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Women's Federation CastleNestled in the woods about a quarter mile from a pedestrian overpass above the Palisades Parkway is the Women's Federation Monument, a small castle with a vista of the cliffs of the Palisades with somewhat of a view of NYC. |
Treachery Resort HotelTiming is everything when exploring a vacant resort hotel protected by an armed guard. |
You'll Never BelieveAn instant classic. A sprawling 700 room resort hotel sitting on almost 500 acres, featuring two high-rise towers and an 18 hole golf course. Also featuring multiple active security guards and a cellular transmitter on the roof of the tower. You'll never believe how well-kept it is. |
Nanuet Mall MaintenanceOr lack thereof. When I saw this, the first thing I thought was, "Yo dawg, we herd you don't like to do maintenance. So we didn't maintain your maintenance truck, so you can not do maintenance in your unmaintained maintenance truck." |
Long Trail TattletaleAnother look around the utility areas under the Long Trail hotel at Stratton Mountain. |
Last of the MohicansWhat a cool little abandoned Catskills resort. |
Concrete AIDS at the Palisades |
Letchworth: DeniedOur exploration was interrupted by marked police cars and a crazy dog lover ranting about "bodies in the ground". |
Rockland's other halfExploring the Western side of Rockland. |
Nyack Beach from behindMy advice is to not try and reach the spot we reached, as it was very difficult to get back out. |
Please postpone the paintballTouring tunnels of Tweed through the time that the tourists thought this was a paintball range. |
Trains and wires of RocklandA tour of the bulk goods and high-voltage electric distribution infrastructure of Rockland County |
The road less traveledThe Hasidim built their own road in defiance. I needed to see it with my own eyes. |
Palisades Center back hallsExploring the cavernous commercial center: The Palisades Mall |
Nanuet Mall infrastructureEmpty anchor stores are never a good sign... |
Nanuet Mall hallsIt's almost like the mall is closed because it's so quiet... but it's not. |
Showing Drey the Letchworth Power PlantDrey likes to do interesting things, but unfortunately, he's cursed with 7 years bad luck for some reason or another. We went to Letchworth Power Plant and walked around for hours. Then we heard a horn blaring near where my car was parked (at the closed bridge near the active buildings). A rent-a-cop was waiting and started asking questions. He tried to get confrontational but totally backed off after I started asking basic questions in response to his own questions. He sheepishly said, "I won't make you delete the pictures this time." Right. And I won't leave you lying in the fetal position on the ground, this time. |
Day trip to Iona IslandTook a trip and went for a short hike down the tracks. I bumped into a Hispanic family trapping off the old trestle (although they had a trap or two on the new trestle also). |
Hiked Hook MountainMike, Dan, and I hiked Hook Mountain like true winners. |
Day at DoodletownAn early morning solo journey to Doodletown Dam. Some shots of Iona Island thrown in for good measure. I met a rail fan there with his grandson. I found the water treatment plant for the first time. Pretty neat place. |
Thoroughly touring Tweed's tunnelsStarting the journey at the south western end of the mountain, in the Camp Bluefields Dr. parking area, I ventured up into the hills to boldly go where many have gone before. I walked through one tunnel without a flashlight, like I usually do. Also like usually, I nearly soiled myself. Noticed some new concrete and metal works I'd never seen before, and became better oriented with the "offices" relative to the homes on the street. |
Jersey City PowerhouseTrump tower stands proudly next to the Hudson & Manhattan Powerhouse. Despite the lack of maintenance for decades, the Powerhouse still stands thanks to its sturdy construction. |
A day in NyackArmed with my cameras and plenty of free time, I took a stroll around Nyack and found tunnels, shipwrecks, and plenty of other interesting views. |
Mystery tunnel entranceMike didn't want to go in, but I showed him the entrance to the mystery tunnel in Nyack. No, not those tunnels, the other tunnels -- the mystery tunnels. |
Lounging around LetchworthAnother quick and lonely trip through Letchworth Village. |
Looking around LetchworthAlways interesting to bump into other people at Letchworth. The cat society was out and about. Stopped by the director's house unlike usual. |
Problematic pipe explosionsThe aftermath of the Times Square steam pipe explosion. I got a little closer than I should have, and was ordered to leave by police. |
Train track furniturePhotos of power lines and an old signal tower taken on a nice day. |
'For the terrorism'Obviously Wall Street is paranoid that the masses might one day come seeking blood. So, to prevent any violent attacks, they've installed this motorized bollard in the roadway. When I asked the operator what this blockade was for, his succinct and ironic answer: "for the terrorism." We also tour downtown Manhattan in this general area. |
