Da 'Burgh

Tuesday afternoon greeted me with an afternoon thundershower, reminding me of Pittsburgh's ability to rain at any time. A rain jacket was useless in the refreshing rain. By the time I got to Brian's house, I was soaked through and excited that I had somewhere dry to be. That rain shower set the precedent for the rest of my stay in Pittsburgh, rain everyday.

I visited Healcrest Urban Farm, a project headed by Maria. It's still in the development stage, but it has greatly expanded since I last saw it a couple of years ago. Maria is continuing the farm but in a lower capacity (no interns) since she had Savitur Negus on my birthday (Sept. 26) last year (Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of them.).























I also visited Braddock Farms, a project of Grow Pittsburgh. Marshall is going into his 2nd year of managing the farm and it is the 3rd year of the farm. It is still in its infancy, so it will be interesting to see how the community plugs in to the farm as well as how Marshall balances the mission of providing food for the community as well as marketing food to restaurants.




I was planning on leaving Friday, but the opportunity to be a part of a try at the world's largest non-motorized flotilla sounded great, as well as hanging out with more people. The event was planned for World Environment Day (Saturday June 5) by Venture Outdoors.

The group I was going with decided to put in early in the morning at Duck Hollow and paddle down the Monongahela River to the point, where the Allegheny and Monongahela come together to form the Ohio. They had estimated that the distance was about 5 miles, but it turned out to be 9 (There's a reason that Nine Mile Run is called that!). We had left early enough to make it to the registration and back out towards the flotilla by 11:45am. The established time of the flotilla was supposed to be noon, but as we passed under the West End Bridge, the flotilla started breaking apart and the dark clouds released a torrential downpour. We had been registered but not in the picture. Why did they not wait for everyone to gather? The rain only lasted about 5 minutes and then the sky opened up to have a beautiful day. We had a little picnic and paddled up river a few miles to the southside and the Hofbrauhaus (German beer brewed in Pittsburgh). A bit disappointing but a fun day.




Saturday night I watched Gasland, a documentary about the natural gas industry, especially the horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing of natural gas from shale deposits. They visit 24 states with current practices and talks with residents of the areas as well as some health professionals and scientists studying the impacts. There have been natural gas seepages into ground water sources causing massive die-offs in streams. The water from fracturing is in open-air lined or unlined ponds with volatile organic compounds and other carcinogens vaporizing (sometimes intentionally to evaporate more water so the company has to pay less for shipping the waste water). People are having health issues anywhere from headaches to asthma to lesions in the brain and cancer. The wells, condensation tanks and associated equipment and operations do not fall under regulations for the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act because they are dispersed and not one point source and no Environmental Impact Studies have been done, but in the area around Ft Worth, Texas, the natural gas operations are emitting the same amount of pollution as all the vehicular traffic in the area daily. Currently there is organizing against natural gas drilling, specifically the Marcellus Shale. There are leases signed for the Delaware River (affecting Philadelphia), the area containing the drinking water for New York City and even places within Pittsburgh. More could be said, but I highly recommend seeing it. They have a few more tour dates but it is going to be shown on HBO on June 21st, so try to find someone with HBO and make it a house party.

Sunday was the day to depart Pittsburgh. A cloudy morning opened up to a downpour. Brian and I waited it out and started out a bit after noon towards West Virginia. It was a beautiful biking day. We picked up the Panhandle Trail a little west of Pittsburgh. Brian turned around in Burgettstown, as I continued on. He picked a good place because the trail turned into a muddy mess and I was scraping the fenders about 15 minutes later. The trail improved towards the endpoint of Colliers, WV.



I made it out to about 8 miles above Wheeling before setting up camp for the night.