Posts Tagged ‘Pittsburgh’
Eliza Trailing, part 1
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator had begun his daily scuttling, along a pathway offered by the Eliza Furnace Rail Trail – set into the former ‘right of way’ of the B&O Railroad – which travels along the northern shore of the Monongahela River here in Pittsburgh.
My goal for the day essentially boiled down to getting some exercise, with the hope that something interesting might appear in front of the camera as I was scuttling along. Headphones were in, and I was listening to a playlist of the Diana Ross era of the Supremes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The river facing properties used to house an iron furnace, and a steel mill, both operated by an outfit called ‘Jones and Laughlin’ or simply ‘J&L’ which shuttered back in 1968.
Pittsburgh is still trying to figure out what to do with all the post industrial land in this ‘zone.’ I see announcements of salvation being offered by some out of state real estate developer or investment group in the newspaper periodically, but nobody seems to be turning many shovels of dirt over on the property.
One’s toes were pointing in a northwesterly direction, towards the apogee of the central peninsula of the city. The ultimate goal was to get back to the T Light Rail for a ride back to HQ, but that would be hours away.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Part of the mill’s former campus has been redeveloped, as a note.
There’s a sort of ‘tech incubator’ operation found alongside the Hot Metal Bridge, one which brings in tech company investment and expertise to fund whatever cutting edge stuff that the students at PITT and CMU are dreaming up.
The ‘J & L’ outfit were located on both shores of the river here, and the original built purpose of this bridge was for railroad units that carried molten metals, in ingots, back and forth.
The Hot Metal Bridge, as it’s called in modernity, has been converted over to vehicular and pedestrian/bike usage. Also, the colloquial name of ‘Hot Metal Bridge’ is commonly applied to a LOT of bridges around these parts, but it’s ‘officially’ the name of this one – now.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pittsburgh and its neighbors use a numbering system for their addresses which translates to describing the ‘blocks’ that streets are a part of. If you were calling 911 to report a traffic accident or something, and didn’t know the specific address, you’d say ‘I’m on the 0000 block of Hot Metal Street’ to the operator. It’s the same system that Los Angeles and other cities use, and you’re likely familiar with its language due to having watched the TV show Dragnet. NYC, behind the scenes, uses this sort of language, but it isn’t ‘colloquial’ used by the citizenry back home as it is here. In NYC, it’s “X avenue” between “Y” and “Z” streets that you’d report a location to a 911 operator via.
Neat.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The trail itself has very few official ‘on and off’ opportunities.
You’re kind of ‘locked in’ for long stretches. Every so often, you’ll encounter a ‘desire path’ which indicates places where folks are ‘voting with their feet’ for an entrance or exit.
For those unfamiliar with the terminology, a ‘desire path’ is created by citizenry who seek out the shortest possible route between two points. You’ll notice dirt paths through planted grassy areas which break off from the sidewalk or something. A city planner wanted you to walk ‘that’ way and follow the pavement, but you and a whole lot of other people are going ‘this’ way instead. Over the course of time, and after tens of thousands of footfalls, that ‘desire path’ becomes a compacted and obvious ‘way.’
Desire Paths are one of the things I look for when wandering about. Sometimes they lead to well populated Homeless encampments, other times they lead to wonders. You don’t know till you’ve looked.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The headphones were still solidly in my ears for this walk but I abandoned the musical playlist in favor of spoken word.
I switched to an old favorite on my Lovecraft Audio Books playlist – the 1989 Garrick Hagon performance of ‘The Call of Cthulhu.’ Google this one for a non YouTube version, as it’s seems to be available through streamers like Spotify, and the mp3 file is also available for download from a variety of sources. Good stuff.
Back next week with more – at this – 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.
Shadow of the furnaces
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As established yesterday, your humble narrator used a rideshare cab to get from Dormont in Pittsburgh’s South Hills region to the Greenfield section, which is found on the central peninsula of the city along the northern shoreline of the Monongahela River.
Well… more accurately, Greenfield is ‘up there’ in the hills, and the relatively flat area that I was dropped into is called ‘The Run.’
Just as I got out of the car, a fire engine came screaming past.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Walking under those bridge spans would point your toes towards ‘Panther Hollow,’ which is a ravine that leads back to Oakland through a park, and Oakland is where the big universities are found. I’ve taken that walk before. To be truthful, I’ve done the very walk which I was about to take before as well.
Critically, one of the things I try to remind myself of is that every walk DOES NOT need to be a marathon or somehow evoke memories of Odysseus trying to return home after the Trojan War.
I’ve been trying to prove to myself that the busted ankle is ‘A-OK’ even though it never will be again, and honestly – every now and then I need to not feel like I’m about to get killed by speedy vehicle traffic.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The pathway for this one, thereby, involved a nice safe rail trail which is entirely separated from vehicle flow. Of course, there were guys riding past me at 40 mph on e-bikes, but there we are.