Upgraded security at NIKEThe disused NIKE base had a security upgrade recently. The gate is way more imposing now. Don't be afraid of the dogs, or the caretaker, they only bite bad people. |
Stewart Hall post-fireIt greatly upsets me that anyone would destroy something with so much rich architectural effort. |
Exploring Kreyg'sMy friend Kreyg lived in a most unusual basement apartment, the only basement apartment in the building. The rest was storage for apartments upstairs. The hallways in his basement were weird and creepy. |
Port Authority picsI've seen that number before somewhere else... I feel like I've seen that towel before somewhere else too. |
Playing in the PalisadesStill not yet over the joy of having a DSLR, I drive into the Palisades Center parking garage and play around. |
Exploring the gun tunnel (part 2)I return to the gun tunnel by myself to explore deeper. |
Exploring the gun tunnelI believe this tunnel was used to conceal a large cannon to protect the Hudson River, but I can't find any documentation about it either way. The litter and graffiti were very old and well preserved, indicating low traffic. |
Gun tunnel scope-outChecking out the area around the gun tunnel. |
Train technologyFrom the powerhouse, to the outhouse, we explore NJ transit physical plant. |
Keep off the tracksA trip to Brooklyn just for fun, with stops in Times Square for good measure. Crazy protesters, sweet police cars, strange signs, and a woman's ID on the tracks for the L train. |
Exploring the elevator roomThe elevator room in the Long Trail hotel at Stratton |
2007 New York New YearAs winners always do, we celebrated New Year's with drinks, exotic food, and late night subway rides. We met strangers this night with the classic, "What's your favorite kind of shark, and why?" intro. |
Will we leave Worcester?After a trip to Cecilia ("see Celia"), I walked around Worcester in the morning because she didn't wake up as early as me. Plus some shots of signs seen on the way home. |
Letchworth Village idiotThe decaying power plant at Letchworth Village, plus a quick stop in some of the admin and storage buildings. |
Water tower on watchThis water tower had what I would consider unusually high security. A telephone link seemingly provides telemetry but it's not clear how the cameras or motion sensors are set up to monitor. The camera follows motion, however. I literally danced around for 15 or more minutes watching the camera watch me. |
Bleak day at LetchworthRandom shots of prohibition signs at Letchworth Village |
RPI Infrastructure TourI promised I wouldn't post these. But sufficient time has passed. This was the great RPI Infrastructure Tour of '05. |
Barb's RPI tourWhen Barb and I were still getting to know each other, one night she graciously allowed me to ride-along with her. We explore West Hall, and an automatic alarm at BARH. |
Pete ruins Paintball at the Pines HotelI can't say exactly how I ruined the day of the douchebags playing paintball there, but rest assured it was a tough ride home for them. Thanks for the opportunity to get revenge, assholes. |
Around RPI's RickettsExploring the Ricketts building after a class |
Stackwyck's shady areasExploring the equipment rooms in a typical Stackwyck apartment building at RPI. |
And death smiledRandom graffiti on a disused water tower at Nike Ln. |
Piermont station pre-renovationSome might be surprised to hear that I was not happy when they renovated the Piermont station stop. They took all the history out of the place, and left its empty shell. What the hell? The place was like a time capsule all on its own right. |
Lonely at LetchworthSometimes I'll explore buildings even if no one joins me. This was one of those times. This gallery is notable because it contains numerous shots of Stewart Hall before it was burned to the ground by punk kids from Nanuet. |
Abandoned auto plantThe site of the former GM plant in Tarrytown. It's now 'luxury' condos. |
Bowels of BriarwoodThe "gangster car" spot in Clarkstown. This is a bizarre paper road that seems like it was maybe caught up in some court proceeding or other dispute. Otherwise it seems like a waste of awfully prime land. |
Exploring the DCCIncludes shots of the 3rd floor women's bathroom foyer. |
Tahawus mineOne of my favorite exploration journeys ever. One I will never forget. |
Barberville Falls in SpringThe melting snow adds a great amount of runoff water to the falls. |
EMPAC craneSo what if we didn't belong there; that crane was ours to climb as far as we knew. |
Exploring UAlbanyExploring the underbelly of undergraduate education. |
Albany high-rise housing project demolitionI am fascinated by the abject failure of high-rise public housing, so I felt compelled to document the demolition of this domicile, one of many which stand bleakly in the foreground of Albany's skyline seen while passing through on Interstate 787. |
Palisades Center's privatesUp in that like a colonoscopy. |
