#eveningrun – Run All The Streets

Cemetery Sunset

https://www.strava.com/activities/4041859021 — Route of RATS #00296

The sun is setting earlier. I’m not getting out earlier. The result? Lots of sunset and dusky runs. This short, steep run was in the Carrick area. Lucky for me, I wasn’t going up and down the hills, just across. Even so, I had over 100 feet of elevation per mile.

I started overlooking St. Adelbert Cemetery along Brownsville Road, then sauntered past backyards and into the cemetery itself. Just putzing around for information about it, I came across this “Pittsburgh Cemeteries” blog, which is pretty interesting. In an older section, trees have re-asserted themselves around the plots, making for a spooky evening scene.

I made my way down West Meyers Street. It actually dead-ends, for cars, but a little wooden staircase leads to the end of Mt Joseph Street. It was rather small, but is actually an official City of Pittsburgh stairway. From there the streets generally went “parallel” to Brownsville Road. “Pittsburgh Parallel”, that is; they followed the same contours and did not intersect. As is typical for the area, it is densely packed with two and three story houses. This one caught my eye, with it’s red and teal trim.

I worked my way back up the hill towards Brownsville Road, crossing Newitt Street from time to time. At the top, where it meets Bownsville Road, it has street steps. The picture of the parked car parked gives some scale for that slope.

The night came on fast and I didn’t get anymore pictures. But, it was a worthwhile run, covering some streets and chipping away at the vast network that is Carrick.

Chasing Deer and Climbing Steps

Getting out of my isolation bubble for a bit, I ran Friday night with George, exploring the streets of Perry South. It was good to have the company and George got a taste of winding in and out of streets like true RATS. Hanging out before the run, I noticed this marker buried deep in the ground. It was a hot evening but we quickly made it to the Norwood Avenue steps, a harbinger of the remainder of the run.

Norwood Avenue plunges from Marshall Avenue to North Charles Street. Unfortunately, we had to keep going up and down that hill. The neighborhood was active, with people out on most of the porches, a few Friday gatherings, dog walkers and kids on bikes. Along one alley, we surprised a doe and a fawn out for an evening walk.

Along another street, an older woman swept the sidewalk as a little boy played with rocks, while across the street, large butterflies had been caught in a chain-link net.

And then, there were steps. It started slowly, with the gradual steps at the bottom of Norwood. Then it picked up a bit Delger Street. Those wooden steps were in pretty good shape, except one missing tread. It also was a convenient shortcut to the Delger Street, really an alley. Mayfield Avenue had a long series of street steps as it bucked up the hill like a horse.

Finally, as we rounded out one Quartz Way, we came to the Hawkins Street steps. They rose, block after block, from the ravine floor at Leland Street to their apex at Veteran Street, crossing Shelton Street, Ellis Street, and Perrysville Avenue.

Scooting down Veteran Street, we made our way back to the park. It was a solid run on a hot Friday evening.

Steps of the West

RATS #00241 – Westwood and Crafton Heights

This was another early evening run in Westwood and Crafton Heights. My primary goal was to finish the grid of streets west of Stratmore towards the city line. In these parts, the city abuts Crafton on the west and Ingram on the north.

The border of the City of Pittsburgh with Crafton and Ingram

First, I had to ascend some steps from Noblestown to Code Way. Another excellent street name by the city naming department, I must say. Would there be a spy ring up there? Covert CIA antenna? Hmm, nope. There was a fire ring with old-folks conversing with their children and grandchildren. There were a couple of flagpoles flying the Stars and Stripes. It looked like a bustling, tight neighborhood. People moving furniture from a UHaul, others gardening. Moving on, I came upon Milnor street, which presented a cool view across into Crafton Heights. It also had quite an impressive set of sidewalk steps.

Milnor wound to Clearview, right above Crafton Boulevard. There’s a convenient set of steps down from Clearview.

Earlier I had done the streets on the right of Stratmore going north. Today I did the streets on the left. Booming big houses perched on big hills were my main memories.

A uniquely named street, “Clairtonic”, reached up the hill and dead-ended. In spite of being a dead-end, it was lively; residents were hosting a pandemic porch party; young dudes were in the street messing with their sports car, playing rap music loudly. Trudging up the hill past them I was surprised how far Clairtonic went. I crossed a house with a fence and a beautiful, big, dark Collie. Saying hi to the old guy working on his car and to the lively Collie which trotted out the open gate, I quickened my pace. This was an opportune time to take the Irvona Street Steps. Alas, they only went to someone’s backyard and I had to sheepishly come down.

Moving on, I came to Ridenour Avenue, which beckoned with these extensive wooden steps. I hoped they would go all the way to Steuben. Looking at the map later, they might have, but I stopped where they flattened out into a trail.

I wound my way back to the car. I achieved most of my goals, but missed going all the way down Ridenour as well as Enderlin Way. Oh well, there’s only so much you can do in five miles.