It may sound funny, but the best boot I have found for exploring with, is the duck boot. You do need one which comes up onto your ankle rather than the one which is like a shoe. If you wear the wrong boot you may as well go exploring in open toed shoes. (I will admit to doing almost that a few times, but that doesn't mean it was a good idea).

Qualities important in a boot for urban explorers:

• Weather proof (water resistant or water proof and include snow in that list because snow is just colder water).
• Thick bottoms (you don't know what you might step on, into or worse).
• Fitted to your ankle (so they don't slip off if you walk through mucky areas).
• Easy to slip on (because you don't really want to be struggling with footwear when you could be out there... looking around).
• Packable and durable, more or less (boots you can toss around in the back of your car or stuff into your backpack are a plus).

As an extra tip, stick those insoles into your boots. You get extra cushion for your foot and it helps if your feet get wet from outside water or sweat from your own feet.

My duck boots are a size too big so I can wear extra socks if I was out with them in winter. Or, I can easily wiggle my feet into them and out of them again. This does make them a bit awkward to walk around in so size is a relative issue.

The perfect duck boot for me would have nothing to tie up and just be slip on. I was surprised to find some really great looking boots for explorers on Amazon. I wonder if anyone thinks of them for more than hiking or hunting or whatever other people do while wearing duck boots.

Real urban explorers wear duck boots.

Just kidding about that. I think they are great, but I explore in rural areas. People who explore in sewers, drains and tunnels probably want to wear boots up to their chin, or so. People who climb rooftops to photograph above the city, might want a lighter boot with more traction. So, your boot choice will depend on where you are going. Plan ahead!

Don't try searching for "explorer boots" (you just get Dora).

Urban exploration covers a lot of different types of exploring and people who explore. First, it's modern exploration. Not unlike explorers in history who go where few others have gone before, but we tend to focus on what was built and then neglected. The things people may see every day but don't get close for a good look.

Second, urban exploration is not about salvage or vandalism. Take only photographs and leave only footsteps - that's the rule. Trespassing is part of it, but most of us have our own rules about how far we go. I will take as many photos as I can from the street when I can't get closer. But, if access is available I will walk around the building and try to photograph it from all sides. Within reason. I don't want to take too many risks and as a BBW woman I do watch where I step and avoid close encounters with wild animals too.

I very rarely enter a building. For me this is breaking and entering and not respecting the property of others. If someone were to complain about my being on the property and taking photographs they would have a lot more reason to complain if I were inside versus just walking around in the grass, rubble and abandoned gardens.

Of course, I mainly photograph abandoned farm houses in Ontario. So, there are not many people around when I am there. The few times someone has approached me it was out of curiosity (most often). I would usually get some history of the place from these people and they were happy to tell me all that they know once they knew I was there to document it and not doing anything to cause harm.

So that's an introduction to this site and myself. You can read more about me on my other sites.

One other thing, the name of this site, Wrecky Rat Bird, comes from my nephew Zack. When he was a little boy we talked to him about the old abandoned places and he began calling them "wrecky rat bird" because they were wrecks with rats and birds living in them. I still call them all wrecky rat bird sometimes, so the name stuck even though the nephew is almost 19 now.

What Makes an Adventure?

Exploring, discovering and adventuring all sound like great words and things we would like to be doing and talk about doing (before and afterwards). When you have adventures you have something to brag about, right?

But, what is an adventure? What makes one day, or one trip, or one event and adventure versus another day, trip or event? Does an adventure have to be dramatic, does it have to accomplish something and do you need to come away from the adventure with something changed or different about you? Have you ever thought about what an adventure, an exploration or a discovery really are?

Can you have an adventure on an ordinary day, running errands, talking to people in same place you live out your everyday and doing stuff you think of as nothing really? Why not I say! My Adventure on April 14th: An Ordinary Day This is a well known landmark here in Barrie, Ontario. A firetruck happened to pass just as I took the photo. The unexpected things make the adventure more interesting. At some point you might think your ordinary day is more like an extraordinary day even.