UAustin PowersTouring the tunnels under UAlbany. We were kicked out by campus police, who were less than pleased that my car was loaded with fireworks. |
Dimmed lights at LetchworthDays are growing shorter, not unlike my patience. |
Welcome to LetchworthGeneva forced me to go to Letchworth for the first time. Was I sure glad she did. I didn't stay long this time, but I'd be back. |
Parks of Rensselaer CountyJourneys through the beautiful and never dull parks of Rensselaer County, NY. Includes Grafton Lake and Barberville Falls. |
Grafton Peace PagodaOne of the few of its kind in the world, the Grafton Peace Pagoda is also home to some Buddhist monks. They weren't there when we visited, but the temple was unlocked and inviting to peaceful visitors. |
Berlin Mountain Ski TrailsWe tried a crazy hill climb at Toyota Hill near the old Williams College Ski Area by Williamstown, MA. |
RIP FredYou still inspire and puzzle me to this day. |
The less visited parksAlthough we frequented other parks more often, we tended to explore anything just for the sake of adventure. |
Get high at Grafton LakesHigh in the trees, I mean! We climbed stuff, like trees and water towers. Come on, don't be silly. |
Barberville Falls in FallOne thing that always struck me about this location was the bizarre mechanical system that appeared to feed into the water. It looked to be like some kind of runoff treatment system. |
Home, I'm HoneyA rather bizarre and random dilapidated house in the woods. |
Abandoned car adventureTroy is an interesting place in general, but the unofficial off-road trails on the outskirts of Troy are especially interesting, thanks to abandoned wrecks like this. Note that it probably got stuck in an off-road adventure attempt, as opposed to say, a multiple homicide, although knowing Troy, either is possible. |
Exploring Nanuet PavillionAlthough seemingly uninteresting, I found it somewhat exciting to do this since like any active site, there are always challenges. Plus a view from the roof. |
Saloman house (part 2)Exploring the mysterious time capsule that has since faded into dust. |
Pines Hotel Summer '04Visiting with Jess, the one time we were actually allowed in, thanks to having hooked up with Lance. I left something behind. |
Saloman House (part 1)A rare opportunity to step into a time capsule. These photos were from my visit on July 13, 2004. The owner died a month or so prior. I stress to readers that vandals did not cause this damage -- this is how he lived for 20 years. The experience cannot be adequately described by a Flickr gallery description. |
New New York Life buildingHelping the unpacking process at the New York Life building in Sleepy Hollow. |
Two million for this hole?Exploring an unfinished multi-million dollar single family home in Old Tappan. This probably sold right before the housing bubble popped. I wonder if the mortgage has gone sour? |
Abandoned AsburyTour of the Asbury Park boardwalk area, during a quick detour on our way to Seaside Heights for the weekend. This gallery includes shots of many infamous and now non-existent buildings such as C9. |
Brief tour of Tweed's TunnelsThe Camp Bluefields tunnels are a popular attraction to ghost-hunters and other people looking to be creeped out. |
Base activeShots from the active buildings at the Clausland Mountain Nike base. |
Dead end at Rockland LakeThe fake dead end at Landing Road leads to Nyack Beach. The dead end is a great place to park to access the trails often forgotten in the park but park police arbitrarily support the no parking rules back here. Once I parked back here and got a $10 parking ticket. Pay it? No way! I spent almost a year fighting it and won. |
Nike LnA tour of the defunct Nike missile base on Clausland Mountain. |
Northbound Nike LnWith a quick stop to the more active side of the base. Literally any visit to this area is sketchy now, because the area has gone from "mothballed" to "inactive". It's a big distinction. |
Exploring the Blue Hill HouseLacking any better name for this place, this late 19th century Dutch-style home was a fascinating destination to me because of it's mystery. The house is nice, why let it rot? |
Blaisdell RoadIt's rare to find an entire road abandoned, but effectively, that's what happened here for a brief period of time as Rockland Psych underwent some transformative growing pains. |
Rockland PSYCH!One of the lamest locations ever. I would have been better off exploring a supermarket. |
Blue Hill House entranceUsually it's a code of ethics thing to not post the entrance to locations, but it's hard to miss this one: it's an abandoned county road. I'm still a bit baffled how they can just close off a county road like this, when we're still paying to maintain the darn thing. |
Exploring Manhattan CollegeProbably my worst exploration ever, although I did find an armored courtesy phone, auto-flush urinals, and a pigeon inside a building. |
Williams College Ski AreaExploring off-road trails close to and across the Massachusetts border, and discovering the old Williams College Ski Area. |
