Posted by Abby Normal For the abandoned mine exploring community, the future is bleak. The federal government is funding programs in every state government to gate ALL non-operating mines. While I agree that mine safety is important, the danger is blown way out of proportion. I've read so many news articles recently bleating on and on about how dangerous they are, pointing to a small handful of incidents over the last few years. They dramatically tell about how danger lurks at every turn, and that you will certainly be killed if you even think about going underground.
At the beginning of the year, there were three small plane crashes that killed eight persons, ALL IN ONE DAY. That's more deaths than the last 20 years of mine deaths. Yet the government is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to gate every mine. Recently a friend of mine who has a valid claim showed up at his mine to do a bit of prospecting, only to find it gated off. Last I'm aware of, he still can't gain access to his claim. Apologies for the rant.
I agree with Mookster, there are a lot of locations out there. Without trying to preach, hard work leads to great results. A friend of mine recently got down into the most amazing mine. Dynamite boxes stacked up in a pile (absolutely unheard of now days), ore cars scattered about, the whole deal. But it was a serious effort to reach it with approx 400 feet of rope-work to access it. It's physically and mentally challenging to undertake these kinds of explores, but the results can be worth it.
Not dead at all! I've been out of the game for years, and just getting back out there is the best thing you can do to revitalize your spirit. Local spots may have dried up, but you have to remind yourself that the people that always seem to be getting some good exploring in are sometimes driving states away to visit locations they've only heard whispers of. And when you do eventually find that awesome spot? Don't post it on TikTok!
Posted by Samurai main takeaway of this thread? social media ruins everything.
I couldn't agree more. I appreciate the occasional UE content on YouTube, but the clickbait and utter disrespect of abandoned locations is enough to drive me away from most of it. It sucks that the good and the bad share the same platform.
I'm also relatively new and had similar worries when I started. It's easy to think that UE is dead when you first see this site. Most of the big locations are gone, all the major events haven’t happened in years, but UE definitely isn’t dead.
The version of UE that this site idealizes is for the most part gone. This makes sense when you think about it. The "old" way of exploring was a product of its time that wouldn't play out the same way today, but at its core, UE hasn't changed. I'd actually say that this site, although large, is one of the less active urbex communities. I've seen tons of small (often region-specific) subreddits and youtube channels that get new posts frequently. They still have an attitude of respect and reverence for the locations they explore.
Urbex has never been a mainstream thing. The only way that this stuff breaks through to the front pages of social media is when someone who is looking for clout puts a location on blast or otherwise ruins it.
I’ve had an absolute blast with UE so far, which is proof enough for me that the spirit of urbex is still alive and well.
I will say that I don't think that urban exploring will ever die because there are so many cool things out there to see and explore. For me, there are a lot of storm drains and sewers out there to be found. Right now, I'm still working on the MSP area and areas around MSP. As I might have said before, but I plan to keep exploring the rest of my life and I don't think I'll ever get tired of doing it. I hope I can keep exploring drains and sewers that long.
Thinking Sci-Fi here...Star Wars kind of stuff. I can only imagine UE on an isolated planet in another galaxy. Or floating through the remnants of a floating hulk of a spaceship, destroyed in an long forgotten galactic war.
I have always wanted to have a real writing skill where I could craft stories of space gypsies who would gather exploded ship parts, refine the materials, then sell them to others who needed the exotic materials. So many interesting stories to be crafted in that genre.
I really think as long as humans exist, UE will exist in one form or another.
Quite Abby Normal
"Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem." Ronald Reagan
Posted by Abby Normal Thinking Sci-Fi here...Star Wars kind of stuff. I can only imagine UE on an isolated planet in another galaxy. Or floating through the remnants of a floating hulk of a spaceship, destroyed in an long forgotten galactic war.
I have always wanted to have a real writing skill where I could craft stories of space gypsies who would gather exploded ship parts, refine the materials, then sell them to others who needed the exotic materials. So many interesting stories to be crafted in that genre.
I really think as long as humans exist, UE will exist in one form or another.
Quite Abby Normal
on the story thing... just sit down and start writing. One word after another. That's how it's done. Seriously. You don't worry if it's good or if it makes sense... that is for the edit. You just sit down, one word after another.
Popularity-wise? Seems quite popular to me, not dead there.
I don't think I'll ever see near as many abandoned locations as I saw back in the 70s/80s though. Like grains of sand on a beach back then, and no security whatsoever anywhere. Feels dead now, compared to my heyday, but that's just me.
"Explore thyself." ~ Henry David Thoreau
"...and abandoned stuff & things that look neat." ~ Ansion
Some places will always have more abandoned spots than others.
For example, cities like London and Paris are going through expansion into a modern economy. Places like old factories are torn down to make space for office buildings. But in places like Croatia, where wars forced many places to close down (either economic hardships or just the surrounding area getting bombed to the ground). Those countries haven’t returned to their pre-war economy. I had a friend who recently visited Croatia and said every second or third building was abandoned.
Ethics
