Running Up Mt. Washington

Ever since I've moved back to Pittsburgh in 2012 I've had this desire to run up Mt. Washington. I know this sounds strange, especially since I hate running hills, but I was always curious to see if I could accomplish this task. Sunday, June 21st seemed like the perfect opportunity to try this route and I was very happy that Bobby agreed to do it with me!

To start our run we parked at the parking lot near Station Square. To get onto the PJ Mcardle Roadway we ran towards the Liberty Tunnels along Arlington Avenue until we reached the Liberty Bridge. There is a set of stairs under the Liberty Bridge that we took to get to the bottom of Mt Washington. From there we start our long climb. Here is our route which ended up being a total of 2.5 miles (The uphill climb is approximately 1 mile):

Before we started this run, I decided I would walk if I needed to, but I wanted to run as much of this hill as possible. Our motto as we ran uphill was 'slow and steady'.

I was able to run the entire hill! One thing I really enjoyed about this run was that trees lined the sidewalk and it was mostly shaded. This was a nice surprise since it was 73 degrees when we started to run.

One word of caution if you decide to run Mt. Washington; it's not flat when you get to the top! In fact there are more hills when you make it up the big hill!  Here is the elevation profile for the run:

When we decided to run up Mt. Washington we weren't sure if we would run back down. Once we made it to the top we decided we would run along Grandview Avenue then retrace our steps back to the Monongahela Incline. This hill climb actually wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be. Plus when you reach the top there is a huge payoff which includes awesome views of Pittsburgh!

View of Downtown Pittsburgh

View of 'The Point'

After the run we took a quick selfie and then walked to the Monongahela Incline station. The incline costs $2.50 for a one way trip.

Even if you aren't keen on running, I think this would be a great walk as well. Or if you only want to run downhill you could ride the incline up the hill and run back down!

This wasn't a race or a group run, just something I've wanted to try for a long time. Now I can proudly say, "I've ran up Mt. Washington!"

View from inside the Incline Station.