Posts Tagged ‘Allegheny River’
Just scuttling, me
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A long walk was underway, and a humble narrator was enjoying the day. The weather was on my side, and so was the light. As you’ll see next week, things were about to get super interesting for one such as myself to marvel at – trains, tugs, all sorts of interesting things crossed my path.
One walked from the Penn Station ‘T’ light rail stop over to the Allegheny River and crossed the waterway on one of the ‘Three Sisters’ bridges, specifically the Roberto Clemente bridge.
I think that’s the Rachel Carson bridge pictured above, which is named for the Pittsburgh author who wrote the seminal environmentalist text ‘Silent Spring.’ I might be wrong, though, as the three bridges are fairly identical.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My walking path continued along behind the sportsball stadiums on Pittsburgh’s north side, where I indulged myself by shooting some of the many on and off ramps which carry highway traffic through this section of the city.
I’ve often mentioned how attracted to the parabolic arcs and clean linear nature of such infrastructure I am, despite its somewhat conflicting purpose. It’s likely that I-279 is up there, but who knows? There’s an absolute web of these highways and byways that converge around the stadiums.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The first lucky ‘gotcha’ that I encountered on what ended up being an extremely lucky afternoon was a T light rail unit rising up out of its ‘subway’ tunnel, and onto the elevated tracks that carry the service towards its terminal stop. My plan was to pass all that by and walk over to the West End Bridge over the Ohio River, head east, and then follow the shoreline path back to where I’d encounter the T again at a different station.
Back next week with some of the cool stuff I encountered along the way at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
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Up, over, & pffffft
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the 31st street bridge pictured above, which I walked across the Allegheny River upon. As mentioned several times this week, this walk was a bit of a challenge for me, due to a long period of inactivity. As to why I was inactive for so long, that’s not a terribly interesting story to tell but let’s just say that I had things which needed tending to at home. The situation I was thereby dealing with involved a stiffened set of muscles and tendons in both the roadway interface and my lower back. It was also the first really warm day that I’d been out and about, and it was quite humid so I was sweating profusely. Put all that together and ‘no bueno.’
Saying all that, I’m quite used to having to double down on a walk and ease myself back into a groove after ‘hitting a wall,’ but my physical reserves to continue on were drying up with each step forward. Didn’t help that I was absolutely cooking in direct sunlight. Yeah, it was cloudy, but those were clouds of literal humidity hanging in the air.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At the right side of the shot above, looking southwesterly along the Allegheny River, right at the horizon level – that’s Acrisure Stadium, which the Steelers operate out of, and that’s where I started this walk. Just under six miles is how far I got, basically.
Right after capturing this shot, I crashed out. ‘Ran out of gas’ as it were. Saying that, I was at the middle of a bridge, so I had to stagger on to the other side. My original plan involved walking all the way back downtown and crossing another bridge over the Monongahela River to get back to the light rail, but that all had to be scrapped.
A significant part of ‘adulthood,’ as I define it, is to know when you’re licked. The only thing on my mind at this particular moment was to find a shady spot where I could sit down and rehydrate.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The bridge was finally crossed and upon regaining the street grid, I summoned a Lyft rideshare to carry me to a destination which my intentions of a ten to twelve mile walk were meant to incorporate as a reward for the effort. ‘Man, oh man, I’m getting old’ is what I was thinking.
Back tomorrow.
“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.
Herr’s Island soliloquy
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The atmosphere had warmed up considerably since the start of this particular walk that a humble narrator had initiated. It was quite humid, and after a long interval of inactivity, this scuttle was grinding me down physically. I followed the Three Rivers Heritage Trail along the Allegheny River and soon found myself crossing a former rail bridge onto ‘Herr’s Island.’
A former stockyard dedicated to the slaughter and dismemberment of animals for the grocery trade, this landform has been redeveloped and largely gentrified with row homes and an office park. Luckily, there’s a bar/restaurant on the island where I was able to purchase a glass of orange juice and also received a free glass of water with my purchase. I sat my stinking pre-corpse down for a few minutes, and allowed a few of the knots in my lower back to uncoil while quaffing the iced liquids. I also took advantage of their lavatory, which was clean and welcoming. I was in a full sweat, and growing increasingly sore.
A voice in the back of my head kept on saying ‘you’re too warm, you need to get out of the sun.’ A louder internal voice said ‘Soldier on.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’d soon be walking over that bridge pictured above, which is called the 31st street bridge. It was my pre-decided ‘turnaround’ point, about four and change miles from where I had debarked the T light rail, nearby the sportsball stadiums. I had one goal to hit though, which was to see what the north eastern extant of this island looked like. On, did I scuttle.
When I was walking the riverfront trail in Millvale a few weeks back, my curiosity was stoked about this section of Herr’s Island. Turns out that there are tennis and pickleball courts on this side of the island, and an office park which houses several governmental and private entities.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There was a section where you could get down to the water, but I didn’t head down those steps. There was a young woman sunbathing down there, and I can’t imagine how creepy it would have seemed if some sweaty and limping old homunculus with a camera just appeared and started cracking out photos. The human infestation is everywhere, and I always have to worry about mobs of peasants with pitchforks.
