Exploring Forgotten Wilderness: Venturing Where Few Dare | August 02 2026, 21:44

In my childhood, it seemed there wasn’t a place where the foot of some teenager hadn’t trodden in the last seven days. If no one had clambered into someplace for more than a week, it became the most enticing part of plans for the following week. We climbed everywhere – secured territories, garages, forests, basements, attics.

Around me, where I live, there is a forest park area. There, foxes, deer, and ticks live. This area is a minute’s walk from home and you can walk there for half an hour (or even an hour – if you “guess” the direction) without encountering any signs of civilization.

So, there are virtually never any people there. And it seems almost never to be. I say almost because I have walked there after all. But there are no paths, except for those trodden by deer. There are abandoned houses that seem to be from the mid-last century, rusty remains of cars, and four years ago I even stumbled upon a relatively recent jeep, oddly covered with plywood sheets (no signs of life. Reported it to the police).

It’s uninteresting to walk there, plus there are definitely a lot of ticks. You have to dress specially appropriately. So, there are places like this in the USA – probably 99% of the territory. That is, if someone dumps a body there, if they find it, it will be in about 10 years. Along the roads, no one ever parks cars – apart from the fact that it’s not allowed, there’s also no need. Forests along the roads are quite common.

That means, really, 90% of the territory is just unknown to people. Nobody ever goes there, and if there’s anything interesting there, it’s almost certainly not going to be noticed for years. Perhaps, if people disappear, someone ends up there, but that’s only speculation.

If some homeless person sets up a tent there, no one will ever notice for sure. Mainly because a typical forest isn’t visible from 15-20 meters away due to the abundance of vegetation.

Effectively, it’s the territory of wild animals. People don’t belong there. And that’s not a bad thing. Deer, foxes, skunks, raccoons, squirrels, and many others.

It was very unusual for me. Now I’m used to it.