The Newtown Pentacle

Thursday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The scene above is found about a block and a half from HQ, in the Dormont Borough which directly borders the City of Pittsburgh. Actually, the shot above is in Pittsburgh proper, as the city’s border line is found somewhere’s mid block. I’ve mentioned that HQ is nearby a gorge in the past, that bridge spans part of that landform.

Also mentioned in the past are the presence of hundreds of sets of municipal steps here in Pittsburgh, installed to help the citizenry navigate the area’s challenging terrain.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

This bridge is ‘officially’ a set of stairs, or at least it leads to a set of them, which climbs up the other side of the gorge. I’ve walked Moe the Dog back here in the past, and for this particular day’s ’constitutional,’ I decided that I wanted to do some leg work.

According to the phone, when I had gotten to the top of this and its accompanying structure, I had walked something like 11-12 stories worth of stairs in the equivalence of two city blocks.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

These stairs are set against a wooded hill, where those deer which keep on wandering into my back yard spend their time. Pittsburgh used to have predators, notably Panthers and Wolves, but they’re long gone and the deer population is thereby unfettered by predation. Their main danger to them these days revolves around getting hit by a car.

Good cardio, these stairs.

I forced myself to move up them at a rapid clip while enjoying the feeling of absolute tearing agony in my thighs. I’ll admit to having to take a short break to catch my breath and allow my heart’s ‘beats per minute’ to settle down midway.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The top of the stairs exits you onto a tertiary arterial road, one which follows a parabolic curve around the hill. This is a scary spot, as there’s not any sort of sidewalk, and you’ve only got about a hundred feet of view in either direction. A car moving at 35 mph would bring annihilation so you have to choose your crossing moment quickly.

There’s a red light found at the bottom of this hill, where this street interacts with a busy secondary arterial road.. When a burst of passing cars has passed, that’s when you sprint across the double laned street.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

On the other side of the road is yet another set of stairs which carry you from the aforementioned secondary to a tertiary arterial road, and the top of a ridge. The street sign across the street is blue and white, meaning it’s in the ‘City of Pittsburgh.’ It’s also labeled as being a ‘way’ which indicates that it’s officially an alley. That’s the way they roll here.

Along the path above, somebody has placed plastic religious sculptures, depicting what I’m seeing as the Catholic Saint Francis. What do you think? This Francis or what? Help a guy out, youse ‘Catlicks,’ in the comments section? Whaddya say?

– photo by Mitch Waxman

My goal was to get to the top of these stairs without dying, huffing and puffing, and then continue on a relatively flat path for a mile or two. I’d broken a sweat on all of these rises and runs, which was one accomplishment I was hoping for. I’d also gotten my heart rate elevated for an extended period, and positively blasted my thighs out with all these steep steps. It felt pretty good, I’ll admit.

In case you’re wondering, on this walk I was listening to music rather than an audiobook. Early Butthole Surfers, if you’re really curious.

Back tomorrow.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

Buy a book!

“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.