not to derail the thread too much, but I was AMAZED at how many bases have closed in Europe; this list from Germany *alone* lists 215 former Army installations. I saw pictures not too long ago of the passenger terminal and control tower at Rhein Main being torn down. I don't think about w*rk too much these days, but those pictures did make me a bit teary eyed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Army_installations_in_Germany

Edit...picture added.