Eliza Furnace Trail and other places to run in the city. (Pittsburgh: neighborhoods, school)

[SteelersFan09]

Hey guys, thanks for all the help in the past; I'm here again with some more questions.

I live out in moon and I usually do my workouts and running at the RMU gym (where I go to school). I've always heard about people running inside cities and it's something i've always wanted to try. I asked someone and they told to try to the eliza furnace rail trail. I was wondering if this is a good run/job/walk and if there's any places to run in the city. I imagine the great views of the skyline,ect. is awesome to run with. I'm mostly looking for a good place that's safe (I don't want to end up running through a rough patch of town) and somewhere that's doable (I guess for lack of a better word). Thanks again everyone.

[Maaz]

The Eliza Furnace Trail is suitable for running. It is used for bicycling, walking, and skating as well. It's situated next to Second Avenue and I-376, so you really don't have that great of a city view. There is also a lot of graffati. Despite this, the trail is flat, paved, and relatively safe. It does not run through any neighborhoods though you can get off the trail and walk up Bates Street into Oakland if you wanted to. It runs approximately 2.6 miles in each direction. It starts near Greenfield and ends in downtown. It will be expanded so it runs to Point State Park (which is closed for renovations) downtown but this will not complete for about a year.

Maaz

[sketchbooks]

The Eliza Furnace trail is a great way to get downtown on a nice day- and it's in the process of being extended across the river to join the Southside trail, which will put you within staggering distance of many restaurants, cafes and shops (oh, and bars and churches!)

The trails through Schenley Park are hillier, but go through nice shady woods. They're popular with runners, and there's usually parking available somewhere near the trail. A mix of roads and trails will take you to Squirrel Hill or Oakland.

[mister brewski]

The Eliza furnace trail is alright, but it smack in the middle between the Parkway East and Second Ave, so there is lots of noise and not much scenery. I much prefer the South Side Trail and the North Shore Trail for trails in the city. The North Shore trail starts at the old Western Penitentary and runs all the way past Herr's Island, including right along the stadiums.

Here is a two nice links:

LocalHikes - Hikes and trails near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Check the trails marked as TRHT (Three Rivers Heritage Trail) they are all city trails.

Also
Pennsylvania Rails to Trails - SouthWest Region - PA DCNR (http://www.gis.dcnr.state.pa.us/railtrails/SouthWest.aspx?RegID=4 - broken link)