The Newtown Pentacle

Thursday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Mountain Avenue to Yard Way part one.

So… that recent walk where I accidentally headed off in the wrong direction, and ended up scuttling – in terror – along the side of a de facto highway, without sidewalks, because of that mistake?

Also, that I had resolved to head back to the starting point of the walking path which I originally intended to scuttle along?

Ok, I’m not saying that there weren’t any obstacles this time, but your humble narrator didn’t ‘eff this one up,’ and headed in the correct direction. The area and neighborhood designations are a still little hazy for me, but I was on Mountain Avenue in what I’m told is the ‘Mount Oliver’ section, at the starting point for this effort. I started this one right about here.

As the title would imply, I used that little plastic compass which dangles off of my camera bag to vouchsafe my intended direction, this time.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

This scene, I would mention, is a little bit over two miles away from the dense urban core of Pittsburgh’s central peninsula. Mind you, it’s semi-difficult to live amongst these hills, particularly during the winter months, and more difficult to build housing into various plots and properties.

The path I had meticulously laid out, and then completely ignored on my initial walk, would carry me away from Mount Oliver towards and over the ridgeline of that massive elevated landform found along the Monongahela River called Mount Washington (Oliver is actually a part of it) and into a neighborhood that’s known as the ‘South Side Slopes.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

First dealie was walking up the hill, and up to the ridge line. This ridge and cliff face wears a street upon it, called Arlington Avenue, which snakes diagonally down the prominence’s city facing side. Once you’ve gotten to Arlington, you’re in the ‘South Side Slopes.’

This ‘zone’ has been absolutely what the doctor ordered, as far as getting past the aftereffects of the ‘orthopedic incident.’ The downward angling of the streets here allowed me to address the muscular atrophy caused by that misery, stretching and strengthening the musculature in the front of the thighs and calves. Of late, I’ve been walking ‘up’ these streets.

The trick to walking around here, while compromised, is to not allow yourself to pick up speed.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Crossing Arlington Avenue allows egress to St. Patrick’s street.

There are few if any sidewalks along this path, but it’s a pretty low volume road, lined with private housing there’s not high traffic counts to fret over. You just stay to the side.

This may strike terror into your heart, but there is no bike lane there.

As you may have noticed, after a couple of months of walking around the ‘North Side’ of Pittsburgh, my curiosities had led me back to an area that’s a bit closer to HQ. As my physical capabilities have been returning to normal, the concept of being adventurous again has crept in.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

St. Patrick’s street feeds into a gully, or ravine, or possibly a ‘hollow.’ Mishegoss.

It, in turn, leads to a short set of City Steps which elevate pedestrians up to the level of the serpentine course of South 18th Street. There’s a grandiose set of City Steps here, which I haven’t experienced yet, that I was heading for.

The landform which is called Mount Washington forms a ridge along the Monongahela River. Mount Oliver and the other ‘named’ hills surrounding it are part of the same geologic shaping. Ultimately, the land summits up to the ridge and then plunges, in the sharp manner of cliffs, towards the flood plain at the river below.

Behind the ridge, to the south, there’s a series of hills and ‘hollows’ which play out for miles and miles, in a region called ‘The South Hills.’

– photo by Mitch Waxman

To position myself for the set of City Steps which I was heading for, this example of that sort of infrastructure needed to be surmounted in the ‘up’ direction. I decided to have a quick sit down at the top, and check on my compass again. A quick scan of the ‘make a right, make a left’ directions I had prepared in the notes app on my phone was also accomplished.

I find that ‘sitting down’ should never be any longer than a few minutes, otherwise you lose momentum. The camera, camera bag, and all the crap I need to carry around with me is fairly heavy, so it’s useful to give the lower back a rest, and an ‘uncoil’ every now and then.

Back tomorrow with more, at this – your Newtown Pentacle.

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