Riverview Park

First visit was interesting. Wanted to see the allegheny observatory and drive up there. The observatory is interesting because it really pioneered the development of ‘Standard Time’ in the 1800s to assist the railroads, which I learned upon arrival. Unfortunately, it’s being renovated so it was closed :-(. The park appears to have a ton of trails – can’t wait to try them out!

The wind rustles through the trees, you can hear birds singing, and I’ve got three deer in my line of vision. Who would have thought you were 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh?
I grew up in the country, peace and quiet are kind of my thing. I’m so glad that Riverview Park has a nice wilderness feel while still having a «city folk» friendly side. Rascal, my beagle, and I have spent several afternoons getting lost on the wooded trails, chasing squirrels, deer, and bugs.
I saw one other group of people, walking a dog, on the trail today. Other than that, we only encountered five squirrel and three deer. Too bad I didn’t have my camera ready for that shot. Of course, Rascal, being the bumbling dolt that she is, scared them all away before we could get the chance to say hi. :)

I’ve been coming here for years. It’s only until recently that I had started taking the wooded trails. There’s something about the solitude of the of taking the dirt path. The path that has only been formed by the like minded person, wanting to get away from the cars and the concrete. The creaking of the trees blowing in the wind. When you hear leaves rustling in the distance and suddenly see a doe and her fawn crossing the same path. Rarely do you find another person. If you do, there usually walking a dog. I’ve even seen someone on horseback once.
As for those who like something a little more flat. The white lined section that’s part of the road is I believe 2.2 miles round. It’s impossible to get lost. The park has been around since 1894 and is 287 acres. It’s full of playgrounds and halls for rental. There’s even an observatory open to the public.
Being located inside the city of Pittsburgh as you can imagine, it unfortunately is also susceptible to a lesser class of individuals that sometimes ruin the experience to others. Although this I found occurs on a rare occasion. It does happen.

Went to a party at the Chapel Pavilion. Wasn’t hard to find for me, as I have a trusty GPS in my car (thank god). Kind of annoying that the drive is one way in the park, as the Chapel Pavilion is JUST to the left of the entrance. I’m not saying that driving around the park wasn’t pretty or nice, I just had to get somewhere on time!
The Pavilion itself is beautiful! Tons of colorful flowers outside. Kitchen has a fridge and sink. There’s a CLEAN bathroom! Plenty of porch to sit on, grass to play on, and riverrock-​like area to run around on, too. This place is great for parties. Not sure what it’s like to reserve or how much, but I can say that I had a good time there!

Riverview Park is probably one of the nicest parks I’ve seen in the Pittsburgh area (North Side). It’s a great place for kids to play, have a picnic, and just enjoy the outdoors. This may sound a bit odd, but I’m a huge fan of the playground’s rubber ground. If any of you work with kids or have kids, you can understand why it’s a nice change of pace from cement and wood chips.
On July 20 from 10am-​1pm, the Roving Art Cart returns to Riverview Park! Kids are able to create different art pieces, get their face painted, watch a clown make balloon art, and much more. Just make sure you and your kids have hats, plenty of sunblock, and a water bottle!

One of the main reasons I chose to live in the Observatory Hill neighborhood after living here a few years ago is Riverview Park. I am an avid runner, I spend lots of my marathon training hours at Riverview. It’s a beautiful, clean park where everyone you pass smiles and says hello. Anyone who has ever run at North Park knows what a rarity that can be. The trails are decent, good for jogging and hiking. Most days you’ll see more deer than people on the hiking trails. The paved loop around the park is approximately 2.5 miles with a few hills, a large one if you take the paved path the opposite way of traffic. Nice picnic pavilions. Cute playground. Riverview 5k is a great race to run in the city, one of the only 5k races I know of to be offered in the evening. We love the music and movies in the park in the summer months! If the trails were better tended this would be a 5 star park for sure!

A beautiful 287 acre park that features marvelous walking trails, horseback riding and pavilion rentals. In the center of the park is the Allegheny Observatory, and you can sign up for free tours, however you must call for a reservation. There is a 2 mile trail that loops around the park, however the trail is not well marked, so a trail map is recommended. There are some steep slopes in the park, which some will find charming, some will find challenging. Deer are plentiful, as are song birds.

