Posts Tagged ‘Great Allegheny Passage’
Gap Trail: Homestead to South Side, part 2
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured above is a bend in the Monongahela River, found just north west of Homestead during a recent walk, here in the Pittsburgh ‘zone.’ That span in the distance is the Glenwood Bridge, a vehicle bridge which carries Route 885 between the neighborhoods of Homestead/Hays and Squirrel Hill.
The vegetation along the Great Allegheny Passage rail trail thinned out just a bit here, allowing me a chance to wave the camera around.
I had a distinct sensation of being watched, but couldn’t discern where my observer might be. Figured it was probably a security camera or something.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Norfolk Southern’s #7002 was just sitting there, all inert. Luckily, a window in the verge presented, which allowed for a somewhat clean shot. As mentioned yesterday, this particular scuttle didn’t get terribly interesting for me until the very end, which you’ll see in a couple of days.
A certain amount of my concentration was focused on the actual action of walking. Despite it having been a year since the ankle situation started, I’m still rebuilding the atrophied musculature. You don’t really think about walking, instead you just ‘do it,’ like breathing. When you’re forced to relearn the procedure, it makes one quite aware of how you ‘carry yourself.’
I’ve noticed that my left foot tends to turn outwards by 10-20 degrees during strides, a left over from the ‘protecting the ankle’ period, and I’m trying to consciously fix the gait issue while I’m walking…
…and taking pictures… while listening to Christopher Lee’s unabridged performance of ‘Dracula.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the 1894 vintage Beck’s Run Pumphouse, if you’re curious. A bit of signage adorns the fence – here’s a zoom in on it, if you want the official story from PGH2O – Pittsburgh’s version of the NYC DEP – which handles sanitary and drinking water for the majority of the area.
A bend in the river, this is where the Monongahela begins moving in a mostly western direction towards its admixture point with the Allegheny River, where the two waterbodies form into the headwaters of the Ohio River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An office complex of some kind faces out onto the trail. I’m led to believe that there’s ‘Gub’mint’ work happening therein, labors of the sort that one does not pry into. Apparently, there’s a fairly significant intelligence community presence in Pittsburgh. The Rand Corporation is based in Oakland, near the Universities, for instance. Naval Intelligence also has offices in the city, or so I’m told. There’s also Department of Energy facilities nearby, one of two which had ‘DOGE’ land on them.
I continued on. This part of the path was familiar to me, having walked it previously sometime in the last three years.
Still kind of boring, but that feeling of being watched just continued.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The King Conan Towboat passed by, on the Monongahela River, handling barges of minerals.
Things get a lot more interesting for one such as myself the closer to the center of things you get. More activity, infrastructure, etc. Points of interest.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s when I noticed where that feeling of being watched came from.
I wanted to scoop that kitten up and ‘put it in my pocket,’ but I’ve got enough problems dealing with Moe the Dog to even think about adding anything else to my list of ‘have-to’s.’.
Back tomorrow.
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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.
Gap Trail: Homestead to South Side, part 1
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Great Allegheny Passage rail trail is a bike and pedestrian path which connects Pittsburgh to Washington D.C. via the right of way of defunct railroads. It begins at Pittsburgh’s Point State Park and proceeds to Cumberland in Maryland, and then to Washington D.C. following more or less the path of the Potomac River. I’ve been walking the Pittsburgh side of it in sections, and this scuttle started in Homestead.
The enormous brick chimneys are a historic leave behind from the largest steel factory on earth, which was once found here. Today, squatting in the footprint of the mill is a gargantuan shopping center called ‘The Waterfront.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was all huffed up for this one, but it ended up being a fairly boring walk – to be honest – until its very end.
Heavy vegetation obscured many of the wonders the path moves past, and it was also a quite warm and humid afternoon. I had a rideshare drop me off in the parking lot of a Costco, plugged my headphones into the ear holes, and then got down to scuttling about.
This time around, it was an unabridged audio play of Christopher Lee performing Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula.’ Lee performs all of the voice parts himself, including Lucy and Mina, which was fascinating.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The first thing encountered on the trail is a water park called ‘Sand Castle.’ It was closed, as this was a weekday and the kids are back in school. This is good, as I was able to take photos of the place without children present so nobody accused me of being a pervert or a pedophile.
It’s amazing how many people see a ‘professional’ camera and think ‘he must be taking perv pics of kids’ with that. Odds are it’s not a stranger who’s going to abuse your kids, folks, it’s your weird uncle. Just saying.
As a note: Pervs and the ‘upskirt crowd’ generally use their phones for such pursuits, and not a very obvious DSLR with a huge zoom lens on it that draws attention. In recent years, I’ve actually tried to stick out and be incredibly obvious when out photographing. I used to wear a reflective worker’s vest around the Creek, particularly at night. A blaze orange ball cap has become part of my kit in recent years, as an example.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned, I wasn’t terribly happy with my decision to walk this section, and there’s a couple of reasons why I haven’t done so in the past.
The path follows the Monongahela River, and I’ve scuttled along the opposite shoreline’s ’Duck Hollow Trail’ previously. Just to the southeast is another section of the GAP trail which I find fantastic – nearby the community of Duquesne.
This section of the Gap trail passes by Hays Woods, a natural preserve and park. What the first two links show is a massive amount of infrastructure and rail activity, and what this section offers is basically a walk in a shit section of the woods. Bah!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Regardless, I’m a completist. Had to scratch this section off my list.
