Pittsburgh is a strange and wonderful place. There's a street and then out of nowhere, sets of concrete steps with their telltale painted handrails mysteriously pop out and disappear into what looks like barren woods. In this case, it was a side street in the West End some time this past Winter.
This is how I first encountered the city steps that are everywhere around Pittsburgh. It wasn't long before I started taking the time to go climb them and find out what was up above. More often than not, the reward is great--terrific bird's eye views, crazy scenes of nature reclaiming abandoned development, quirky neighborhoods full of characters who can't remember the last time they saw a stranger on the steps and hillside homes that look like they're one stiff wind from collapse.The goal with this blog is to try to document some of the semi-frequent walks I take up the steps. If you're a step walker, or you know of a great set, or have a good story related to them, I'd love to hear it.
I love hiking these steps, even on a cold, gloomy day like this one a couple months ago (the last bona fide step hike I went on, sadly). Above is a very nice stretch from the edge of the West End's business district up into a neat little neighborhood at top of the hill. I found a park with a corkscrew walking path around it and a very dramatic war memorial.
...and no hike to the West End is complete without a view of the obligatory picture postcard shot of downtown Pittsburgh from the overlook.
No comments:
Post a Comment