I didn't have a lot I had to do that day. The adventure started mid morning, even though I had thought about an earlier start. Adventures don't always go as planned. That's one of the good things about them. I sometimes get lost and only figure out my way back by using the map, my handy sense of direction or reading road signs.

However, there were a couple of places I did intend to go that day. One was the downtown bus terminal and the other was the Tim Hortons (well, any one of them) so I had something planned and yet left myself plenty of time and space to wander and find new things to see and do. Always give yourself some time to wander. Wandering off is a great way to discover new adventures and explore new paths. Explore the World, Choose your own Adventure and Discover Something Different

Each Adventure Needs some Planning

A coffee stop to check the map and co-ordinate for bus scheduling and routes. I also bought the 50th anniversary mug from Tim Hortons while there. Not every adventure involves a map, compass, camera, sturdy footwear and all the rest of those traditional things. You can have an adventure with almost no equipment or gear at all. But, why would you want to?

At least take along a camera so you can remember where you have been and see what you missed the first time you looked. A camera is great for giving you a second glance. I'm often surprised at what I see in the photographs I took. I don't know how I miss so much when I'm actually there, looking right at it.

Really, is it an adventure without some kind of map? Keep a map in your pocket, purse or wallet at all times - even when you are not on an adventure you should be ready in case the opportunity arises!

I Really do Like Maps

Where Did you Leave your Thirst for Adventure? - Every adventure needs something you love (and a bit of nature too).

Rocks. Just because I love rocks. You should pay attention to the things you love, especially when you have travels and adventures.

Adventures Should include a Snack

I stopped for lunch. it was a nice tuna wrap until the end where the big, thick, rusty lettuce came in. Still, the coffee was good.

You can't hope for fine dining during your adventure. Not unless you are going somewhere you have been before, know the cook and some of the staff too. If people at the restaurant know you by name - is it really still an adventure? How can you be exploring if you already know what to expect?

You can see the cover of the book I was reading. I like to explore and travel alone but I always bring a book so I can read when I have a quiet moment or 30.

No map is made perfectly. You just can't turn something round and bumpy into something flat and smooth. But, you can make your own imperfect, old fashioned maps.

Map making is cartography - the study, collecting and making of maps. Have you ever wondered how early people created maps? How they could understand where land ended, where the water came in and how high the mountains reached, even though they had very rudimentary skills (in comparison to the modern technology) in geography, science and mathematics?

As school kid, I used to wonder how they knew the shape of the coastline. How could they guess well enough to draw it. They didn't even get the perfectly right dimensions for the land itself. In the old times, especially the more ancient people, may as well have been drawing fantasy maps from their own imaginations. Or, so I thought.

How to Make Paper Look Old

You can make paper look old with cold, strong black tea, instant coffee or strong, regular coffee, a cookie sheet and a blow dryer or clothes iron to crisp it up again.

Your paper can already be written on or still blank. It may be better to write or draw your map on the paper first as it could rip or tear easier once you have finished giving it the age treatment.

Just let the tea of coffee become strong and then leave it to become cold. Crumple up your paper (don't let it rip). Uncrumple the paper and smooth it out. Place it on the cookie sheet and pour the cold tea/ coffee over it. Let it soak up to an hour, turning it over once and pressing it down to be sure no edges are missed.

Pull it out, let it dry slightly, then use the blow dryer or clothes iron until your paper is completely dry. Use a cigarette lighter to singe the edges a little for a bit more of a vintage look.

No Map is Precisely Perfectly Made

No map is perfectly made. There isn't a perfect method to take the true measurements of the land and put them on a flat piece of paper. Imagine a globe of the world map. Then think about how that globe would have to be changed in order to become a flat map. This is what causes the distortions in map making.

Most maps you will see are created with the Albers conic equal-area projection. This is based on keeping the area and shape of the land correct rather than being mathematically precise.