At least I had Dracula.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Speaking as a former New Yorker, the subject of public bathrooms always annoys me. Bringing it up with ‘officialdom’ back home usually resulted in representatives of the City of New York saying they’d have to spend multiple millions in order to build any kind of public accommodation, and thereby it never builds lavatories. Then they bring up security, junkies, and the Cops to further why ‘they can’t.’ Ultimately, it’s affordable housing and bike lanes that will solve the problem, just as they will all the other things.
It positively galls me that little Pittsburgh has solved this most basic problem of human existence with low cost ‘Porta Potty’ leases. These things are everywhere. Even here on a trail in the middle of nowhere. They even set out a disabled style one ready for wheelchair people.
Grrr.
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.
Sometimes, it’s just odd out there
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On a recent afternoon, your humble narrator just threw his hands up in frustration and announced to Our Lady of the Pentacle that he was going out for a walk. She recognized the look in my eyes, that of a wild beast yearning for freedom, and said ‘have a good time.’
One soon found himself at ‘The T’ light rail’s First Avenue Station, where the Panhandle Bridge spans the Monongahela River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This wasn’t going to be a long walk, at all. It was hot as heck, and I had a lot on my mind. Go to the bar and suck down a few beers sort of thoughts.
I’ve had to pick and choose my battles since returning from NYC, as the weather has been absolutely horrific all month. High heat and humidity, lots and lots of rain, and a set of competing priorities. As described yesterday, I’m currently enjoying a spate of medical tests designed to gauge and document my overall robustness and spot trends.
I don’t like being touched by strangers, let alone stripping down to my skivvies in their presence and letting them irradiate me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As I’ve mentioned in the past, one of my superpowers is the ability to containerize negative emotions while situational stressors are at work, and then allow the stored up psychic pressure to bleed off at a more opportune time. Essentially, I have a ‘rage bladder,’ and every now and then one needs to let off some steam and bleed it out.
I was by myself, of course. God’s lonely man.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My pathway to the beer taps involved a short walk of less than two miles. This wasn’t an exercise day, and I convinced myself that the effort would be worth it if a few train shots were captured. I know that I mention drinking a lot, but I don’t actually drink all that much. A few beers, maybe once every couple of weeks, these days.
Back in Astoria, my crew of knuckleheads and I had a standing Friday night ‘after work’ meetup at ‘the local,’ but again – a couple/three pints of beer consumed over multiple hours is my deal. I sip, rather than chug.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Monongahela River and the Smithfield Street Bridge came into view, and one pointed his toes in the required direction. This is part of the same trail pictured above, incidentally.
That’s when I saw it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A single, abandoned, shoe. Can it be?
Has the Queens Cobbler followed me to the Paris of Appalachia?
Back next week with maximum Choo-Choo.
“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.
Ambulans mortem
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator was out for an early walk, on a particular section of Pittsburgh’s Great Allegheny Passage trail, found in the Homestead and Munhall areas. After marching to the Whitaker Flyover bridge, which spans a grouping of rail tracks parallel to the trail, I was rewarded with a less than sudden appearance of a Norfolk Southern train set.
‘Less than sudden’ means that they were changing crews about a half mile away, and that I stood there for around a half hour waiting for the thing to move into position for the shot above. Sheesh!
The flyover bridge is a somewhat recent addition to this milieu, I’m told, and was installed along with another trail connector bridge found a couple of miles away in Duquesne, to ensure continuity for the GAP trail and to avoid having the citizenry using the trail crossing the very active tracks down below. I’ve learned this from signage.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My schedule for the day was cramped, and I had allocated just a few hours for the outing. Time was short and I was glad of the fact that the crew change finished up and the train started moving. It passed under the bridge I was standing on, and started heading roughly westwards. I altered my perspective, and got blasted with engine exhaust.
Me? After gathering these shots, I changed lenses back over to the big 24-240mm zoom.
The bridge sports a chain link fence, which negates usage of that larger lens. Instead, I had been using a ‘nifty fifty’ at this point, as the size of that lens easily fits into the diamond pattern of standard chain link.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A shlep still stood in front of me, and I had to scuttle back to where the car was parked a couple of miles distant to get on with the rest of my appointed rounds for the day. I had also left my water bottle in the car, and was looking forward to having a good long suckle from its icy content.
Back tomorrow, with something just a little different.
“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.
Mors ac dissolutio
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was a warm summer morning which greeted a humble narrator, one recent day, and it saw me revisiting a now familiar section of Pittsburgh’s Great Allegheny Passage Trail. The turnaround point this morning’s efforts would be the Whitaker Flyover rail bridge, a location which has often proved fruitful in terms of there being abundances of locomotive traffic observable in past outings. Well, I also like it, at least.
This was a short walk, and I enjoyed all three hours of it despite it being a very ‘summery’ day, even as early as 11:00 a.m. or so. Humid, shvitzy, strong sun – it was that sort of morning. Feh. The afternoon was solidly booked up with mundane pursuits, so my morning hours were precious.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s a Norfolk Southern train in the shot above, heading through Munhall, and then continuing on its way through Homestead in the direction of downtown Pittsburgh. It was pretty far away, this train, but that’s where that new lens I’ve been using comes in handy.
I soon broke away from the ‘official’ trail for a bit, and walked along the rail access road, hoping for a shot to materialize before me. A couple caught my eye, but nothing truly novel or obscene appeared.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For instance, that shot above is one which I seem compelled to capture every time I’m here, depicting the Rankin Bridge overflying a set of four rail tracks. The locomotive hardware in the shot above was static and being stored in between missions.
Tomorrow – more ‘Choo Choo.’
“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 