Exploring Ghost Towns and Other Abandoned Places (shooting, train, reading)

[stonecypher5413]

Our family spent several vacations in the Sixties exploring western ghost towns before many sites became totally looted or turned into tourist traps. It was a fascinating way to learn some western history.

This is a terrific site for photographs:

Ghost Towns | Hundreds of Pictures of Ghost Towns from Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho and Montana

Any abandoned place has thus drawn me in like a magnet ever since. I wander around trying to "read the ruins" and guess at the lives of the people who lived there. I guess they call it "urban exploring" nowadays:

Abandoned Places | WebUrbanist

Dark Roasted Blend: Abandoned Places & Urban Exploring

Is this a hobby for anyone here? Any secret places and/or tips you'd like to share?

[dhanu86]

Around my area many state forest areas have an abandoned villege by a river that was turned into a dam or by an old railroad. If they have a graveyard the stones are typically from late 1800s or early 1900s. Its hard to find much older than that though, those are typically found mixed in everyday historic towns.

[Bulldogdad]

Got some places you will not readily find on the Internet unless you know where to look. If you are ever in California in the Eastern Sierra PM me and I'll share a few with you. Mind you its a half days 4X4 ride into some serious back country. They are not on your lists. BTW

[zardac]

and some forums is Ghost Towns and History of the American West

[catman]

White Oaks, just NE of Carrizozo, NM is one of my favorite places. It has a museum which is open much of the time.

[SVTRay]

Cool idea but need pictures

[bentstrider]

Originally Posted by Bulldogdad

Got some places you will not readily find on the Internet unless you know where to look. If you are ever in California in the Eastern Sierra PM me and I'll share a few with you. Mind you its a half days 4X4 ride into some serious back country. They are not on your lists. BTW

Everyone likes hitting the beaches or the slopes, or downtown to get inebriated off their behind.
The best kept secrets of CA usually lie in the areas you just mentioned, like time passed the area by and kept it sort of fresh for the untrained eye.

Yes, aside from bicycling and shooting things, this would be on my list of fun things to do when I don't have anything else important to attend to.
Taking pictures, sifting through long-forgotten records, and just the hair-raising feel one would get from the all-out eeriness is an adventure all on its own, never mind the journey it takes to get to the abandonment.

[Dancingearth]

My family likes to hike to the ruins in Glorietta when they visit. I have a picture of one of the abandoned cars with a dark shadow behind the car that my daughter insists is a ghost.
Backpacker Magazine - Glorietta Ghost Town, New Mexico

I go to Cerrillos State Park to hike and see the abandoned mines and never thought about Cerrillos being a ghost town until I read this site. Ghost Towns and History of the American West

The Santa Fe Botanical Garden does tours of the Ortiz Mines. I've done of few of their events - they're fun and informative. Ortiz Mountains Educational Preserve | Santa Fe Botanical Garden

Another site with more info:
Ghost Towns & Forgotten Villages

When I read the first site suggested I wondered what made them ghost towns since the towns still exists (Cerrillos, Madrid) but after reading other sites I see why. Thanks for posting--this makes me want to get out and explore more of the ghost towns in my area.

[stonecypher5413]

Eerie photos of abandoned "ghostscrapers:"

Falling from the sky: Inside the abandoned 'ghostscrapers' that litter America | Mail Online

As a booklover, it pains me dearly to see all those books lying there unread and unwanted in the Detroit book depository.

[catman]

I couldn't agree more. That is really sad.