Over the past number of years, urban exploring has become an increasingly trendy physical activity, which isn’t such a bad thing. And in some ways the urban exploring trend is an extension of modern civilization’s self-view, that we can see ourselves in such a curious and alien way. Urban hiking and exploring is therefore much more than simply walking down suburban sidewalks and downtown malls, but it is actually discovering the complexities of the world’s greatest cities.

For example, some cities have long neglected tunnel systems, abandoned buildings, and long-reaching industrial parks with now useless, monolithic machinery. As nature recaptures these items, or as the dregs of the city slink down into them, they start to look otherworldly and ugly, though beautiful in their own neglected way.

Urban exploring therefore necessitates accessing some of these archaic systems and forgotten monuments, in some forms more legal than others, but if you are seeking not to vandalize, but to simply document and explore the city’s degrading architecture. Some movies have also managed to further romanticize what the world would be like without people, and what would happen to the cities and industrial parks, but for hikers looking for a different kind of adventure, urban hiking and exploring offers just that.

There are websites online that have urban explorers for their own cities, and sometimes they will post new destinations or urban exploring ideas. Sometimes it’s best to explore with someone who has done it before, and there are often communities of people looking for new experience, so it’s a good way to make new friends, too.