Archive for June 1st, 2023
Run, Montour, Run
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An exercise day, which I’m trying to have occur every other day, arrived one morning and I drove over to the Montour Trail in pursuit of a bit of a walk. This trail is about 150 miles long, and whereas I could technically walk to Washington D.C. from Pittsburgh, I’m basically exploring the Montour Trail a few miles at a pop. I’ll pull the car into one of the lots attached to the trail, which is a former railroad ‘right of way,’ and then walk to the next parking lot and back. This usually ends up being 2-3 miles one way and then back again. It’s an easy walk, usually on a well graded and crushed limestone surface, and you’ll see bike riders and joggers doing the same thing as me, except I’ve got a camera. It’s actually… nice…
The water pictured is Montour Run, and there are former railroad bridges spanning the stream. Some portions of the Montour Trail are a walk through what this city boy would call woods, whereas others give you an interesting POV on the surrounding area’s industrial present or past. Here’s a few other sections of the Montour Trail I’ve visited, with this one found in the South Hills of Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As you see in the photos, spring had just sprung. I encounter the term ‘run’ for a waterbody everywhere in Pittsburgh. It seems to indicate a steadily flowing stream or creek with mostly shallow water no more than few feet deep, but which is typically a few inches deep. The nature of the terrain is definitely part of the reason these waters flow, but I have the distinct sense that it was the railroad people who shaped these runs when their tracks were being laid down, to act as drainage for their infrastructure. ‘Run’ also seems to be an artifact of earlier times, like the word ‘Kill” is back in NYC – Kill Van Kull, Dutch Kills, etc.
I was extremely happy, of course, since there was a sewer plant on the opposite bank and it’s been a while since I smelled the good stuff. You can just see the treatment tanks peeking in at the top left of the shot.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On roadways which adjoin the ‘run’ waterways, you encounter signage admonishing drivers to be mindful of flooding during weather events or the spring thaw. I wonder how high the water has to rise for that to happen?
A bunch of kids who I ran into later on during this walk had been swimming just upstream, and I also saw several people fishing as well. This area of Pittsburgh is home to a gargantuan park complex called South Park, and the Montour Trail section I was in had to be less than a mile from the edge of the place. There’s conservation areas here as well, not sure if this is one of them or not. From what I understand, designated conservation areas are either watershed or ‘natural island’ related. Probably both.
Back tomorrow.
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