RPI Adventure ClubFrom assorted trips into the woods of Rensselaer County, NY. |
Prospect Park PoolProspect Park was designed by Garnet Baltimore, the first African American to graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. On February 19, 1903, the city bought the land from the Warren Estate for $110,000. The City Parks Commission hired Baltimore to design the park, paying him $2,000 in annual salary. He designed pathways, a pond, tennis courts, a bandstand, flower beds, and a scenic lookout from which visitors could see a 25-mile panorama of the Hudson River and Valley. The Warren home became a museum, and the Vail home became a snack concession. |
UE
Urban exploration (often shortened as urbex or UE) is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of urban areas or industrial facilities. Urban exploration is also commonly referred to as infiltration, although some people consider infiltration to be more closely associated with the exploration of active or inhabited sites. It may also be referred to as "draining" (when exploring drains) "urban spelunking", "urban caving", or "building hacking".
The nature of this activity presents various risks, including both physical danger and the possibility of arrest and punishment. Many, but not all, of the activities associated with Urban Exploration could be considered trespassing or other violations of local or regional laws.
Ventures into abandoned structures are perhaps the most common example of urban exploration. Abandoned sites are generally entered first by locals, and often sport large amounts of graffiti and other acts of vandalism. Explorers face various risks in abandoned structures including collapsing roofs and floors, broken glass, guard dogs, the presence of chemicals, other harmful substances, most notably asbestos, hostile squatters and sometimes motion detectors. Some explorers wear respirators to protect their airways.
Exploration targets vary from one country to another, but some of the more popular or high-profile abandonments include amusement parks, grain elevators, factories, missile silos, hospitals, asylums, schools, and sanatoriums. Also, due to a marked lack of governmental support of historical monuments under many regimes, some structures may be centuries old, from various architectural epochs and still freely accessible in their unrenovated states.
Many explorers of abandonments find the decay of uninhabited spaces to be beautiful; many of these explorers are also photographers. Some abandonments are heavily guarded with motion sensors and active security. Others are more easily accessible and carry less risk of discovery. Abandonments are also popular among history buffs, 'industrial archeologists,' 'ghost hunters' and fans of graffiti.
Another aspect of urban exploration is the practice of exploring active or in use buildings. This includes seeing secured or "member-only" areas, mechanical rooms, roofs, elevator rooms, abandoned floors and other normally unseen parts of such buildings. The term 'infiltration' is often associated with the exploration of active structures. People entering restricted areas may be committing trespass and civil prosecution may result.
The rise in the popularity of urban exploration can be attributed to its increased media attention. Recent television shows, such as "Urban Explorers" on the Discovery Channel, MTV's Fear, and the ghost hunting exploits of The Atlantic Paranormal Society have packaged the hobby for a popular audience. Talks and exhibits on urban exploration have appeared at the 5th and 6th Hackers on Planet Earth Conference, complementing numerous newspaper articles and interviews. With the rise in the relative popularity of the hobby due to this increased focus, there has been increasing discussion on whether the extra attention has been beneficial to urban exploration as a whole.
Urban exploration is a hobby that comes with a number of inherent dangers. Storm water drains are not designed with human access as their primary use. They can be subject to flash flooding and bad air. There have been a number of deaths in storm water drains, but these are usually during floods, and are normally not urban explorers.
Many old abandoned structures feature hazards such as unstable structures, unsafe floors, asbestos, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, exposed electrical wires and entrapment hazards.[citation needed]
Asbestos is a long term health risk for urban explorers, along with breathing in contaminants from pigeon feces. Urban explorers use dust masks and respirators to alleviate this danger. Some sites are occasionally used by homeless people and drug users and there may be discarded needles.
The growing popularity of the activity has resulted not just in increased attention from explorers, but also from vandals and law enforcement. The illicit aspects of urban exploring, which may include trespassing and breaking and entering, have brought along with them critical articles in mainstream newspapers.
Source: Wikipedia - Urban Exploration