Does anyone else like traveling to and exploring abandoned places?

This is an activity my wife and I have always enjoyed doing. Whether it’s something local or something we see on a road trip, we love the adventure of exploring an abandoned place. We particularly are fascinated with discovering the history of these places, whether it’s from information provided at the site or researching online. But sometimes we can’t find the history, so we are left with a mystery.

That is precisely what happened during our drive down Highway 50 in Nevada. Between Ely and Eureka, there is an abandoned cabin that remains a complete mystery and fills our imaginations with wonder. Could this cabin be a genuine relic of the Old West? Could it be from the 20s or 30s, either a bootlegger’s hideout, an old miner, sheepherder or a Great Depression crash pad? Or maybe the construction is from a more recent era, perhaps by hippies attempting to live off the land?

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If anyone has any answers to this mystery, let me know!

We do and there are lots of places to discover in Colorado. Most usually require a little bit of work to get to. There are pages on Facebook dedicated to each state. We participate on Abandoned Places Colorado.

YES!!! What a treat to discover this thread! Alas, I haven’t explored abandoned places in many years, but all my drives across country (Wisconsin to California and back) I made it a point to pull over every single time I saw an abandoned farmhouse or the like. I love taking a look and trying to figure out ‘why’ they left, as often you can find a good amount of personal belongings, dolls, etc

I thought this thread was about Mark Squires’ Bulletin Board.

Ha! Beat me too it [cheers.gif]

If anyone ever goes to the Amalfi Coast in Italy, I can certainly recommend the Valley of the Mills walk. IIRC it starts in Pontone (buses can drop you relatively near), heads off onto a quiet / deserted woodland path, before crossing the trickle of a river and heading past the remants of the historic Amalfi paper mills, before slowly emerging into the town. A lovely flow to the walk, and Amalfi was at the cutting edge (oops) of the development of paper in Europe, so genuinely historic, though completely unrestored.

That’s a great idea, Michael! I’ll be sure to tell find the Facebook page for Abandoned Places California, and perhaps also Nevada and Oregon since we often visit there.

I visited Colorado about 20+ years ago on a family road trip. I seem to recall seeing a lot of old mines on our journey. Many of them appeared to be abandoned, but I didn’t have the opportunity to explore further.

Lots of cool stuff to explore here.
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We do the same thing! This particular cabin was a bit more difficult to discern, so we hypothesized a number of different scenarios about who would have used such a place and why. But it’s always exciting to find something someone left behind in an abandoned place that gives a clue as to what they were doing there and what might have caused them to depart.

Wow! Those are fantastic photographs, Michael! That first picture is just amazing to see that old wood against the brilliant autumn colors. The second, I just love the faded red in both the wood and the bricks. But that third photo really bowled me over. Is that from some abandoned facility NORAD used to own? What a haunting image. I really want to get out there and do some exploring!

Yes. I’ll have to find some old photos. Surf Hotel in Biarritz prior to restoration, old castle near Jesulo/Venice. Cottages fallen of escarpment on Lake Erie. The barracks on Angel Island are really cool even though they are so near a large population. People seem to avoid going in them for some reason.

Top one is Ashcroft a relatively easy to get to ghost town near Aspen.

The second is an old tourist tower about an hour east of Denver that is on the highest spot between Denver and Kansas City. It is on the site of an old stage stop.

The last one is the hardest to get to. It is the wreckage of a Korean War era plane that went down in a snowstorm about an hour SW of Denver high in the foothills and deep in the woods. My wife and I hiked to it, 12 miles, on some rather thinly traveled trails. It was an adventurous day.

Awesome place. Hiked there about 2-3 years ago.
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Add to the list old cemeteries. Sounds kind of weird and probably not the best ice breaker at a party.

But it started many years ago on a trip to Vermont when the warden and I pulled over on a country road to take a picture of the fall leaves changing. Hidden in the overgrowth was a very tiny old cemetery, some headstone dates in the 1700’s.

It was very intriguing walking around looking for the oldest dates and seeing the families and wondering what their lives were like.

Lots of abandoned manufacturing facilities in the Midwest, many of which are being reclaimed by nature. Fascinating to tour them, but you have to be careful

Sounds like a great walk, Ian! 16 years ago, my father and I traveled to Italy for a week. Most of our time was spent in Milan and Rome, but I do recall at one point we were traveling by train through the Italian countryside and I think we may have passed by the Amalfi Coast. I wish we could have spent more time!

Yes! Old cemeteries are great for exploring. Last year we visited the Jacksonville Cemetery in Oregon. Really captured the feeling of the Old West. Some of the headstones are very moving.

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