Posts Tagged ‘Three Rivers Heritage Trail’
‘Flat’ isn’t necessarily easier
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The final leg of my ‘leg work’ day occurred just as I reached the shoreline of the Monongahela River. One of my ‘sit down’ spots is nearby the entrance to the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, which also happens to be right along the ballasted tracks of CSX’s Pittsburgh Subdivision.
Now I was happy, as I had caught a train shot. Thanks #3473.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Spring like weather has arrived in Pittsburgh, and despite a couple of anomalously cold days randomly popping up, the birds have returned and the trees are starting to bud. I entirely missed autumn and most of the winter due to the broken ankle, so I’m really looking forward to the next couple of months – photography wise.
This shot looks across the ‘Mon’ to the ‘Uptown’ or ‘Bluff’ area where Duquesne University is found.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last time I walked through here, which must have been in July or August, this trail had become a very well populated homeless colony. It wasn’t just regular camping tents here, some of the people who set up shop here had erected shanties and there was one woman who had set up a catering tent which shielded a sofa and chairs from rain.
The current Mayor of Pittsburgh is entering what’s meant to be a difficult reelection campaign, one wherein he’s being primaried by his own party. One imagines that step one of his campaign was ‘doing something about the homeless.’ That takes the same shape here as it does in NYC – send in the Cops and Sanitation trucks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the South 10th street Bridge pictured above, spanning the Monongahela. It’s a minor bridge, but it’s visually interesting to me for some reason. At any rate, the light was nice.
My ultimate destination was that Brewery alongside the CSX tracks that I’ve mentioned a million times, but the only train I saw on this walk was the one in the first shot of today’s post.
This time around, I rewarded myself for the walking effort with a couple of pints of stout and a personal pizza for dinner.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
South 10th street Bridge again. Would have loved to creep out onto the abutments and shoreline a bit further, but I still need to remain conservative regarding the ankle. Getting there, but not there yet.
During these walks, the ankle swells up a bit. Nowhere near as much as it would have a month ago, mind you, but on the whole – its gains about 20-30% in volume. The Docs told me this sort of thing is normal and that I can expect it to happen for about the next year. Luckily ice bags when I get home are no longer required, I just need to sit back in my La Z Boy chair and let the limb relax afterwards. It still hurts.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There was a singular tent remaining. Don’t know if it was ‘occupied’ or not. Last summer, there had to be a couple of hundred people sheltering along this trail.
At any rate, this was the end of my ‘leg work’ walk along Pittsburgh’s South 18th street. Not a bad afternoon, and I’m definitely going to head back to St. Michael’s Cemetery at the top of the hill when I’m driving the MOP (Mobile Oppression Platform), a Toyota. Interesting POV.
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.
Beyond the bend
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described yesterday, a humble narrator was executing a short constitutional scuttle of about five miles along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, found on the south shore of the Monongahela River here in Pittsburgh. That’s the South Tenth Street Bridge pictured above, which I think I’ve finally taken an interesting picture of. It’s a fairly unremarkable span, and it’s a challenge I’ve been entertaining myself with for a while now.
It’s also the start of a huge encampment maintained by a population of homeless mendicants. The city of Pittsburgh has been dealing with these sorts of encampments all over its turf since COVID, and has been roughly uprooting the dwellings, tents, and shanties in the ‘Downtown’ area of the ‘golden triangle’ since I got here, in response to complaints by the business community about the situation.
These poor people had to go somewhere, and apparently it’s here, far away from the Downtown corporate world and the cameras of new crews.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the 1930’s, this would have called this a ‘Hooverville,’ shanties and makeshift dwellings composed of other people’s discarded items. During this walk, one noted that both sides of the trail were de facto neighborhoods. I observed a young guy doing missionary work here, bringing sanitary products to the residents. I also saw him cutting firewood for a camp of three elderly men at one point. He was wearing a T-Shirt signifying he worked for some local church. Good stuff.
Instinct is to pass some sort of moral judgement on our fellow Americans for ending up in this circumstance due to addiction or bad luck, but that does nothing to solve the issue and serves to dehumanize the homeless into a homologous ‘mono-issue’ population rather than individuals who all have different problems that have led to this circumstance.
Conversely, there are some fairly dangerous people amongst them and it’s important not to underestimate that. I don’t have an answer to the problem I can offer on this subject. Life on the edge is a hard life.
I’ve said it a hundred times (and especially so to members of ‘Team DeBlasio), that there’s not a ‘homeless problem,’ rather there’s thousands of individual ‘homeless problems’ with no ‘one size fits all’ solution. Few of them want to be living in a tent made of garbage alongside a river.
If you’re concerned about these people, think ‘existential’ instead of ‘penitential’ and drop off some old blankets or clothing nearby their campsites. At least they’ll be able to stay warm while living like this in the richest country that’s ever existed. That’s what I’d call the ‘Christian’ response, rather than putting them in jail for being destitute or something.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
See what I mean about the South Tenth street bridge? It’s really hard to get an interesting shot of the thing… bah.
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.
Monongahela Scuttle
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A ‘short walk’ day was upon me, but a humble narrator was feeling a bit lazy. Combatting ennui, I forced myself out of HQ and drove down to Pittsburgh’s South Side Park with its accompanying section of the Three Rivers Heritage trail for a short scuttle. As mentioned yesterday, this section is an easy 15-20 minutes drive from HQ.
