[didydip]

If ya type into la' Google "Urban Explorations" you get some pretty neat stuff. I was wondering if anyone had done any of it in this area. Everyone (I think) has explored some sort of abandoned place whether it be an old house or barn etc. I found some pretty neat pages about people exploring the catacombs under paris, some idiots breaking into drain systems and running around (I'd be scared of it flooding and me drowning), people exploring insane asylums, old factories, etc. It seems very interesting. If anyone knows of any spots, could you PM about it (unless you don't mind posting it?). The only "Urban" stuff I've done is the old FORTS around here. Wordon, flagler, canby, ebey. I've been to Wordon a million times but continue to find something new everytime I go. Goooooood Stuuuuuuuff.

[JimK]

I had lots of fun at the UW. Who wants to walk to class in the rain when there are perfectly good steam tunnels that take you right to the basement of the building? I won't even get into making master keys to half the campus...

[Slugman]

As a security guard at Harborview 10 years ago, I got to explore some remote places, all alone in the dead of night, "armed" with just a radio and a flashlight and keys to every door. I got a few "tours" as well, from other guards, like the time we visited the morgue. Rrrrrr. Didn't like it. I would love to do the Seattle underground tour, at night with no tour guide, maybe on Holloween. That would be cool.

[didydip]

Haha, that sounds great (both posts). There is some interesting stuff at.. http://www.mountainsanatorium.net/ I've heard there are two abandoned asylums in WA. I can't remember the names and I think one is torn down. Those would be interesting to explore. One site I found, everything inside was still intact. oh yeah, it was an old school. The old Ibm computers were still there, desks, everything. it was like someone turned out the lights, and everyone left. Odd, just Odd.

[Malachai Constant]

[Sore Feet]

I know some people in Portland who do this pretty often. I could maybe get into it, but I think I'd rather take my chances rambling around in the woods with lions and tigers and bears, rather than stumbling across some cracked out druggies with itchy trigger fingers...

[marzsit]

there are 3 abandoned titan-1 missile launch complexes in eastern washington around the moses lake area, the grant county airport used to be larson air force base in the 50's and 60's. 2 of them are surrounded by barbed wire fences, but the 3rd one is on private property now and is covered with junked cars and scrap metal. i went there with some friends in the late-80's, we took plenty of rope and flashlights and explored the complex for several hours. all 3 silos were filled with water, but the rest of the complex was relativeley dry. there was graffitti and garbage everywhere, so we weren't the first ones to visit. i wonder if the other 2 have been "violated" over the years.. might be fun to go looking next summer. the complexes are huge and are easily visible on terraserver images, i don't remember the exact coordinates but one is near odessa, one near quincy and one near warden if you feel like searching.

[JimK]

MC, Took the maps?? Some of us had to make our own maps via exploration. By the way, there is a motion detector in the tunnel just outside the Physical Plant.

[MooseAndSquirrel]

[kleet]

[-lol-]

[Karen]

I've heard from a few sources over the years that there is an extensive underground beneath the Pike Street Market -- closed off rooms underground full of forgotten antiques and oddities. How much is true and how much is just rumor is up for questioning. I did go on the underground tour back in my hippie days (that was a strange trip indeed) but I was drunk and it is hard to recall now just what I saw and what I merely imagined. I remember talking to a guy (have no idea when but maybe about 20 years ago) who knew a secret entrance but even if I knew how to get in touch with this person I wouldn't go "underground" in that region for all the money in the world. At least not without a lot of company and backup lighting. I strongly suspect that much of that story is rumor and the product of overly-productive imaginations from the 1970s. There was a strange hotel in North Beach that I lived in for a while -- I think it was called "the tower" by locals. A bunch of odd poets lived in the top storeys -- the building was so old that some of the windows were gone and the poets shared the upstairs rooms with pigeons. I tried to write a fictional story piece about "the Tower" and the poets that lived there but was never able to come up with a conclusion and the story never got written. Urban explorations are fun but creepy -- I remember walking through the alleys of Belltown in Seattle before it became "artsy". There was a wooden street that used to run between First Avenue and Western -- I've got some old photos of that. Long gone. When I run across abandoned buildings or cabins anywhere, I always get creeped out. I won't go inside one unless I have company -- I always get the feeling I'm being watched by someone or something. Even that odd little structure near the ridge between Mount Teneriffe and Mount Si creeps me out and I always hurry past it as if something is about to jump out at me. Karen Karen

[pianodirt]

[MooseAndSquirrel]

Karen, never heard of North Beach in Seattle.??? Isn't there one in San Francisco- lots of seedy bars and stripjoints, etc. You mentioning the Seattle Underground reminds me of the 70's TV movie- later a series (The Nightstalker) with Darren McGavin who played a newspaper reporter on the trail of a vampire in Seattle. I was living down in LA at the time and thought WOW! that Seattle has a really cool abandoned underground city-the Seattle Underground- where they filmed! Then I moved up here and discovered it's not quite as elaborate as portrayed in the movie. I still haven't seen it, always heard it was just a tourist trap & you were just seeing basements- not whole buildings like in the flick. That was a great movie for its time though- everybody at school was talking about it next day- just like 'Duel' with Dennis Weaver.

[Karen]

Moose&Squirrel, Actually, that WAS North Beach in San Francisco! That's where I lived then back in the late 60s, early 70s. Yes, the legality and safety of entering abandoned structures is definitely something to consider. I'd advise checking ahead when possible -- get permission if that is needed or a recent report if possible. The Fortson Mill Ponds between Arlington and Darrington is one of my favorite places to prowl around and explore and take photos. Part of the old mill structure is still standing along with a few artifacts here and there -- it's a pretty spot despite the fact that it has been discovered by local teenagers and shows the usual objects they leave behind -- bottles and graffiti. And there's no danger unless the recent floods did something (I guess that is a possiblity). Karen