Probably have explored more places alone, but with others it does make it easier and faster to find all the worthwhile stuff.

It depends. There are several sites I've visited by myself, but I'd rather explore with a friend or two just to share in the experience. If I'm driving and come by an abandonment I'll head in, alone or not. Some places I won't go in alone because of the area it's in or the shape the building's in. Others I'd rather be alone due to security reasons, I would rather only worry about myself if the place is highly watched.

Before I met my actual exploring buddies, I did it a lot. Knew it was not safe but no one I knew at this period would follow me doing urbex. Now I found good buddies so I don't do it alone very often. Now doing it only when I go to the city where I'm born. Since I'm alone in the car and a lot of abandonned houses on the road, sometime I stop and do it alone like a big girl !! I keep my cell phone with me, just in case. I think I'm the only one doing urbex in this area....a place we need a lot of mosquito stuff !!

You're never alone when you have your friends, Smith and Wesson, hahaha... but in all seriousness, I never go alone on a first explore of a new place. Only if I've been there before and am comfortable with the area. And I RARELY actually explore while I'm armed. It's just more to explain if I am discovered.

It depends.

Abandonments? Never. I'm always very careful while exploring, but still I've fallen out of the second story of a partially demo'd building onto a pile of bricks (felt great,) took a rusty nail to the foot, fell mostly through a floor, and watched a seemingly trustworthy catwalk I've traversed at least 10 times collapse with no warning under a fellow explorer. I've witnessed drug deals, ran into lots of drug paraphernalia, meth lab evidence, potentially vicious dogs, and many many scrappers. Basically there's always a level of unpredictability in an abandoned building, even places you've been before several times. Been lucky so far and avoided injury, but one day I won't be. I'd like someone there when it happens. Also, I carry way too much money worth the camera gear to risk running into a crackhead by myself. I tried it alone a couple times when I was younger and dumber, and the paranoia just took the fun out of it. It's definitely more fun with friends.

Active Rooftops/construction sites/infrastructure? Sure. There's not really the risk of running into sketchy people or unpredictable structural failure, (although I did give myself a concussion once on a bridge catwalk running into a beam) and it's also just easier to remain undetected.

I often explore alone and usually it's not a problem. Sometimes I tell people where I'm going, sometimes I don't. Depends a lot on the location.

My record is hiking ten miles over the mountains and across the rivers to an abandoned Russian village and then walking back the same way. Only afterwards I realized that it wasn't necessarily the smartest thing to do...

edit: Well, I did spend a night alone in a small cabin with fresh polar bear tracks around it, in a quiet fjord about 100 km from inhabited settlements, and drove across the ice to the "abandoned" Russian town on the following day. However, there were some people living in there and in worst case - had I burned both the cabin and my snowmobile, for example - I still could have walked there as it was only six or seven miles or so.

I like exploring with other people, but most of my explores are solo. Obviously there are drawbacks to both but it's harder for me to coordinate schedules with other people than it is to just jump and go. Also, I travel with my partner a fair amount, and she's not into exploring, so I go solo when I find stuff on the road. Last trip I found a huge mill, and we extended the trip by a day so I could see it

Edit:
As far as precautions and coping go, I sometimes let people know where I’m at, sometimes I don't. I always have my phone though. When I’m alone, I’m definitely more cautious and more in tune with my surroundings. In fact, that higher level of engagement is one of the things I like about solo exploring. Of course, most of my explores are in relatively safe areas – smaller southern towns and rural areas.

Finally nerved up and went on a solo session. It wasn't half bad! I will admit paranoia really bothered me at first but after a while I became very at peace.

At one point I sat on the highest floor of this ruined factory, relaxed, had a smoke and just enjoyed the view and the tranquility of my surroundings. Never felt so peaceful in my life

Rooftopping yes, Stuff within walking / boating distance of me - yes.

But i'm young and stupid.

I hate exploring alone, but I don't see any other options being where I am and not having a car. The closest explorer I've been able to find so far is 80 miles away in Tupper Lake, or 120 miles away in Ottawa. I would like to leave the north country to explore with people at some point though at least.

Yep, I love exploring alone! Although sometimes it is nice to have a partner there is a real sense of accomplishment when you scale a location solo. Of course there are some exceptions to doing this without the help of another, remote locations, very flimsy flooring usually tells me to grab someone before I come back. All in all, I find exploring alone to be extremely rewarding, sometimes it gets quite creepy but that is only part of the fun!

I've always gone with a friend...

With my non photog friends, they hang out, carry camera gear, aim lights, hold stuff, etc while they get to look around, They also act as the watchman for anyone coming while I'm focusing on photographing.

For my photog friends, we carefully pick what gear we're taking, some we can share (tripod, lights, etc) and what we need to take separately. We always test where we're stepping first and make sure its ok before the other one follows. Also that other person is there as your buddy (same as with our diving) to give you a hand if something goes wrong. Worst case, they can call for help if something seriously goes wrong.