That’s the Birmingham Bridge, over the Monongahela River, in the shot above. At the time of this writing, which is a couple of weeks ago as far as when you’re seeing this post, I’m nursing a sore back. The tenderness of the saddle region was earned during a long walk, one which included scuttling over that bridge from a frankly disturbing section of Pittsburgh that’s called ‘Uptown.’
More on that in a couple of weeks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had keyed in another LibriVox audiobook for this walk, this time “A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great, Vol I, written by John Bagnell Bury’ and was struggling to get past the notion of somebody writing a history book about prehistoric times. I mean… it’s prehistoric… so…
It’s a fairly old text, as the author died in 1927, and many of its descriptions of Minoan Greece have been upended in recent years by ongoing archaeological discovery occurring in both the islands of the Peloponnese, and in Egypt. There’s a lot of inference injected into the text emanating from the classical Greek and Roman historians, and philosophers, which has ended up being contradicted by actual evidence of the Minoan civilization that was formerly buried in the soil.
Still, it’s an interesting listen and doesn’t lead to the death of brain cells and compassion like social media does.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Can’t describe how happy I was to visit with a Combined Sewer Outfall along the way. I miss the sewer plant in Brooklyn most of all, for some reason. Had a lot of interesting times there, and I saw things most do not.
My goal for the day wasn’t really about the photos, but I took a bunch of shots while scuttling along anyway. I’ve always got the camera with me, never know what you’re going to see, and the only shots you miss are the ones you didn’t take. I’ve got lots of motivational mottos. Another one is ‘steel on steel, it’s the worst sound around.’
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.
Hot Metal, 3 Rivers Heritage Trail
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The path which the Monongahela River enjoys is somewhat serpentine in nature, prior to the waterway’s juncture with the Allegheny River, where they mutually become the Ohio River nearby Downtown Pittsburgh. Last week, I drove the Mobile Oppression Platform (the Toyota) over to a neighborhood called the Southside Flats and parked in a lot associated with a park and the Three Rivers Heritage Trail. The MOP was left directly beneath the Birmingham Bridge, pictured above.
It’s a young bridge for this section of the world, having been opened for business in 1977. It’s another bowstring arch bridge, not unlike the Fort Penn bridge discussed last week. The fact that it’s not painted yellow indicates that it’s a state – rather than a city – bridge. My plan for the afternoon was pretty simple – I’d walk eastwards along the trail, cross the river and then walk westwards, whereupon I’d circle back to the MOP. It was overcast in Pittsburgh, with roiling clouds bolting around up in the vault, and the temperatures were comfortable and in the mid 50’s.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is another one of the sections of Pittsburgh where there used to be a steel mill, I’m told. The trail itself follows active freight rail tracks on the south side of the river. In tomorrow’s post, the north side of the scene will be explored, but for the first half of my walk it was all about the south side and getting to where my crossing would be found.
There’s gigantic infrastructural elements available for inspection and appreciation along the way – storm sewers, enormous concrete and iron retaining walls that keep the slopes of sedimentary soil deposits from sliding into the river. One section had steel plates holding up a wall of soils, with the steel plates bolted into place with giant lug nuts that were the size of dinner plates.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the 1887 vintage Hot Metal Bridge. During the Second World War, 15% of American steel production would travel over it on the rails. In 2000 AD, it was converted over to vehicle and pedestrian/bike usage. Its “official” name is the “Monongahela Connecting Railroad Bridge and Hot Metal Bridge.” On the path approaching it, there’s historic signage which describes the steel industry and the railroads which served it.
There’s post industrial development everywhere you look in this zone, and a few large corporate anchors are located nearby, including the clothing company American Eagle Outfitters.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the Hot Metal Bridge’s pedestrian path, which is completely separated from the vehicular lanes, and heading north – that’s where this shot was gathered. I didn’t have any particular goal for the afternoon other than kicking my feet about and getting some exercise, but I was able to piece together a mental map of where I was scuttling based around prior explorations – which I’ve described here – of the Monongahela Valley. Locally, it’s referred to as the Mon Valley by the politicians, but when they say that it’s usually in reference to the still quite industrial areas to the east like Clairton and Braddock.
There were just a few other people on the bridge. A bike rider or three, joggers, one or two other pedestrians. No dogs.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This one looks back towards the south side of the river across the Hot Metal Bridge. My original plan was to circle back to the south side and the MOP using the Birmingham Bridge… but more on that tomorrow.
The north side has quite a different circumstance than the south does, with high speed roads like I-579 riding on elevated structures and an industrial and commercial zone. When you get to the north side, the Three Rivers Heritage trail is renamed as the Eliza trail to commemorate the J&L Steel mill which was located here. This bridge is also part of the Great Allegheny Passage trail.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the north side, I turned westwards. The neighborhoods around this intersectional area are Oakland and the Hill District. The terrain here is difficult due to its verticality, and I can tell you that it’s a real challenge to climb these hills on foot. Luckily, the path I was walking on was graded for rail, meaning one foot of elevation for every hundred feet horizontally.
Tomorrow, I find myself walking through the sort of place which most would logically go looking for my corpse, if I’d gone missing.
“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 