Archive for the ‘newtown creek’ Category
Montour Trail, Enlow tunnel
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned yesterday, one had headed over to a section of the Montour Trail which includes a railroad tunnel punched through a hill (or hillock, maybe?). Also mentioned, I’m playing around with using the ChatGPT “artificial intelligence” as a research assistant.
If you ask ChatGPT “what is the Enlow Tunnel on the Montour Trail” you get this response:
The Enlow Tunnel on the Montour Trail is a historic railroad tunnel that was constructed in 1914 and later converted into a recreational trail in the 1990s. It is named after the nearby Enlow Mine, which was once one of the largest underground coal mines in Pennsylvania.
The tunnel is approximately 600 feet long (183 meters) and is situated along the Montour Trail, a popular 60-mile (97 km) recreational trail that follows the path of the former Montour Railroad. The tunnel is known for its distinctive curved shape and its role as a gateway between two sections of the trail.
The Enlow Tunnel on the Montour Trail is a popular destination for hikers, bikers, and other outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy exploring the scenic beauty of western Pennsylvania. The tunnel is open year-round and provides a unique experience for those looking to take a break from the hustle and bustle of daily life.
Overall, the Enlow Tunnel on the Montour Trail is a remarkable piece of history that has been repurposed for modern use. It serves as a testament to the region’s industrial heritage while providing a unique recreational opportunity for visitors to the area.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My interest in these ‘rail to trail’ paths is absolutely piqued. Given the often severe and physically challenging nature of the heavily wooded surrounding topography, having a railroad graded path to scuttle along has been absolute nepenthe. You can walk for four or five miles in one direction, then backtrack to where the car is parked. Railroad grading is typically one foot of elevation relative to one hundred feet horizontally. The surface of the trail is either crushed limestone or pavement of one kind or another.
So far, I’ve found all sorts of side paths which branch off of the main trail. You can find these “desire paths” by looking for areas where others have stomped through the brush.
Machine says:
In the context of urban planning, a desire path refers to a pathway or trail that is created by people’s repeated use, rather than being formally designed or constructed by planners or engineers. Desire paths are typically formed when people take shortcuts or alternative routes across open spaces or between buildings, often in response to perceived inefficiencies or obstacles in the existing network of sidewalks or pedestrian walkways.
Desire paths are important for urban planners and designers to observe and consider, as they can provide insights into the needs and preferences of the people who use the urban environment. By identifying desire paths, planners can better understand where people want to go and how they prefer to get there, and can use this information to improve the design of the built environment.
In some cases, planners may choose to formalize desire paths by paving or otherwise improving them, in order to provide a more efficient and direct route for pedestrians or cyclists. However, in other cases, desire paths may be left unpaved, in recognition of the fact that they represent an organic and responsive approach to urban design that prioritizes the needs of the people who use the space.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just off the Montour Trail path is Montour Run, a shallow but fast moving waterway which I found my way down to by following one of those desire paths. By NYC standards this would be wilderness, but by what I’m beginning to understand the Pennsylvania standard is, it’s still pretty urban. About an hour’s drive in any direction from Pittsburgh and you can be in the deep woods.
A two hour drive from Pittsburgh puts you into the reach of three states where people report having seen Sasquatches in the woods, specifically the “Pennsylvania Bigfoot.”
ChatGPT says: The “Bigfoot of Pennsylvania” – There have been several reported sightings of Bigfoot in the forests and wooded areas surrounding Pittsburgh. While there is no concrete evidence to support the existence of Bigfoot, many people believe that the creature could be a real, undiscovered species of primate.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This whole “nature thing” is new to me, having lived in NYC my whole life. Back home, if you saw an Opossum or a Raccoon roaming about, it was a big deal and you’d mention it to people. Here, I’ve got deer and rabbits and every kind of bird you can imagine showing up in my back yard, and that’s about 5 miles from the “downtown” center of the City.
I got to wondering about what sort of predatory critters there might be roaming about in the rural areas, so I asked ChatGPT what it thought –
There are several predatory fauna species that can be found in the Pittsburgh area, including:
- Coyotes – Coyotes are a type of wild dog that can be found in both urban and rural areas of Pittsburgh. They are primarily nocturnal and feed on small mammals, birds, and carrion.