When you draw your own map you need to gather as much information as you can about the place you want to draw. Take all the measurements and then convert them to a smaller scale and keep the same conversion for everything you draw. This will mean a lot of math skills if you are trying to be very correct and precise. It's much easier to draw a fictional map than something real.

At the end you will need a map legend too. That's how you show various features like shopping malls, schools, etc. without having to write them in by name each time. Legends are a short cut for map makers - plus they keep your map from becoming very cluttered.

What Type of Map Will you Make?

Most maps are political, physical or based on some other theme like oil production, telephone lines, forest density, etc. A physical map is all about the land itself. The focus is in rivers, lakes, hills, mountains, and everything else you could see with your eye. Meanwhile, political maps are all about man made definitions like borders between countries, provinces, states, counties and the locations of towns and cities and roadways.

The Finishing Touches

Don't forget the map legend and the compass rose (or at least the arrow pointing north). Also, every explorer should sign the map they have created.

The Drawing of the Map

Start with pencil as you make your first rough draft.

Consider how large or small your map will be. A map showing a larger area will have less detail to focus on versus a map which is based on a smaller area and would need to bring in more attention to detail and focus on the features of the area.

Begin the map from one side, drawing your rough outlines until you have included all the space you need for each area. When you have gotten to the other side of your map step back and get a long range look. If that works out (if you don't need to make some changes to fit in some features in the right locations) begin fleshing out the details.

You might find it helpful to use grid paper rather than giving yourself a complete clean page. The grid could keep your distances straighter as you work out where everything should be drawn in.

When your map is looking good make a clean version and, once that is done, trace your lines in pen. Then begin to add names for the locations and features on the map.

• Hand Drawn Map Association
• Lost Cartography
• North American Cartographic Information Society
• The Map Room

If you were to divide urban exploration into three basic groups I think it would have to be buildings, drains/tunnels and the third would be transportation. I could be wrong and, no doubt, the whole thing is debatable. However, when I think about trying to fit in the various exploring locations and structures, that's how I sum it up.

It's all part of urban exploration. Explorers aren't just in the city looking at old buildings. Urban explorers are rooftopping, looking underground in tunnels and drains. Urban explorers are in rural areas too, looking at abandoned farms, farm equipment, old churches and so on. Urban explorers are in industrial places, looking at abandoned and derelict mines, steel plants and industrial machines they may never see anywhere else.

Airplanes, aircraft, trains, ships and boats are the transportation sort of wrecks you might think of first. There are also car wrecks, but none of these are photographed at the scene of a horrible accident. People who chase wrecks (as urban explorers) are not the ambulance chasers or reporters trying to win a spot on the front page of a newspaper.

Wreck chasers are looking for the neglected, abandoned and forgotten wreckage from the transportation industry: trucks, cars, ships, boats, planes, trains, city.

Far from looking for human pain and suffering, wreck chasers are looking at the pain of the abandoned machines, the rusted out hulks and the sadly decayed remains of the man made, mighty machines.

Myself, I have found abandoned trains, abandoned tractors and mainly abandoned vehicles: cars and trucks and one city bus.

I've seen one abandoned car, left to die after it was damaged in part of a house fire. Another was left at the site of a house which was being demolished to make way for a shopping plaza or maybe new housing so there would be someone to shop at the plazas already in the area.

The abandoned bus I found was behind a fence, far outside the city of Toronto, where the bus had originally run in it's day.

The abandoned train was on an abandoned, forgotten train track. Far out in a rural area, I found two trains, one a much older train than the other. Both had the big engine and several cars in between. Only the older one had a caboose.

If you drive on the highway between Toronto and Hamilton you may notice an old tall ship floating at a bend in the road. It was once made over into a restaurant. Sometime later vandals set it on fire. There isn't a lot left of the old ship now. But, you can get there, just off the highway, if you study the map a bit and find the exit.

I've yet to see an abandoned airplane. Likely you would find some at airports, planes which someone used to own and then didn't come back to maintain or fly any more.