Now, regarding the physical state that I soon found myself in…
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.
No scuttle, no peace
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured above is an Allegheny Valley Railroad train set negotiating itself over the Fort Wayne railroad bridge, which spans the Allegheny River and the train is heading towards Downtown Pittsburgh. This bridge, and the particular direction that the AVRR train is heading, lead to a set of tracks in the center of the city which Amtrak and Norfolk Southern also use to head eastwards.
As mentioned a few times in this story, this scuttle was playing out on a warm day, and a humble narrator had spent the couple of weeks prior sitting on his butt at home. I was not enjoying the humidity or warmth as I haven’t fully acclimated away from winter yet, and in my defense it was forty degrees not two days before these shots were gathered. I was thereby in a full sweat, and every step was increasingly an act of will even though the first mile of my intentions had barely been expressed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One was scuttling along the section of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail which is found on the north shore of the Allegheny River. It’s not exactly a demanding route, given that it’s graded and paved, but after my long somnolent period – agony. My back hurt, and so did my butt. I was sweating profusely and not feeling so great. The drill is to lean into it, tough it out, and get past thoughts of discomfort though. You can sit and whine about it at home later, I told myself. It’s not like you have a choice about exercise, it’s a requirement.
While pedantically negotiating with my lizard brain, I couldn’t help but notice a little blue house which seemed to be the sole survivor of a lost civilization, nearby the former Heinz Factory.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The trail is well wooded, and there are long intervals during which you’re marching through a tunnel of trees and vegetation. That’s nice.
Last time that I scuttled through here during the early winter, there were dozens of homeless encampments observed along the path – tents and lean to’s surrounded by middens of garbage. I’ve heard that the gendarmes were sent in to clear the area of such habitations, and the effort seems to have been successful at accomplishing its stated goal. I do wonder where all the street people have moved on to, though.
Right about when I was shooting the photo above at a clearing in the wall of vegetation, of a tug and barge doing some sort of construction duty with a ‘Dick’s Sporting Goods’ advertising blimp overhead, that’s when I really started craving some sort of hydration. I seldom carry a water bottle with me, and my NYC born habit always involves the statement that ‘I’d stop at a bodega somewhere and grab a Gatorade or something.’
The problem with Pittsburgh, as I’ve discovered, is they ain’t got no bodegas out here. It’s ‘car country’ and the best you’re going to do is find a gas station with a convenience store attached to it or happen across some random 711 or McDonald’s, but those are far and few between.
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.
River, & Towboat, Allegheny
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator was at the start of one of his long constitutional scuttles recently, here in Pittsburgh, and my route for the day involved walking on the Allegheny River’s shoreline and the Three Rivers Heritage Trail. That’s the Fort Duquesne Bridge pictured above.
The light was fairly extraordinary, with the atmospherics involving temperatures of about 75 degrees (and rising), coupled with a fairly high dew point and concurrent level of humidity. A strong storm was brewing to the west, but at this moment in time it was Ohio which was bedeviled by it and Pittsburgh wasn’t going to get walloped by it anytime before midnight.
Speaking of bedeviled, a long interval of inactivity – lasting about two weeks – was being punctured by this walk, and your humble narrator was suffering from stiffened muscles in the back and legs.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Towboat activity on the Ohio and Monongahela Rivers is a common sight, but less so on the Allegheny. A Towboat, named for the river, suddenly appeared navigating towards the confluence of the three rivers and was towing a fuel barge. As mentioned last week, I had decided to constrain my photographic pursuits by bringing a series of fixed focal length prime lenses with me instead of zoom lenses. I affixed my 85mm lens to the camera.
Why?
Intentionality, that’s why. This may sound like wanker talk here, but there’s a different ‘process’ at work in the way that you perceive the environment when you spot something interesting and you have to quickly ‘do the math’ on which lens to use, as opposed to the ability to dial a zoom lens up and down its range. Additionally, the primes are considerably less of a carry than the larger and heavier zooms. As mentioned above, I was feeling stiff and didn’t want to carry a series of three pound glass and metal bricks with me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Towboat Allegheny navigated into the navigational channel under the Fort Duquesne Bridge. I couldn’t find a reliable history for this boat, as there seems to have been several towing vessels with the call sign ‘Allegheny’ launched over the centuries, including a U.S. Navy one.
The Port of Pittsburgh is actually quite an important inland port, as it turns out, a statement which will probably make all my ‘blue water’ sailor friends back in NYC laugh out loud. From here at the ‘Pittsburgh Pool,’ the United States Army Corps of Engineers maintains lock and dam maritime connections which lead to the Great Lakes, the Ohio River, and eventually you can even make it all the way to the Mississippi River.
Who knew?
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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.
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