Pictured is a former rail trestle which has been converted over to recreational usage, and it’s dubbed as being the ‘Eliza Furnace Trail.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s a minor palaver to find the entrance to the facility, and there is indeed a parking lot available.
As often stated, however, I like to leave the car at home on days like this since it becomes an anchor pulling me back to wherever I started the walk. This ‘anchoring’ thing severely limits my options as far as serendipity, discovery, and distance are concerned. The solution, for the ‘inner ring’ of Pittsburgh at least, has been to just get dropped off where I want to start and then scuttle about to where I need to go to get home.
I used to do something similar in NYC – walking from Astoria to Flushing, for example – and then taking the 7 back through LIC. Alternately, riding the G to Smith/9th street and then walking from Red Hook back to Astoria.
I’m all ‘effed up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, I was able to pass under that overpass without bumping my head, given the nearly seven feet between the button on the top of my ball cap and that ‘13 ft 6 in’ signage indicated restriction. Close one.
My plan for the afternoon was fairly simple; walk the Eliza Trail over to the South Tenth Street Bridge, cross the river, drink a beer while photographing trains, make another quick stop where some people I wanted to meet would be holding an event, and then ride home of the Light Rail.
Oh, and take a million photos along the way.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As far as the Eliza Trail itself, and the elevated pathway which it takes along the Monongahela River, the logo above should signify the origins of this particular path.
Back tomorrow with more.
“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.
Catch as catch can, yo
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our Lady of the Pentacle had a doctor’s appointment on Pittsburgh’s North Side, and thusly I had a couple of hours to kill while she was interacting with the white coat brigade. Her assignation was at that hospital building featured on that HBO show ‘The Pitt,’ as an aside.
What to do, what to do? Gotta stay busy and not be bored, for even a minute, me…
Allegheny General Hospital, as it’s known in the real world, is directly across the street from Allegheny Commons Park. Said park is the one which has that rail trench cut into it that I often visit, so…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now! That’s Norfolk Southern’s #3663 chugging along in that rail trench. I caught a bit of derision on one of the Facebook groups centered around Pittsburgh’s railroads, referring to this set of tracks as the ‘trench.’
Somebody on there said ‘I used to work for the RR, and nobody ever called it a trench.’ I asked ‘what is the proper name of this section of tracks then’? No answer.
Now, there’s around a dozen other photographers on that group who newly refer to this as ‘the trench.’
My phone chimed, a text had been received, and Our Lady was done with her business. I packed up the camera and picked her up, and we then headed back to Dormont for a fairly quiet afternoon.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The next day was an ‘exercise day,’ and this time around somebody else was driving. Specifically a ride share driver named Furkat. As soon as I heard the name, I asked if he was Uzbeki when I got in the car. There’s a sizable refugee population of Uzbekistani, Kazakh. and Afghans here in Pittsburgh who are also new arrivals to the area.
Furkat was taking me to Pittsburgh’s ‘Greenfield,’ where a medium long scuttle would begin. I took the opportunity to shoot out the window of his car, and try to get ‘the view’ from the city side of the Fort Pitt Tunnel.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For reference, yesterday’s post had me walking across the Fort Pitt Bridge, with the walkway found on the bridge’s lower deck. The POV above and below is one which has been heavily romanticized, and is directly above the shots from yesterday. The upper deck of Fort Pitt Bridge is also ‘fablungered,’ but it’s nowhere near as horribly designed as the lower deck and its approaches are.
This is a difficult exposure, btw, due to part of the shot offering bright daylight, and the rest of it being inside of a fairly dark tunnel.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Furkat seemed a little concerned about what I was doing, but didn’t object. As long as somebody else is driving, I love the challenge of these sorts of high speed captures. It’s a real test of how well you know what your camera can do.
This was a fairly nice July day, incidentally, with temperatures struggling to hit 80 and about 60% humidity. I’d be irradiated by the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself for the entire walk, mind you, as it bobbed horribly about in the sky – so this wasn’t ‘sweater weather’ or anything…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Someday, there’ll be a parade or some event which closes this bridge and allows pedestrian access for a spell. If that ever happens, I swear that I will be present somehow, camera in hand.
Back tomorrow with where I was heading to, and what was observed.
“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.
Crossing, Mon
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pictured is a narrow band of relative safety one occupied to the right of that white line, which the trail I had been walking upon spit me out onto.
Luckily, it was a fairly low traffic day, when I suddenly had to try and not die while scuttling along this stretch. At the end of the elevated ramp, I was able to execute what can currently pass as ‘running,’ to get to the other side of the street where a sidewalk existed. The busted ankle situation persists in terms of not being able to run properly.
Effin Pittsburgh…
Y’know, people out here, they’ll get after me here for cussin. I don’t know how you don’t curse a blue streak when encountering this… it’s exactly the sort of thing which makes me want to engage with the ‘powers that be.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Safely on a sidewalk, my next set of moves involved getting back to HQ in Dormont. My original plan was to simply walk to the Station Square stop for the T light rail system, which is found a mile or two down the road.
