This is what we call the "Jail Trail". My boyfriend and I just discovered it last year when we…read morewanted to try riding bikes on the other side of the city. We typically park in the garage connected to the T station down by the jail. There is a Healthy Ride bike station right up the street and it is so convenient to rent the bikes! Once we get the bikes, we turn right in between the T station and the parking garage (there are signs that say Bikes with an arrow) to enter the trail. If you go left (away from the city) the trail will lead you down to the bridge that leads to the Southside Works. It is probably only a 2-3 mile stretch and is relatively flat. Once you get to the bridge to Southside you can go straight or right. If you keep going straight it leads you to a parking lot, so we always turn right across the bridge to Southside. This is a great view of the city and it's a really nice bridge. The pedestrian path is big enough for plenty of bike riders. At the end of the bridge we turn right past Hofbrauhaus. I'm not sure if this is still considered the Eliza Furnace Trail. You can ride all the way down the Southside trail until you reach Station Square. At that point we go back across the Smithfield Street bridge and it brings you back to where you started. It's a fun and easy way to get some exercise and see our beautiful city. It only takes about 45 min-1 hour to do this route. The jail trail path is clean and there are always people on it. It feels very safe even though you are just a fence between the parkway. It can be very loud too from all the traffic, so now we bring a bluetooth speaker to put in the basket and listen to music while we ride. I recommend this trail especially if you are from out of town and want to see some of the Pittsburgh neighborhoods!

I love this trail, it's one of my favorites actually…read more I often spend my lunch hour walking along it to take in all of the scenery this part of the city has to offer. It's nice to have a little bit of nature in the city. The trail has a nice walking path that makes for comfortable excursions even on days when the weather is less than stellar.

It's a wonderful park on the Allegheny River with nice pavilions. It has a spectacular bike trail…read morethat follows the river all the way to Downtown. I go here every year to see birds, especially the Yellow Throated Warblers that sing from the Sycamore trees. The hit series, the Mayor of Kingstown, was once filled in the park.

This is a nice trail. My kids got distracted immediately by the natural playground which was small…read morebut fun and then we walked and rode our bikes. Great views. Mostly flat trail. Well kept.

I was here to see a Pelican. Yes, it was freak occurrence, but a Pelican appeared at the South…read moreShore boat rentals. But I've been coming to this state park for years, especially for kayaking and birding. One summer we decided to keep kayaking until we had explored the entire perimeter of the lake. It took several trips, but we never finished because the lake is too vast. There's a great mix of vendors for rentals, food and boat rides, but there are still plenty of wild spaces to enjoy. Whether it's sailing, hiking, swimming, or kayaking, you will find some great recreational opportunities here.

Beautiful park not too far from Pittsburgh. The park has many trails and nice bike paths across the…read moresurprisingly large park area. A generous amount of well kept up restrooms throughout the park. We started at a cabin that was modern and good looking. Each cabin sleeps six. Note: the cabins have nice showers and furniture but there are no other things aside from a refrigerator. Stove with oven, and microwave. Bring your own plates, cutlery bedding and glasses/cups. We were aware so we brought a press for coffee. Great park for families.

It's pretty. It's not a super exciting trail but there are nice picnic areas and it's very green.read more

A wonderful treasure of the Pittsburgh region. I have learned untold knowledge of wildflowers…read morenative to Western Pennsylvania by walking these trails each Spring. It's a living museum of wildflowers! With an abundance of Trillium in the 1980's, the park was a stunning sight with blankets of Trillium. But a growing deer population in the 90's decimated the Trillium population. An experimental deer enclosure revitalized the park, and the wildflowers are making an impressive comeback. While there is only a few miles of trail here, the wildflowers are the main attraction, and you should come in successive weeks in April and into May if you want to admire these fleeting beauties. Dedicated volunteers regularly remove invasive species, and each year the trails and bridges are regularly repaired and upgraded. For your first trip, go with a wildflower expert, such as a guided tour provided by Venture Outdoors, which is excellent. See you on the trail!

A wonderful place to see wildflowers and birds. There are some species of birds that you won't find…read moreanywhere else. The conservation area is managed by the Allegheny Land Trust. The one side of the park is a difficult climb, the trail goes up a very steep hill, but the views are nice.

It has kind of an odd name for a park, but I got the feeling that there is much to offer here. For…read moremy first visit I took the easier trail that goes along the railroad and veers up a bit. It is very damp and almost swampy as far as I can tell. I am not sure how true that is, maybe it was just because it was after a big rain. The trail is a decent hike that ends at the train tracks. There was a ton of mushrooms and other types of fungi, which was pretty cool to see. I also saw some deer and old ruins while I was on this trail. I have heard that the other trail has some pretty nice views of local towns. I am going to have to come back again and check out the rest of it. I guess we can add this place to the ever growing list of natural areas to visit near Pittsburgh.

