Workout Description

Pittsburgh is known for its 675+ staircases, and this unique urban hike takes you on a tour of quite a few of them! The 3.2-mile “loop” takes you from the South Side neighborhood through the city and you summit at a cemetary at the top of Mount Oliver that gives you an extraordinary view of Downtown Pittsburgh.

Difficulty Level: Easy
For more details, please visit: https://www.backpacker.com/trips/pittsburgh-pa-south-side-steps/

From Backpacker.com:

This Pittsburgh neighborhood on the south side of the Monongahela River has the highest concentration of public stairways in the city—an impressive count for a city with more than 700 of them. Some of the houses you’ll pass are only accessible via stairs and the hilly terrain makes this a great workout.

Beginning on Josephine Road, this loop follows a route from the 2009 Step Trek event, a fundraiser and community building event put on by the South Side Slopes Neighborhood Association. You’ll hit the first set of steps (under the Mission Street Bridge) just a few hundred yards into the loop and continue climbing gently as the route loosely follows busy South 18th Street for the next 1.5 miles. You’ll turn left from the sidewalk into South Side Park at Quarry Fields and zig-zag up neighborhood streets, behind tall, crumbling houses. After a steep climb up Quarry Way, stick to the sidewalk –stop to admire the mural across the street—and branch left for a short detour into St. Michael’s Cemetery where you’ll get an excellent view of the city to the north.

Continue following South 18th and drop into Johno’s Art Studio before turning right on Arlington for the short uphill to this route’s high point. You’ll descend for half a mile, dipping toward another city viewpoint on Warrington Ave. and looping west of St. Paul of the Cross Monastery before climbing again up Buckingham Hill. Loop end holds the most impressive stairway, a long, curving beauty with more than 150 steps that descends from Pius Street to South 18th. Cross under the train tracks and head east on the industrial-feeling edge of the South Side back toward your car.

Find the full step trek, including wayfinding points and full directions, at backpacker.com.