Saying that, it was really hot out, and I decided to ‘punk.’
I’d save a bunch of walking, and cross the river via the Fort Pitt bridge, then catch a T ride at one of the downtown stations instead. Win!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Fort Pitt Bridge is a complicated beast, and especially so when one is driving southwards. A series of high speed roads converge via multiple on-ramps to the bridge, which all resolve into singular travel lanes.
To head to the airport, for instance, you need to exit the span via a portal on the far left side of the bridge. To exit to local streets or head west, you need to bear over to the far right. This creates an ‘X’ shaped interchange for high speed traffic that is converging from three distinct sources.
Factor in the aggressive style of driving common to most in Pittsburgh, and you’ve got a nonstop traffic jam which plays out 24/7 – as drivers cross multiple lanes of traffic to position themselves for those two exits from the span. The aggressive driving figures in to this as they all try to ‘eff each over to get into their desired lanes, which they all try to do immediately upon entering the span. Not fifty or a hundred feet ahead, where it’s easy… no… not the Yinzers. They need to get into their lane right ‘effin now, lest somebody take something away from them.
Of course, they’ll ALL try to do the complicated merge asap and at speed, rather than just slowing down and traveling another fifty feet to… bah…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I enjoy walking over this bridge, but then again I famously like horrible things. As mentioned at the start of this scuttle, which began up on Mount Washington and included the Emerald View Trail which provided a diagonal westward path down off of the landform, and it was quite uncomfortable out – climate wise.
High summer, humid, ‘shvitzy.’
One way or the other, however, I had to get to the T light rail as it sure wasn’t going to be coming to me, and thusly ‘leaned into it’ for the last leg of this one. At least it was in the shade…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the described point of conflict on the Fort Pitt Bridge.
In the shot above, the far right ramp feeds two lanes off of traffic off of the I-376 ‘Parkway West’ and onto Fort Pitt, whereas the left hand side services entrances for both local street traffic and is also fed by another highway ramp which brings high speed traffic from multiple sources right towards this spot.
A significant volume of traffic passes through this pass (estimated at 85 – 107,000 vehicles a day), and I’ve come to refer to Fort Pitt Bridge as being the ‘master cylinder’ of all traffic in Pittsburgh. Something happens here, or on the ramps leading to it, and that ripples outwards at 60 mph to the entire network of high speed roads hereabouts.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Finally, one made it to the so called ‘Golden Triangle,’ and a few quick steps soon saw your humble narrator on a T light rail, heading back to HQ and the ebullient greetings of Moe the Dog.
Back tomorrow with something different, at this, 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.
Terror Firma – Emerald View Trail 2
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Regular readers of the Newtown Pentacle may recall that a long suffering – but always humble – narrator was plying his course along the Emerald View Trail, which transits in a diagonal fashion across the face of Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington.
The landform itself is around 600 feet in elevation over the flood plains of the Monongahela River, and Mount Washington is found on the southern shore of the waterway.
Pictured is the West End Bridge, familiar to those regular readers of the mishegoss that’s on offer here five times a week, and the waters which it spans are where the admixture of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers form into the headwaters of the Ohio River. All caught up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The trail began to narrow towards its end, and my descent began.
As a rule, I like to walk downwards from high elevations, as I’m old and have to carefully ration my energies. The gas tank empties out a lot faster than it used to these days… and walking up a fifty to sixty story elevation on loose soil would be… well… that would be ‘no Bueno.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The trail spits you out onto a fairly steep roadway, right about here.
In typical Pittsburgh fashion, of course, the trail deposits pedestrians and bike riders onto the side of a de facto highway for a bit. Sigh.
Planning on coming back here in the autumn, incidentally. Should be a pretty sight, with all the color on the trees.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This isn’t the highway. It’s ‘Greenleaf Street,’ and it has no sidewalks.
Theoretically, I guess I should have been walking on the other side of the steel guard rail, but that ground was overgrown and teeming with Poison Ivy and other vines. Bad form, Pittsburgh, bad form.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Finally, a clearing – and coincidentally – I happened upon a pretty cool POV for the Norfolk Southern outfit’s locomotives. I’ll try and get back to this spot occasionally when I’m out wandering.
This is where things got hairy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
No sidewalks below, none above either. Luckily, traffic was light on this particular day so I managed to rapidly scuttle down the side of that onramp pictured above, to a spot where pedestrian accoutrements on the public way were again on offer.
I hate this. I mean that I viscerally hate the fact that sidewalk pavement ends to make way for highway lanes, and then picks back up a half mile away. This situation has been encountered several times, and in the ‘center’ of Pittsburgh, not some distant hick town. Ok, I’m from NYC so to me Chicago is a distant hick town… but…
Again: No bueno.
This is precisely the sort of situation that makes me want to attend a governmental meeting and complain to the powers that be.
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 