Posts Tagged ‘McDonald’
There will be rust
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As far as I’ve been able to discern, the flowing water in todays post is a waterbody called Robinson Run. Water is generally not witnessed as displaying an autumnal color scheme of orange, so it caught my eye and caused me to wave the camera around a bit at it during a constitutional walk along the Montour Trail.
I’ve got a couple of theories, regarding the coloration. One is that there might be orange clay or soil upstream that is being carried in the flow. The other involves a giant mound of slag that’s found here, in which case the oranges are rust from oxidant processes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I noticed the color when I was walking over the rail bridge at the start of my scuttle. As soon as I did, a resolve to ‘get down there’ suddenly materialized in the meat noodles found behind the eyes and between the ears.
After having walked a couple of miles one way and then back again, that’s what I set about doing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Now, having lived in NYC my entire life, I should mention that I process stepping onto a suburban lawn as being ‘in the woods.’ Leaving the pathway and crashing through thorns and brambles like this is definitely outside of my comfort area. Give me a sewer plant and pavement, any day.
Saying that, I moved in a slow and deliberate fashion, finding a pathway through the mounds of deer poop which acted as guide posts for me to get to the shoreline.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I felt compelled to set up the tripod and get a few long exposure shots of the spot. Some sort of friggin thing stuck its head out of a hole to keep an eye on me. It looked like a giant mutated rat, but my Facebook friends assure me it was merely a woodchuck. I also saw a Chipmunk which I processed as ‘small pretty rat’ or ‘undersized Squirrel.’
There’s a reason our ancestors paved over everything, Y’know.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So odd. Even Newtown Creek never went orange on me. It was mainly ochres, greens, sometimes jet black.
At any rate, a humble narrator had burned out about five miles of walking over hill and dale, which was my exercise goal for the day. It was time to scuttle back to the parked Mobile Oppression Platform and head back to HQ.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A schedule of exercise is part of the daily regime these days for me. I’ve put on weight, which is ruinous, and a humble narrator needs to get back down to his ‘fighting weight.’ Injuries, lockdowns, and laziness have all factored into this situation, but suffice to say that the best curative for this involves long walks and physical exertions. Also, no snacks.
Back tomorrow with something very 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.
Old McDonald
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Now that the weather has turned to Spring here in Western Pennsylvania, one has resumed his long scuttles. I’ve had a few fantastic walks in the downtown area where the three rivers convergence occurs, but as I’ve told anyone who will listen – the network of ‘rail to trails’ public spaces here in Pittsburgh are absolutely fantastic.
I drove the Mobile Oppression Platform (the Toyota) from HQ to a town about 30 minutes away from HQ called McDonald. I was heading for the convergence of two former railroad right of way’s which have been converted over to trails – the Panhandle and Montour.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Rail bridges are incorporated into this rail to trail network, which offers one such as myself the rare opportunity to gain some altitude in an otherwise wooded and somewhat natural environment. When I say ‘somewhat,’ it’s because this entire area is post industrial. This used to be “oil country” back in the early days of the petroleum industry, and the engineers who worked for the rail companies that served the various industries in Pittsburgh did things in an expeditious fashion ‘back in the day.’ If there was a hill or a mountain in the way of your tracks, you’d blow them up with dynamite and use the rubble to fill in the next valley. The term ‘terraforming’ kind of applies.
The McDonald oil field was one of the largest and steadiest producers of petroleum in the United States during the early days of the oil industry, and operated right up until the 1960’s. Supposedly, there’s still productive well heads nearby. The market for 19th and early 20th century crude oil were refineries in the big cities along the Atlantic Coast and the Great Lakes, and it was shipped by various rail entities until the pipeline shipping method became more common. When the pipelines came along, the rail people began to go bankrupt. One of the pipelines leading eastwards from here went to Queens in NYC, where it fed the Standard Oil (later Mobil) refineries along – you guessed it – that fabulous ribbon of neglect called the Newtown Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had probably walked a couple of miles beyond the rail bridge on the trail, whereupon an enormous and quite modern truss bridge set upon concrete piers was encountered. Apparently, the Pennsylvania Turnpike runs on the road above, and it’s heading towards the airport here in Pittsburgh. I wasn’t alone at all on this walk. People were riding bikes and jogging, and there were all sorts of very happy looking dogs being walked on the trail as well. Hawks and other predatory birds were twisting around up in the sky looking for luncheon, and all sorts of mammalian critters were observed skittering about.
What made this walk really interesting will be discussed in tomorrow’s post, so be sure to come back to Newtown Pentacle if you want to find out ‘sup.
“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 