- Red-tailed hawks – Red-tailed hawks are a common species of bird of prey that can be found throughout the Pittsburgh area. They primarily feed on small mammals and birds.
- Eastern timber rattlesnakes – Eastern timber rattlesnakes are a venomous species of snake that can be found in the forests and wooded areas surrounding Pittsburgh. They primarily feed on small rodents and other small mammals.
- Black bears – Black bears are a larger predatory mammal that can be found in the wooded areas surrounding Pittsburgh. They primarily feed on plants and berries, but will occasionally prey on small mammals.
- Bobcats – Bobcats are a type of wild cat that can be found in the wooded areas surrounding Pittsburgh. They primarily feed on small mammals such as rabbits and rodents.
It’s important to note that while these species are considered predators, they generally do not pose a significant threat to humans unless they feel threatened or cornered. It’s important to practice caution when encountering wildlife and to follow local guidelines for wildlife safety.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve actually spotted a few caves carved out of the hillsides by water action, and given the “folded mountain” and “ridge and valley” topography, it would be unlikely that hydrological action hadn’t actively carved into the rock over the hundreds of millions of years that these sedimentary deposits and mountains have existed. These landforms are older than vertebrates, after all. Caves. That’s another one for my summer playlist.
VOX Automata says: There are several publicly accessible caves and caverns located in the Pittsburgh area. Here are a few examples:
- Laurel Caverns – Located about an hour south of Pittsburgh in Farmington, PA, Laurel Caverns is a popular destination for cave tours and exploration. Visitors can explore the underground chambers and passageways of the cave system, which features beautiful rock formations and unique geological features.
- Cucumber Falls Cave – Located in Ohiopyle State Park, about an hour southeast of Pittsburgh, the Cucumber Falls Cave is a small, narrow cave that is open to the public. Visitors can climb down into the cave and explore the interior, but should exercise caution and bring a flashlight.
- McDowell Quarry Cave – Located in McKees Rocks, just outside of Pittsburgh, the McDowell Quarry Cave is a popular destination for spelunkers and cave enthusiasts. The cave system is a series of interconnected passages and chambers, and requires specialized equipment and training to explore safely.
- Indian Echo Caverns – Located about three hours east of Pittsburgh in Hummelstown, PA, Indian Echo Caverns is a beautiful limestone cave system that is open to the public for guided tours. The cave features underground lakes, waterfalls, and unique rock formations.
It’s important to note that exploring caves can be dangerous, and visitors should exercise caution and follow all posted guidelines and safety recommendations.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A final shot of the Enlow Tunnel, and it was time to scuttle back to the Mobile Oppression Platform. One disturbing bit of Pittsburgh history that I knew about, long before coming here, involved the so called “Pittsburgh incident of 1968” and the more recent “Monroeville incident of 1978.” Both of these occurrences were hushed up, but a local filmmaker’s fictionalizations got the word out.
You never know when that sort of thing is going to occur again, around these parts. Third time’s the charm, huh?
Back next week with something different, at your Newtown Pentacle.
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Last steps
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s a Caterpillar 980c Wheel Loader, which is a piece of construction equipment that was manufactured sometime between 1987 and 1994. It weighs 66,877 pounds and is powered by a 322 horsepower engine. Behind it is the Panhandle Bridge, and there’s also a concrete company down here which has docks on the Monongahela River, here in Pittsburgh.
The Panhandle Bridge carries the T light rail service over the “Mon.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For the last month, whenever I’ve managed to conjure up the time to do so – and the weather has permitted it – a humble narrator has been working on developing a geospatial awareness of this place in the space twixt the ears and behind the eyes. Truth be told, I’m still working on the basics – east or west and so on. Learning the lay of the land.