The Nine Mile Run is a small stream that connects Frick Park with the Monongahela River. Chances…read moreare you've driven over it, biked over it, or walked over it but you wouldn't know it. You can cross it in hundreds of places but you won't need a bridge. That's because the stream runs almost entirely underground, emerging in Frick Park. The address shown is approximately where it emerges. People have lived in the Nine Mile Run Watershed for many centuries. The Native American Deleware tribe resided here until the 1600s. LIkely they hunted and fished here because it has been home to many species. When the Europeans arrived, they formed small communities and the region prospered, especially with the arrival of the steel industry. When that industry declined in the 1970s the area suffered a sizeable population loss. It is now reinventing itself into a post-industrial environment with plenty of green space. Nine Mile Run flows through Wilkinsburg, Swissvale, Edgewood, and the eastern most portion of Squirrel Hill. It is currently unhealthy. As the 20th Century began, streams were often used to transport trash and sewage and most of the Run was piped into underground culverts. The Run often gives off a stench of sewage after a rain. That's because over a quarter of the watershed is covered by impermeable surfaces such as pavement and sidewalks which do not allow rainwater to filter into the soil. Whenever it rains, Nine Mile Run becomes overwhelmed with water runoff, causing erosion, destruction of animal habitat, and environmental degradation. This is not helped by Pittsburgh's outdated sewer system. Just how antiquated is the system? No permits for the construction of the type of sewers Pittsburgh uses have been issued since the 1930s. Nine Mile Run was also deeply affected by the steel industry. While the mills kept us fed and put our kids thru school, they did heavy damage to the environment. Nine Mile Run Wateshed contained no mills, but millions of tons of slag were dumped along the edge of the stream. In 1922, Duquesne Slag Company bought 94 acres of the Nine Mile Run Watershed and over the years bought more and more land. Despite this being zoned a residential area, Duquesne Slag continued dumping. It's estimated that some 200 million tons of slag rest in the area. Today the Nine Mile Run Watershed is in the middle of decade long restoration project. Reclamation projects have resulted in new housing, vegetation, and greenways on the former slag heap. The Watershed is currently home to 250 plant species, 22 different mammals, and 189 types of birds. A 100 acre greenway is being built to connect Frick Park with the Mon River. A trail has been built along the stream and it will eventually link up with the Duck Hollow Trail and a direct connection will be made to the trail system in the park. My Girlfriends and I hike Frick Park's extensive trails and we are looking forward to being able to hike all the way from Reynolds Street down to the Mon.

The Nine-Mile run Watershed is located in the Regent Square/Edgewood area of Pittsburgh and covers…read more~6.5 square miles. It boasts a stream and breathtaking scenery. It includes hiking trails and the largest urban stream restoration completed by the Army Corp of Engineers. The Nine Mile Run Watershed Association, is s non-profit organization located at 321 Pennwood Ave., supporting preservation of the site. They maintain a Facebook site and sponsor social and fund-raising events.

I imagine in the warmer summer months this is a very popular destination especially with the water…read morepark located here. There are also soccer and baseball fields as well as shelters for picnics. I wasn't at North Boundary Park for any of that. I was only there on a cold fall morning to take advantage of the "hiking trail" loop around the fields. I put quotation marks around the words hiking and trail because I don't know how much of a hike I consider it due to the entire trail being paved. It's just over a mile in length with some elevation. Regardless, I found it to be an easy to find suburban community park where I felt safe to wander around when there were maybe only two other people wandering the trail. I also found it clean and well maintained. Park hours are posted as 7am - 11pm. There are 2018 plans for a disc golf course and a nature trail that I'm hoping will lead into the actual wooded area (and maybe into some more challenging terrain). I'll check out the park again once the trail is complete.

This is a nice place for heliophiles, walkers, runners, soccer players, and swimmers. There is a…read moreloop that's almost 100% unshaded and a mile long. You can traverse it in either direction, just remember to stay to the right (unless your passing). Inside the loop is a ball field, a few soccer fields, a playground, an outdoor body weight gym, and a large swimming facility with various types of entertainment. There are also a couple shelters with picnic tables underneath, that I assume you can rent for maybe a private party. There are a few restroom facilities with a water fountain as well. Half of the park is wooded and there is a approved plan in place to create an 18 hole disc golf course. The course is supposed to be top tier, compared on a national level. With a planned average of 588 feet per hole, I'm sure it will attract lot skilled talent and probably a competition or two in the first year. If you're new to disc golf, there is a handicapped accessible recreational course planned with six holes, averaging about 175 ft per hole, respectfully. One of the only thing I don't really like about the park is a portion of the paved trail butts up to the road. There is no space or physical barrier between you and cars passing by.

This is a great trail for hiking and biking. Would recommend anyone to come and try it out.read more