By Popular Demand... ADVENTURES - Best Of -

[diello]

A couple of people have asked me to post a whole mess of photos of my urban exploration adventures, so I'm gonna. I won't post ALL of them, but I'll post my favourites and link to the albums on facebook where you can find the rest for each set. READY? HERE WE GO.

We're going to start with my first adventure, The Loud House, which used to be located on Rt. 31 and Loud Rd. We went in on a whim (in one shot, you can see my feet in sandals- so unprepared- and we only had our phones and cameras for light), and we found treasure inside. Some time later, I drove by it, on my way to school, and it'd been taped off, and a giant dumpster sat next to it. When I came back, everything was gone, leaving no sign it had ever been there.
Companions: Charles (not <3) and Henshit, with Kelly waiting in the car.














More of the Loud House found here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.416432841855.199057.513001855&type=3&l=fec9fc1da4

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I can't recall any adventures between the Loud House (2002-ish) and more recently, so let's skip to the next one in my rolodex, Photek. This place is "brown zoned" which means it used to be dangerously radioactive in places. I first learned about discretion in parking and entering here, as well as not turning your flashlight toward the windows. My camera was pretty shitty back then, so there aren't a lot of photos for this one.
Companions: Charles (<3) and Brendan.






(I grouped these into my "older adventures" album, so see the link above for where to find more from Photek)

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Lone adventure through the train yard. I've always dreamed of hopping one of these and just seeing where it takes me.
Companions: Charles (<3, waiting in the car).













You can see the rest of the train yard here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.386425001855.173939.513001855&type=3

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I'm gonna go out of order here and do the Dansville Castle next. I went to this one last year, and there are SO MANY photos I loved out of this set. I had a hard time trimming it down. The castle was a spa, printing press, hotel, and asylum! The plot covers 43 or so acres and includes several abandoned cottages, houses, and mansions surrounding the castle, which we also explored. We spent all day here, but didn't even get through half the houses or half the castle (it didn't help that the main structure in the center of the castle collapsed). Unfortunately, this place is not long for this world. The weather (and hooligans) have been really beating down on it lately.
Companions: Brendan and Casey.



























See the rest here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.243479855682551.65998.100000616163595&type=3

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The East Ave Commons, located in the East End of Rochester is not abandoned, but its basement sure looks and smells otherwise. To the very bottom, then to the very top!
Companions: Brendan, Troy, Brittany, Josh













Above:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.415758046855.198421.513001855&type=3
Below:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.415759136855.198422.513001855&type=3

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Two years back, we hosted the big UER/RAG (urban exploration resource / rochester adventure group) Inauguration Day here in Rochester, and the traditional first location is always the Abandoned Subway. There's not much down there, except a few good photo-shots, some tracks, weird crevices, and graffiti, but it's still a good walk into the dark :)
Companions: Charles, Brendan, Troy, and about a dozen UER'folk.





















More:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.415759806855.198423.513001855&type=3

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Next day of Inauguration, stop one - General Foods, filled with lofts and photography studios. This is still my favourite location to visit. So much treasure, and so many other interesting things. Like lots of photo things, frames, a Nazi cookbook from 1945, a big black dildo in a toybox, some newspapers with big headlines, and a spider in a bucket, hehe.
Companions: Brendan, Troy, Brittany, Josh, Charles, PYRAMID HEAD, and some other guy.



















Shitload more:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.416080556855.198768.513001855&type=3

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At some point in the day, we stopped off at Jay's Diner. We parked, and walked a quarter mile down the road to a completely hidden house. It wasn't that interesting, but we went through anyway, before heading back to Jay's to scarf down garbage plates.
Companions: Brendan, Troy, Charles, Brittany, Josh, and two other guys.









Sorta worth the click:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.416084136855.198772.513001855&type=3

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I've been to Iola Campus more than the rest of the places. It's not officially abandoned, but it might as well be. This was the children's TB ward, and also the former traffic center of Rochester. I've heard from a not-so-reliable source (but that doesn't mean completely unreliable) that Iola is not long for this world. Here are two separate days we visited. The first was during the Inauguration weekend, and most of the tunnels weren't open. The second was Rapture day. We found the tunnels opened and a rave room, where we hooked up our mp3 player and jammed out a little bit.
Companions: Brendan, Casey, Brittany, Josh, Charles, Troy.















Day 1:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.416085971855.198774.513001855&type=3
Day 2:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150184365331856.307130.513001855&type=3

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About a half-hour outside Toronto, between the outskirts of Mississauga and the outskirts of Toronto itself, lies an abandoned hotel called the Regal. This is my first adventure outside NY, and my first adventure without Brendan or Charles with me since my first adventure ever. It was a highly guarded location, so we couldn't risk taking ANY pictures except in the basement and the rooftop. We couldn't even talk for most of the time. It was cool to use military-esque hand signals.
Companions: Brittany and Josh.







A couple more:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150184386161856.307134.513001855&type=3


And my latest adventure...
I'm making a new post for that.


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Comments

[captkatsparrow.livejournal.com]

UUUUUUUUUUGH I love posts such as these. I don't think there's an exploration group around here, even if there were I don't know of any really good places to explore except abandoned meth labs :l

[diello.livejournal.com]

Dude, abandoned meth labs??? I might draw the line there, ya know? Like illegal drugs, maybe substances brushing off on you... I don't know... I'd also be tempted to swipe some of those cool supplies, but wouldn't want that to be, like, wanted by the law, and then bam, my fingerprints.
But there must be SOME things out your way.
Where are you again? Tulepo?

[diello.livejournal.com]

Also, I forgot to make my Castle pictures public til just now, if you wanna check those out too :)

[captkatsparrow.livejournal.com]

Tupelo, yes! And what I meant was there's just abandoned meth labs out in the styx, which I *don't* want to explore :<

But actually, I was thinking about it last night, and there are a couple of abandoned buildings in town that are pretty high-risk as far as guards/getting mugged by bums is concerned. Nevertheless, it's possible to get inside during the day & take some cool pics. I'll probably do that sometime this summer, when it's too hot for the homeless to stay inside, hahaha

[diello.livejournal.com]

If it's safer during the day, it's always easier, because you don't need your flashlight unless you are in a dark spot, or want to check a crevice, or give your photo some better lighting, rather than at night, when you need it ALL THE TIME. Plus you don't have to worry so much about accidentally shining it on a window during the day.
In my experience, bums don't generally want to mug you, and if they harass you, just give them a few bucks and they'll go away. It's scrappers you want to worry about. In some places, they'll actually try to do you severe harm cuz they think you're trying to hone in on their scrapping biz. Scary stuff.