That’s the T emerging from the Panhandle Bridge, on the south side of the river, heading towards a stop at Station Square.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Since I was heading there myself, to board the T and head back to HQ, I decided to follow the elevated trackway on foot. Places like this are usually “my kind of thing.” A couple of teen aged kids were smoking the devils cabbage nearby, and they seemed to be on a date. A few people were walking dogs, and the occasional jogger or bike rider would flash by. As a rule, the bike people seem to wear “the outfit” (helmet, silky shirt, stretchy shorts, special bicycle shoes). Lots of vehicle traffic was moving around, but this was about 5 in the afternoon, so…
I began heading towards the end of my day’s movement.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One cut through a massive for pay parking lot, found directly across the street from the light rail station, which charged $9 for all day. Given that this light rail is the start of Pittsburgh’s free zone for the T, that’s a fairly good deal. There’s parts of the area which are straight up urban, with apartment houses and all that. Saying that, Pittsburgh has a tremendous suburban and semi rural population who live in towns and boroughs which are car based. The accommodation, thereby, to get people to use mass transit rather than drive to the center, is a park and ride setup, with large relatively affordable parking facilities like this one. So far, I have not ridden the bus, but I also moved fairly close to the T’s Red Line.
The region’s bus system is fairly sprawling, and reaches far out into the surrounding counties. My understanding of that system is that you buy a parking permit for the bus operation’s park and ride lots and then head into town from whatever exurb you live in. A friend of mine suggested that the reason most of the area’s centers are spaced about 50 miles from each other is that 50 miles is about how far you could get on a horse in a single day.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned the other day, one of my particular tasks at the moment is figuring out how to shoot Pittsburgh. Unlike NYC, with its environmental devastation and utter lack of vegetative life, there’s all sorts of forestry happening everywhere here. Getting a “clean shot” of something is fairly impossible without branches or brush intruding on the shot, so I’ve been forced into including the stuff in the composition.
Don’t get me wrong, Pittsburgh is an environmental nightmare when you get down to it – heavy industry, a permissive regulatory system, historical footprints, all that. It’s just very, very well planted with self seeding trees and shrubs.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s East Carson Street pictured above, where the T comes back to ground at the Station Square stop. East of this spot is a neighborhood called the South Side Flats, which has a disturbingly heterogeneous collection of buildings and what I’m told is a thriving nightlife scene. To the West you’ll find the Station Square development area and eventually the Fort Pitt bridge, where this week’s posts began.
Next week – more, now than ever – at this, your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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Scuttling, always scuttling
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After returning to the ground – Pennsyl-Firma, as it were – in a post facto interval experienced after walking over Pittsburgh’s Fort Pitt Bridge, one headed down for a rail to trail path which would place me in a convenient spot as far as boarding the T light rail service which would in turn take me back to HQ.
Along the way, I spotted the tug Vernon M. Weiland towing a chemical barge into the Monongahela River.
According to the experts at tugboatinformation.com, this boat was laid down in 1981 down in Arkansas and has been doing its duty in the Pittsburgh area since 2016. It’s owned by an outfit called Ohio River Salvage.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I finally got to take a picture of a train, which has been something of a frustrating pursuit for me since moving to Pittsburgh despite the density of the industry here. Getting a photo of this sort of subject is a whole lot like going fishing. You pick a spot and wait. Eventually a train will come, or not. I know people who pack a lunch and bring a folding chair, and who will will sit there waiting for a train set for long intervals. This is completely the opposite of my entire “thing.”
I’m always moving, no matter what. If there’s a thing to see and it ain’t there when I’m passing by, then I missed it. I don’t like lingering about in any one spot for too long, as it makes me a target. Back in Queens, I learned to anticipate when LIRR or New York & Atlantic would likely be actively doing stuff. I haven’t developed that sort of sense here yet, and I keep on arriving at places just after a train has passed though or I’m leaving the spot as one arrives.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Unsurprisingly, due to homeland security and commercial schedule factors, the freight people don’t exactly publish a schedule of when they’re coming through. Unlike tugboats and other maritime operations, there doesn’t seem to be a site with a live feed of who’s who and where they are. What that means is that either I start carrying a folding chair around with me in the cargo section of the Mobile Oppression Platform and just accept that I’ll have to sit down like the foamers and the train spotters, or that I’ll need to just accept that it’s catch as catch can.
I don’t imagine that this particular news story filtered back to NYC, but there was just a major derailment and chemical spill situation about 50 miles west of Pittsburgh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That gray line on the otherwise yellow steel of the Fort Pitt Bridge is the pedestrian pathway that I walked over, which was described in two posts this week – Part 1, and Part 2.