4.5 stars.
Riverview Park is considered the gem of Pittsburgh’s North Side and it was created in 1894. It predates the City of Allegheny’s annexation to the City of Pittsburgh in 1907. It’s home to the Allegheny Observatory, a visitor’s center, and the Mairdale Watershed. It’s also got many recreational amenities such as a swimming pool, playground, baseball diamonds, and of course hiking trails.
And it was the hiking that brought me and my girlfriends here this past weekend. We are avid hikers and we’d never been here before. There’s nothing quite like hiking on a bee-​you-​tee-​full October day. Now granted, we prefer hiking on cool fall days when that crisp bite in the air gets our blood going. But hey, when the weather’s this great, who cares?
We met up at the visitor’s center, which is accessible from Perrysville Avenue and Watson Boulevard via Riverview Avenue. We began with an easy hike going counterclockwise on the Observatory Trail. This is an approximately ½ mile loop and it gives you a great overview of the Observatory and the park. We then crossed the main road and entered the east end of the park, via the Old Kilbuck Trail. We then made a clockwise loop via the Leaning Ash Trail, the Marshall Trail, the Ground Hog Haven Trail, and the Old Zoo Trail. Then we made our way down the Overlook Trail to the Chapel Shelter.
By this point we hiked about 2.75 miles and decided to take a snack break. I have type-​1 diabetes so I needed to «sugar up». The Chapel Shelter is a remnant of a former Presbytarian church, restored by the Pittsburgh Parks Conservacy in 2008. The restoration included creating a new trail, planting of native species and the clearing out of invasive species.
From this point we decided to take it up a notch a little bit. Resuming our clockwise direction, we returned to the Overlook Trail and then took that to the Snyder’s Point Loop Trail. We looped on that before taking the Deer Hollow Trail back to the Overlook Trail and then returning to the visitor’s center.
After taking another break here, we decided to kick it in even more. We decided to go for the rigorous hike as recommended by the park’s website. We hit the Wissahickon Trail and then went up towards the park’s northern edge via the Archery Trail, the Snowflake Trail, and back east via the Archery Trail again. But then the hike grew more difficult! We resumed the Wissahickon Trail, arced around the picnic grove, before taking the steps up to the road and followed it to the Bob Harvey Trail. We followed that trail to the Bear Pit, then paused to catch our breath (pant, pant) before returning to the Visitor’s Center. Man, that last part of our hike really had some steep ups and downs!
So as Rachel said, this is a stunning park and it’s well worth your visit. But the trails are not well marked and you would be wise to bring a map. The park’s website
has a good one. Although I recommend using a good topography map along with the park’s map. A topo map will show you what you’re getting into on the trails. We hiked almost 7 miles without leaving the park’s borders. Man, I must have sweated off 10 lbs. on that hike!

Came here for the hiking trails, where were okay… but not exactly what I was expecting. It was more like random beaten paths with random forks and no real direction or trails or signs.
It’s a nice day to just wander about, lots of people walking/​jogging on the asphalt road that runs through the park. I guess it’s also kind of weird to be on a «trail» but see into people’s backyards and a huge road.
But whatever! It’s a nice park to have a picnic on the grass!

Dear Friends,
This is an absolutely stunning park. I’ll visit often now that I’ve realized this. Only thing is, I was told to be at the Chapel Pavilion and I figured… easy. Not so much… not so much…
The park has a couple roads that run through the actual grounds. A couple of those, as I found out today, are dead ends. Also, you can’t technically follow along the outside of the park because it zigs and zags all the way around. I zigged and zagged my way around that park past million dollar homes and sketch neighborhoods (funny how it changes so much up there). I was scared, I was alone, I was petrified.
So handy dandy technology helped me a BIT because I was able to FINALLY locate a map of the park and the road I wanted to take to find the Chapel Pavilion. So a half an hour later I show up. Good thing the party hadn’t ended (or started since I wasn’t there yet, what what!).
Once I got there I was able to appreciate my surroundings. It’s a lucscious green masterpiece filled with trees, grass and hills galore. Great if you want a good work out or a semi-​hike. Or just settle in on one of the hills, relax and read a book. There’s a cute little playground to bring the kiddies. Plus, you’re able to rent out the Church Pavilion for special events, which I read was an actual church back in the day.
Just for God’s sake, print out a map! Be warned!
Unicorns and Rainbows,
Rachel