Since the Caveclan, Infiltration, and almost everyone else has covered this subject in depth,
I'll skip over the usual lists of supplies and concentrate on those relevant to Alaskan urban adventure.
 
 

Whilst Kayaking or boating:

Proper boating safety equipment, eg: PFD, extra paddle, etc.
A snack and water (important for long trips)
repair tools, rope, Duct tape for patching holes ;)

Whilst exploring bunkers
Up to date Tetanus shot (lots of rusty metal)
Rope (for lifting, climbing, etc.)
Extra flashlight(s)
Smoke bombs to chase off tourists

Whilst kayaking/boating in confined spaces:
Same as above, along with  a good knowledge of kayak roll recovery/safety if in deep water
Waterproof light to strap to kayak
takedown paddles that can fit in tight places
waterproof shoes / raingear?
 

Whilst in abandoned mines

Don't explore Mines!  Some dangers could include:

Structural instability
Explosive and/or poisonous gasses
Shafts and pits
Unsed blasting powder
Hibernating bears
Armed survivalists

Read This

Soon to come are some pictures of a collapsed mine we found...
 

Whilst Climbing radio towers, Buildering, and Tunneling:
See the stories section for How Not To Be A Dumbass in tunnels and buildings.
radio repeater towers are usually near towns, and are majorly illegal to climb on
Radio towers also usually have high voltage wires, delicate electronics, and other stuff which the cops won't appreciate finding your fingerprints / fried body on.
Watch out for self locking doors when on rooftops, I did this once and had to use a conspicuous fire escape ladder.
 

Tools and Access:

Doors
For general door popping, I prefer master keys or shims, many doors are so panzy-ass that you can pop them with a credit card. Old phone cards and hotel keycards cut into a variey of hooks and other shapes work great. In some cases you have to know people from the building who know tricks and personalities of different doors. Taping and otherwise rigging doors in advance is good too, but there's only a few places where it's worth doing this.

Manholes:
Most of the manholes into the Sitka steam tunnels have large ring handles to pull, and the square metal gratings can easily be unlocked with a pocket knife between the rim and frame. They aren't really worth exploring however. UAF has almost no manholes into the steam tunnels, but the downtown Fairbanks tunnels have the square metal type.

The typical sewer manhole (why open anyway?) and most drain manholes (how convienent, they either say STORM or DRAIN on them) have only a small hole in them. We have devised this device for opening manholes of this type:

The Manhole popper

The popper in use
look at the extreme left of the picture to see the small notch in the lid and our roll of line
(the metal bar is barely visible in the center of the manhole)

I also like short halibut gaff hooks of the type seen in I Know What You Did Last Summer.
They're great for popping all kinds of manholes, but hard as hell to explain to the cops.
 
 

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