Picnic Table at the End of the World

It seems like the end of the world, though it's right here in crowded Allegheny County. Behind the abandoned farmhouse described below, there's a long-disused parking lot. Dead weeds rattle in the wind, pushing through cracks in the pavement. Old lamp posts lie in the snow like felled trees.

At the far end of this bleak expanse, there's a sharp descent into the wooded valley of Pinkerton Run. And here at the cusp of the valley, just at the edge of the old parking lot, sits this lonely picnic table. It's almost inviting.

Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a frozen pond in the intense silence of winter. Despite a popular wave pool and a few blazed trails, Settler's Cabin Park is 1,610 acres of mostly untamed woods. It's called a "park," which conjures images of fountains and statues. But it's really more of a woodland reserve. Many unmarked trails traverse the area.

You can follow the steeply descending ridgeline down away from the picnic table, into the deep valley. At the valley floor, there's a trail that follows the brook upstream into the snowy woods toward the pond. You have to ford the run. I hadn't walked across a frozen stream in a long, long time. Made me feel younger than I am. It also made me feel daring, since the only other set of footprints were made by someone who didn't have the nerve to cross on the ice.

I can't decide what kind of sylvan creature forded the stream on this fallen log. They're cat-like paws, but my guess is a porcupine. Whatever it is, I'm kind of jealous. I often think about spending the night alone in the forest in the winter, huddling for warmth in a debris hut beneath the snow. Everything is so still, so quiet, so solitary. I always forget how beautiful the winter is until I find myself out in it.