McDonald Trestle

This is the the McDonald Trestle, a well known landmark along the Montour Trail.  

This is where the less groomed Panhandle Trail passes under the Montour Trail.
The Panhandle Trail doesn't get as much traffic or maintenance, but I like the fact that it's an interstate trail, leading well into the West Virginia Panhandle.  

The Montour Trail, by comparison, does a semicircle around the Pittsburgh urban area from Clairton, on the Monongahela, to Coraopolis, on the Ohio.  

Both are "rail trails," old coal railroads that pass through the grittier areas of small towns, old mining villages, and industrial complexes.  

And yet, they pass through open countryside, too, some of it pleasant.  The bleak November landscape is a companion on the journey.