The Thrill of the Hunt
Thoughts on Urban Exploring
By: Sean L.
We all do this for different reasons. For some of us, it is just a hobby. To others, it is an adrenaline fix. But to some, it can even be a career. Me personally? I love the thrill of the hunt. Too many people in this community expect everything to be handed to them. They see a post on a website and simply ask questions. Where is this place? How do you get in? Then these people just sit there and wait for an answer, only getting upset when none comes. These questions go unanswered because research is part of the experience. A true explorer does not want to be fed answers, they seek them out. They hunt for answers, both online and onsite of abandoned places. It is called urban EXPLORATION. Not urban TOURISM. Aside from the few places that we have just stumbled upon, we research all of the places that we explore very in depth. As made clear in our articles, we love history. We cannot truly appreciate an abandoned place without knowing what it was once like before the dark times.
It is one of our 5 rules to know your route. Safety and smarts are the best tools that you can ever bring with you while urban exploring. Before an investigation, we find out everything we can about a place. It is imperative to get as much information as you can and be as prepared as humanly possible before exploring an abandoned place. Especially if it is illegal to be there. Once you have all of your information, the next phase of the hunt is to find the place you are going to explore. Sometimes it’s really easy. Sometimes it’s really difficult. But just like the research, this is part of the experience. Some locations we have visited you just drive up to. But some others, like Fort Mansfield in Rhode Island or Cedar Hill Rail Yard in Connecticut, require a lot of real exploring.
But once you find these places, the real experience begins. A lot of us like to take pictures. Some of us enjoy making videos. I personally like to write these articles. There is just something really great about researching a place, finding it, then successfully documenting it. It is the thrill of the hunt that makes these places fun for us. It is all a part of the experience of being an urban explorer. Not to destroy or deface these forgotten beauties. But to enjoy something that few people will ever see, and even fewer are even aware of. Now it’s your turn. Why do you do what you do? What’s your favorite part of urban exploring? Don’t be shy.
Abandoned Wonders 
I do not have an issue with sharing information about locations – one sore point I have with Urbexers…these sites are usually fairly dynamic – what is there or how to get in at any one time is often very different for someone going at a different time. And why not share knowledge about the safety or security of a location to others? I’m not saying just hand out information to anyone, but if you can see my Website/Twitter/Instagram pages you can get a pretty good idea of my exploring morals. Often, I get the impression that not sharing is like saying “this place is mine…you can’t have it” – Only twice have I not shared a location and these were spots that had absolutely no vandalism. Why do I do it? Part of it is the planning – as just knowing the location is a small part of the the whole plan – but, a large part of why I do it is the challenge of what I call Extreme Location Shooting – seeing what conditions you are dealt and then coming back with images that convey the beauty of the site to the non-Urbex community.
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