One is beginning to develop an understanding of how to shoot Pittsburgh. There’s a lot of vegetation here, albeit it’s winter time bare sticks at the moment. It’s a very difficult proposition finding a clean view without some sort of kitchie booger crawling in from the sides, so I’ve instead just started incorporating the stuff in the composition. Also, as it’s almost always cloudy here, I’ve taken a few proactive steps in the direction of exposing for that as well. When it’s a bit warmer, I’m planning on doing several get up early sessions to see what dawn looks like.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So far, none of the nightmare scenarios predicted by my NYC friends have come true. I haven’t found myself alone in a circle of pickup trucks with armed rednecks swirling about while loading their shotguns. Neither have I been buried in vertical yards of snow. They didn’t “just shoot me” when I was witnessed getting out of a car with New York plates. Give me time, as I’m sure I’ll piss somebody off, but so far the Pittsburgh people seem unusually nice and friendly. The local junkies would definitely boil you down for elements to pay for a fix, but they’d feel really bad about it afterwards. This could all change today, of course.
At any rate, I haven’t felt menaced or anything while roaming around in the area. One thing they’re really worried about in these parts are “Pedos” or pedophiles. Just the other day I was taking a photo of the Birmingham Bridge on the South Side of the Monongahela River, in a park, and I was approached by a young woman inquiring if I was taking pictures of her baby who was sleeping in a carriage. I didn’t want to explain to her that cameras can only take pictures of things they’re pointed at, so instead I bored her to death talking about the history of the bridge, and why I was photographing it. I continued on to a great recipe for soup that I had recently come across and… that’s how you handle a “Karen” in the wild.
What is it with the impulse people have to police public spaces and try to control other people’s behavior?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The ‘pedo’ thing is weird though. Back in NYC, if somebody is giving you Karen crap on the street, it’s generally accusations of some sort of criminality. I was once asked “are you a terrorist” when I was taking a photo of the Queensboro Bridge on the Manhattan side. I found the question hilarious in and of itself, and briefly considered whether or not a terrorist would say “yes,” and if Al Qaeda issued business cards to its members. You want to know something about a group of people – find out what they’re scared of. Fear is far more revelatory than aspiration.
Back tomorrow with more, at your Newtown Pentacle.
“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.
riding the T
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On December 23rd, one awoke to the horror of not having any sort of gift to present on Christmas morning to Our Lady of the Pentacle. Not wanting to disappoint, nor to drive, one climbed up the hill in Dormont to the T streetcar line and headed into Downtown Pittsburgh to visit a holiday market that gets set up in a ritual center for the downtown area called “Market Square.”
As is my habit, I debarked the transit line a couple of blocks early and took a meandering scuttle to my destination. That skyscraper rising in the shot above is the U.S. Steel tower, and is home to that corporate entity.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pittsburgh is experiencing the same phenomena that other American cities are in this age of hybrid and remote work. The streets are fairly deserted without the hustle or the bustle, and large numbers of the shops which would service the gastrointestinal or other needs of the office workers have gone out of business. Most of the people you see wandering around are living rough, and display a number of behavioral issues which cause one’s caution to rise.
Personally, having lived in NYC my whole life, I don’t feel at all threatened by this population but there you go. Regardless, shields up, and be aware of what’s happening around you. My big worry right now is that since I’m unfamiliar with the local culture, I won’t see it coming.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After purchasing a whimsical hat for Our Lady, one made his way over to the T to return back to Dormont, which is about 5 or so miles away from Downtown. There’s a few different lines on the T, all of which flow through downtown in a tunnel that originally carried freight trains under the city during the Steel City era.
I guess I waited about 15-20 minutes for my ride. Pictured above is a “Blue Line” light rail unit approaching the Gateway Center stop.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As has continually been the case in this area, I was marveling at the lack of graffiti and cast off garbage and litter. We are absolute slobs in NYC. Admittedly, Pittsburgh makes it a lot easier than NYC to be responsible – there’s litter baskets everywhere, ones which even have separate receptacles for cigarette butts. I’ve seen a bit of graffiti tagging here and there, but comparatively nothing when contrasted with Brooklyn or Queens.