The exploring I've done solo though.. my one friend usually walks up with me, pokes their head inside to see what I'm getting into, then hangs out outside, or waits in the car and reads and watches for anyone coming. What a great friend LOL.

Sometimes I go alone, sometimes with a friend. It just depends on where and when, etc. The last time I went alone I fell down a flight of stairs. As I laid there I was trying to remember if I had told anyone where I was...

Definitely not, i would tweak myself out too much if I explored alone.

Always with one friend, sometimes two or three.

I have really explored alone, and I have been at it for over 5 years. Mostly due to the city I explore in. The few times I have been out alone have been out of the city places. I have yet to hurt myself in any building yet, but I would hate to be alone when it did happen. I also love being able to use it as an excuse to hang out with friends and to get out of the house.

Even when I do go with friends, I take care, I treat it like I am there by myself to keep my self safe. I scout the place out first, and drive by the day of before I park and head in.

I guess it all boils down to a bit to much paranoia in me.

I try not to go alone, always a fear of getting into a sticky situation or injured. Was down an abandoned 6 mile road this year after a friend bailed on the trip, ended up wrecking my bicycle and got lucky I didn't break any bones.

Being a young female, I never explore alone. Granted, I have explored with other explorers of my same gender, age, and size but there is always safety in numbers. I always bring pepper spray with me when I go exploring and I usually will find some piece of scrap rebar or something, just enough to knock someone out. I always let my family know where I am going, even if my dad is the one with me for that location.

I get the heebie-jeebies sometimes when I am exploring with others, I can't imagine how bad it would be if I was alone!

After a bit of soul searching, I've come to the realization that the main reason I explore alone is that most people, for some reason, don't care too much for the idea of being alone with me in a dangerous place where no one can hear them scream. I have no idea why...

Like Abby Normal said, I spend a lot of time scouting for and preliminary scouting mines when I'm solo.

My Rules:
1. I DON'T climb mine ladders, either up or down.
2. I DON'T climb up other things, or down other things, if there's a good chance I could fall and injure myself badly.
3. I don't climb through semi-collapsed or unstable areas.
4. If I come to a multi-way intersection, I try to use rocks/tape/something to mark which direction I'm going.
5. I (almost) always tell at least one person where I'm going. What area, or specific coords if I can, and a time I have to check back in with them by, before they either come searching for me or call in a team to come search for me (depending on the location).

I try to only pick people who WILL initiate a search if I don't check in on time, instead of the one's who just go "eh, he prolly just forgot" and would blow it off.

If my contact person isn't a regular mine explorer, or well connected, I give THEM a name/number to call if a search & rescue needs to be thrown together.



We have a pretty awesome inside-group of mine explorers spread across several states who will drop EVERYTHING at any time of the day or night, to go try to assist a mine explorer in trouble, even in another state.

Having that kind of assistance at your back both helps your explorations to be a bit more bold both solo and in group settings, and it really gives you some mental comfort, knowing that if all hell breaks lose, there's a whole team of people who're going to come together to assist your safe exit from the mine; instead of dying alone and in pain in the dark.

_______________________________________________________________________________

One of my Stories:
Some of this I learned through trial and error. We were in a mine in one spot, and they sent me ahead through a certain section to do some "forward scouting" in that area. I was supposed to check back in in like 5 or 10 mins.

I saw a ...not so much a ladder, but that's what it was meant to be used as, and climbed up it into what we call a stoped out area. Saw it wrapped around to another section that I couldn't really get over to, so tried to go back down the "ladder". It was extremely unstable and it slid off my foot and fell over, leaving me 26ft above the drift floor, sitting up on a slope, by myself.

Once I realize I was up-a-creek, I actually made a video of myself talking on my P&S camera, and stated exactly what I did wrong. I don't know why I did that, but I never forgot it. (I'll see if I can find it).

Then I pulled my pack off, snapped a glow stick into life, and tossed it down into the drift below me, so that someone who looked down it, or came down it from the direction I came, would see it glowing. Took out an energy bar and ate it, drank some water, and then turned off my headlamp to conserve battery power and laid down to wait....

20 or 30 mins later, I heard someone heading in my direction who saw my glowstick and started shouting for them. They came and set the "ladder" back up and steadied it, and I was able to climb down safely.

This is similar to what would happen in a solo situation, except that I would have to wait several hours longer, depending on what my emergency activation time was.


It's always nice to know that someone has your back, when you need it.

Found those videos and uploaded them to Youtube.

The first one I'm describing what happened...

The second one I'm discussing with my fellow explorer what happened, when he came and found me.




Only 30 mins in between, as my "solo" was planned while we were part of a group inside the mine. If I had been solo'ing on my own completely, I'd likely have had to wait for 6 hours until someone put out the call to round up a crew, and several more hours till they found me.
Thankfully that was not the case in this situation.

I am MUCH more careful now when solo'ing inside mines.