My dad has come on one explore with me - six and a bit years ago on my first foray into West Park Asylum, he agreed to take me and one of my friends along as we had been invited by someone on one of the forums to meet up. I think he enjoyed it, from what I can remember that far back. He didn't dislike it that's for sure.

He's leading the way with my friend behind. Good times.

When i was a kid, my stepfather use to take myself and acouple friends exploring at all the oilfield equipment graveyards that are around our fair city, these days he'd much rather watch nascar, then come out on my adventures

My dad ends up going with me to a lot of easier places, I think he's as interested in seeing them as I am

It's been years my dad know about what im doing and this winter i invited him to visit one of my favorite places.
The place is the Canada Malting plant in Montréal, where each year i organize big UE meets with my friend Deconstrukt and where i pass most of my spare time preparing stuff for the next years.

I was not sure if he would choke when going inside of even before entering, it's a dangerous derelict place (not so much if you know the place) but it look pretty sketchy from the outsiders.

We have to crawl into small tunnels to get inside, climb shit and a long sketchy ladder to go higher in the building.

My father, 65, in shape as fuck, did all that perfectly like it was a walk in a park. He even try to impress me by doing some little tricks in the ladders and climbing up things. I was proud.

The apple didnt fell far from the tree, now i know why i am like that too (climbing everywhere like a monkey)

I will never forget that day. My dad in my favorite place.

My parents were not adventurous in the slightest. Adventure to them was staying in a hotel. As a parent myself, I've taken my kids exploring a lot, but not so much lately now that my oldest is applying for police jobs, so we all have to stay out of trouble. Here are my lovely lads in one of the PA Turnpike tunnels:

click to view

I've also taken my scout troop on a couple of safe explores.

Posted by splumer My parents were not adventurous in the slightest. Adventure to them was staying in a hotel. As a parent myself, I've taken my kids exploring a lot, but not so much lately now that my oldest is applying for police jobs, so we all have to stay out of trouble. Here are my lovely lads in one of the PA Turnpike tunnels: click to view I've also taken my scout troop on a couple of safe explores.

You make it up this way a lot?

Posted by sleeperspirit You make it up this way a lot?

Not really. We were on our way to Gettysburg to camp with our scout troop. I think we want to hit the tunnels again sometime, but it's not a big priority. Maybe make it a backpack trip.

I think it's quite apparent that this thread is something else...

My folks have no idea I'm into this and probably wouldn't be too terribly impressed if they did.

My mother wasn't exactly an urban explorer, per se, but she was very interested in old ruins of cathedrals, churches, castles, old houses, settlments, historic sites, etc. etc. So I ended up spending a lot of time hiking through the woods, poking around historic structures, and checking out castles and stuff when I was a kid.

As for me as a parent, I've recently begun easing my kids into exploring public sites - they aren't old enough and disciplined enough for anything else at this point. We went out to the ruins of Fort Mansfield at Napatree Point (in RI) recently - this is a picture of my daughter at the beach directly below the ruins of the fort.


Sentinel Watching by Jon Washburn, on Flickr

My Dad is sort of responsible for getting me into exploring. When I was 12 he bought some property in upstate NY, and at the bottom of the driveway was a huge 3-story building that at various times had been a hotel, bar & restaurant, and whore house. I don't know how long it has been empty for at that point but it was at least 10-20 years. He warned me about going in there since we didn't own it but that obviously didn't stop me or my step-brothers.

About 10 or so years later, after I'd already done some "light" exploring on my own, he brought me to a house he'd found not far from my grandmother's. Again we weren't sure how long it'd been empty for, but we definitely weren't the first people to go poking around. From what we could tell the old couple that lived there were artists and the place was filled with their work. The place was trashed though, and we had to climb over mountains of junk just to get to the second floor. Very 'Hoarders'. I wasn't into taking pictures as much back then, and didn't have a camera with me anyway, but I wish I had. The house was full of so much cool old junk.

My Dad is basically single handedly responsible for getting me into UE! As an over-inquisitive 12-year-old I wanted to explore all these interesting looking places, and my Dad said "alright then, over the fence we go!". We ended up as a bit of a team, scouting new places out, brushing up our photography skills to save learning while trying to do bulb exposures before the next security guard walked round, great fun! Had some seriously good times exploring the derelict and disused of the UK with my Dad!

My mom got into essex mountian sanitorium and one overbrook building when it was partially abandoned and that's what made me interested in exploring to begin with

I have a 12 y/o at home that is itching for me to take him exploring. He loves hearing my stories and seeing my pictures. I just don't know how I feel about taking him out. I'm sticking to public sites for now.

My daughter is 3 now, I'm taking her on her first explore next week. Can't wait.

My dad did a fair bit of urban exploring back when he was about my age, so evidently the hobby did continue with the next generation. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) I've never been on an outing with him. I find it a lot easier to travel with friends instead.

When I have kids I'll definitely try and get them into exploring. I wish my parents explored so they could've given me some pointers!

This thread makes me smile; I'm glad someone brought it back

Neither of my parents are exactly explorers, but they're always very enthusiastic about my various adventures. My mother's a digital artist/photographer and my father's an urban planner--it's like they drew out a Punnet square before they had me or something. I've tried to take my mother along, but she's confessed that she's too scared of getting caught to follow through.