The “Broken Windows” theory of Bill Bratton is thoroughly debauched in the eyes of most in NYC these days, but there’s a corrosive effect in terms of civil order when the citizenry sees litter and graffiti everywhere. It makes you not care, since everything is shitty, and why should you go out of your way when nobody else does? Pittsburgh maintains itself much better, and thereby the citizenry seems to “make an effort.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My “Red Line” T finally arrived, and I soon boarded it. As mentioned previously, the way things work here is that transit is free in the city center, and you pay your fare when leaving the train on your way out of Pittsburgh. On the way in, you pay when you board.
Both buses and T train sets use a protected corridor called a “Bus Way” for part of their journey. The bus ways are also used by other municipal vehicles like Police, Public Works, and Ambulances. You encounter signage forbidding private vehicles from usage of these corridors at various intersections through the City.
Compared to the bloated nightmare which is New York City’s governmental system, Pittsburgh gets so much more “bang for the buck” with literally 1/10th the financial resources available to the agencies of NYC.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The T dropped me off back in Dormont, with Our Lady of the Pentacle’s whimsical Christmas hat stowed securely in my camera bag.
It was time for us to hunker down for the coming cold snap. By the time Christmas Eve rolled around the next day, atmospheric temperatures had dropped down to literally zero and with the wind chill factored in it was negative 20. We had prepared for this, and decided to just spend a couple of days at home unpacking and making the house a home.
More tomorrow, from Western Pennsylvania, at your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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“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.
north by northeast
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After doing a sunrise tripod session (described yesterday) with the camera at the West End Overlook park on the 21st of December, a humble narrator pointed the nose of the automobile east after having crossed the Monongahela River to the southern side of the Golden Triangle. A number of rail lines snake through here, and there’s a couple of small rail yards as well.
I was mainly trawling about trying to develop an idea of the surrounding area, and looking for spots to return to when light and atmosphere would combine and align to get a proper photo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the things I’ve been doing, while randomly driving around Pittsburgh, is to motor up the prominences and see if there’s any sort of point of view I can find without trespassing. I guess that I was about 15 or 20 miles back on the Monongahela from the Downtown area where the three rivers converge.
I’m being extremely careful about the trespassing thing. Pennsylvania is an open carry state, and embraces “Castle Doctrine” which essentially makes it legal for somebody to start blasting away if they feel “threatened” while on their own property. There are gun shops in the shopping malls here. It’s probably a big part of why everybody is so polite in this part of the country.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the places I wanted to take a look at is Braddock, which is around ten miles east of Downtown. Beyond making a mental note to drive Forgotten-NY’s Kevin Walsh here if he ever visits, I was in absolute jaw dropping awe the entire time I was there.
Braddock is home to United States Steel’s Mon Valley Works, a still active steel mill which incorporates the 1875 Edgar Thomson works into its operation. Never in my life have I seen a working steel mill.
Wow. Yes, I will be back.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Seeking some sort of prominence from which I could get a view of the enormity of the Mon Valley Works, I crossed the Monongahela and looked around but couldn’t find a spot where I was certain it was “kosher” for me to shoot from. That’s something to figure out for the future, thought a humble narrator, and I decided that it would be a good idea to head back home and have lunch.
The pathway back to Dormont carried me through McKeesport, which is the second largest urban area in Allegheny County, after Pittsburgh. Truth be told, I’m fuzzy on where Pittsburgh ends and McKeesport begins, but all of that will sort itself out in the fullness of time.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just as I was thinking to myself “hey, I wonder if this rail bridge is active” a CSX freight train appeared and started transiting over it.
Forgive my ignorance here, as I like taking pictures of trains but I’m not a “train guy.” It seems that this bridge is the beginning of the “Pittsburgh subdivision” for CSX.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The water which the bridge spans is apparently the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny Rivers. It’s down the block from the municipal center of McKeesport, where the politicians and the Cops live along with their friends in the Fire Department. There was a little park set up under the bridges, which led to a couple of waterfront trails. Again, noted for spring and summertime exploration.
More tomorrow from Western Pennsylvania, at your Newtown Pentacle.
“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.
The Newtown Pentacle 