Not sure, might be a dead-end

This late morning run is brought to you by hills and hills and hills. Yes, this is Beechview, for all you arm-chair runners. I had previously called Greenfield the “Land of Hills”. This must be the “Motherland of Hills”. Beechview is a little bit out of my way, though I have actually run here before, doing the Hell on Hills 5K a few years ago. Check out the race! It was fun, though grueling.

I started on Westfield St, right above a cute little playground and ball field. Looking out over the fences I could see the top of the UPMC Building, in downtown Pittsburgh several miles away.

I ran down Westfield, which goes all the way to a T-stop, then wound my way up and down hilly dead-ends. Princess, Brookside, Platt, Traymore were all lined with neat houses clinging to the steep streets. There were many “No Outlet” signs warning of dead-ends. Mostly they were accurate. Eventually I came to the eastern terminus of Hampshire Ave.

Hampshire Street is long and hilly in the Beechview neighborhood.
Hampshire Street in Beechview
No Outlet No Kidding

Hampshire runs roughshod over the massive hills in this area, taking no contours and no easy ways. Of course, it, too, ends in a dead-end. Actually three, count ’em, three “No Outlet” signs graced the corner of Hampshire and Napoleon! This is just before Hampshire ends at Canton Ave (“steepest street in America“). Now, I had hopes of getting down to Banksville Road and running UP Canton, so I was delighted to see a public stair off to the right as I ran past the “No Outlet” signs. The stairs looked promising, but, alas, just became more and more overgrown.

Woods are closing in on the stairs
Sidewalk and stairs disappear into bushes

Sometimes, that’s what happens when you ignore signs. You get stuck at the bottom of a dead-end, with no where to go but to retrace your steps and get out of there. Continuing on, I made it down to Banksville Road via Canton and Coast. I took a break and got my bearings again. There were so many hot, hilly streets to run on! However, I was beat and just followed Fallowfield, to Sebring Ave, then to Westfield, where I had parked my car. It was a good start, though, in this neighborhood of crazy steep streets called Beechview.

PS Fallowfield was no walk on the beach either.