This is the park of my childhood filled with memories of late summer county fairs and ice skating in the winter. More memories as an adult include company picnics, family gatherings, birthday parties, free concerts, sled riding, and just hanging out under the trees. We really just took it for granted but with coronavirus limiting person to person interactions on our annual visit to Pittsburgh we were grateful to have such a large and pretty place to enjoy.
The park was established in 1927 to preserve green space in the middle of rapidly growing suburbs. The Citizens Conservation Corp, Civil Works Administration, and Works Progress Administration programs of the 1930s built picnic groves, buildings for equipment, reservoirs, and fences; planted trees; and made hiking trails and bridle trails. The park today is over 2,000 acres and includes a golf course, ballfields, wave pool, picnic shelters, skate park, trails, nature center, dek hockey rink, ice rink and many playgrounds.
There are two paved trails for walking and bike riding. The wide, smooth Corrigan Walkway runs beside Corrigan Drive, the main road that cuts through the middle of the park. Maple Spring Loop is a narrow path the climbs the hills and travels through forests and meadows. Corrigan Walkway is completely accessible. Maple Spring Loop has very steep sections and most wheelchair users will need assistance. 
"This is the park of my childhood... More memories as an adult..." My childhood and adulthood were on opposite sides of the country. Even though I know many people live in the same place most of their life, my unfiltered gut reaction to that is, "Ew, why would anyone want to do that? Especially in a place with nasty winters?" Um, because they actually like the place? Because they aren't cursed with my wandering disease? :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what it is but people in Pittsburgh tend to stay close to where they were born, sometimes living in the same neighborhood for their entire lives. We're the weird ones around here. :-D
DeleteWe like it in the early summer and fall but the curse of the wandering disease got us out of there as soon as possible.
I guess it's sort of a self-filtering thing. The people who don't want to live in a certain place go elsewhere, leaving a higher concentration of those who are happy to stay.
DeleteReally pretty park, and two nice trails! But no camping here, right? I grew up in Niagara Falls, a few miles north of Pittsburgh, and as soon as the ice was solid enough on a small creek right behind our house, we were on it. We skated all winter long. I'd be afraid to try it now! :-)
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