By Karen Price
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, September 16, 2007

Before Pittsburgh was named as the “Most Livable City” by Places Rated Almanac, it was declared the top urban adventure city in the country by National Geographic Adventure magazine.

Among the also-rans in the August 2006 issue were Portland, Ore.; Spokane, Wash.; and Portland, Maine — all cities long known as destinations for city folks who spend their free time in the great outdoors. Dan Koeppel’s article deemed Pittsburgh “revived” and called it a place where “residents can be serious both about their careers and their outdoors.”

“I think everyone was surprised,” said Koeppel, a Los Angeles resident who fell in love with Pittsburgh several years earlier while on assignment for a travel magazine. “Maybe it’s not great that you have to talk people into it, but I think (Pittsburgh) is for real.”

Last month, Shape Magazine listed Pittsburgh as its top city with outdoor appeal, putting it ahead of Tucson, Ariz.; Portland, Ore.; Charlotte, N.C.; and Columbus, Ohio, as up-and-coming spots to visit. The article mentioned the opportunities to kayak the rivers, hike or bike the Great Allegheny Passage, between Pittsburgh and Cumberland, Md., and the Laurel Highlands as some of the best offerings.

The designations reinforced what people who live in the area and bike, kayak, hike or enjoy the outdoors already knew — that virtually anything one wanted to do outside, one can do in Pittsburgh or close to it.

Now, others are starting to figure that out, too.

“It’s happening. It’s really happening,” said Sean Brady, assistant executive director of Venture Outdoors. “In terms of the outdoors, Pittsburgh is approaching the tipping point. I think by 2010 Pittsburgh will be known nationally as an incredible place for outdoor recreation.”

Want to kayak?

Rentals are available at Kayak Pittsburgh at North Park and downtown locations. Venture Outdoors teaches beginner classes every week, and Three Rivers Rowing Association offers leagues, teams and trips for all types of paddlers.

Want to ride a bike?

While efforts to improve safety and accessibility in the city remain a work in progress, paved trails are along all three rivers thanks to efforts by Friends of the Waterfront. Mountain bikers have even more options.

“(Pittsburgh) is as good as anywhere (for mountain biking),” said Maurice Tierney, publisher of national mountain bike magazine Dirt Rag, based in Pittsburgh. “It doesn’t offer the epic proportions of Utah or Colorado, but between the Laurel Highlands and mountain biking in town in the city and county parks, there’s a lot to choose from.”

Want to be in a bike race?

Try the Allegheny Cycling Association for criteriums and road races, or hook up with the Mountain Bike Racing Association of Western Pennsylvania for the Month of Mud series.

Want to hike?

Like mountain bikers, hikers have endless opportunities to hit the trails in city and county parks or travel into state parks for a greater wilderness experience.

Want to ski or snowboard?

Look for that at Seven Springs, Hidden Valley and other smaller resorts sprinkled throughout the area.

Virtually anything that one can do outside can be learned by taking a class through Venture Outdoors, and anyone looking for people to join on outings can put the word out through the Explorer’s Club.

Friends of the Riverfront sponsors the Pittsburgh Triathlon. Several companies, including Grass Roots Racing, put on adventure races during the summer, and there’s rock climbing within an hour’s drive and indoor climbing at The Climbing Wall.

“Pittsburgh has got everything you could possibly want within a short drive — an hour and a half tops — if you can’t find it right here in the city,” said Peter Greninger, outreach specialist for outdoor retail giant REI in the South Side Works. “I’ve lived in Boulder, Colo.; Washington, D.C.; small backcountry towns in Wyoming and the heart of the mountains. Pittsburgh has everything all those towns have except, of course, the really tall mountains. But I prefer the green, the rivers and streams and the lush foliage we have here.”

What’s interesting is that while outdoors enthusiasts in Pittsburgh already know how many opportunities exist, there are plenty of lifelong area residents who don’t.

That discrepancy between the number of Pittsburgh outdoors events and the number of area residents who know about them led to the formation of Venture Outdoors in 2001.

“On the one hand, we had an incredible opportunity to get outside here, and the people who were already into it knew that there aren’t enough days in the week to do everything,” Brady said. “But in 2001, it was such a fringe element of the culture that it was really out-of-sync. Opportunity was out-of-sync with participation.”

Venture Outdoors founder Mike Schiller submitted a proposal to the Richard King Mellon Foundation to create a non-profit group to correct that, and the Western Pennsylvania Field Institute was born. Its first trip was a canoe outing that drew about 20 people, and that year, they led about 20 public programs.

In 2004, it was renamed Venture Outdoors to match the annual festival of the same name. This year, the group is offering 400 public programs.

In September alone, one can find the following options:

• Weekly kayak and fishing excursions.

• Tyke hikes for parents and kids.

• A backpacking trip to the Dolly Sods Wilderness area in West Virginia.

• A fine wine and filet hike that begins with a seven-mile hike in the Laurel Highlands and ends with a meal at the trip leader’s mountain home.

• A bike trip on the Mountour Trail.

“We’re seeing interest and participation start to shoot up,” Brady said. “We’ve had lots of soldout programs this year; lots more than last year. There’s been a big jump in participation.”

One year ago, Brady said Venture Outdoors had 1,000 members. This year, the number is 2,600.

Where there’s participation and need, business follows. REI opened its first Pittsburgh store in 2005 at the South Side Works.

“The outdoor community here is really taking off,” Greninger said. “It maybe was a subculture in the past, but I think, in the next couple years, it is going to really step into the mainstream and be part of what identifies the city and its revitalization.”

Court Gould, executive director of the non-profit group Sustainable Pittsburgh, says that having a well-developed outdoors community benefits more than active participants. It also has an impact on employers coming to the area, talent attraction and retention and increasing property values, among others.

“Ten years ago, we identified outdoor recreation and lifestyle as being one of those key issues to our region’s path toward sustainability because of the link between the environment, the economy and socially positive consequences,” he said. “We can make the case that a community that is planning and accommodating outdoor recreation, trails, bike paths and open spaces is signaling to the investment community that it is a neighborhood or a city that knows what it takes to build places that are worth investing in.”

Gould uses what is happening in towns along the Great Allegheny Passage, including Ohiopyle, Confluence and Meyersdale as an example of recreation contributing to growth and revitalization.

According to research done by the Outdoor Industry Association, the trail connecting Pittsburgh to the C&O Canal towpath generated $7 million in direct spending in 2002.

In June, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy held its annual Greenway Sojourn to celebrate the connection of the Passage and the Canal to form the longest multi-use trail connector in the country.

The Outdoor Industry Association estimated that the Passage would stimulate an estimated $12 to $15 million in direct spending in 2007.

“There is a new wave of economic development where tourists are flooding into some older communities where the economies have been in question for some time,” Gould said. “This is a shot in the arm. It’s raising property values along the trail. It’s leading to the opening of small local businesses, so it’s leading to jobs in direct businesses, like bike rentals and guides, and also indirect businesses, such as suppliers of sporting goods, gas stations and bed and breakfasts.”

Still, even with the strides the area is making, Gould said too many people in the region don’t take advantage of what’s here.

“We have the infrastructure in place,” he said. “Now, we want people getting out there for repeat trials, experiencing outdoor activities a number of times, so that it becomes habitual and leads to lifestyle changes.”

As outreach specialist, part of Greninger’s job description is making sure the outdoor community continues to grow. To that end, the store offers beginner-oriented classes and workshops such as bike maintenance and cooking for backpackers.

It also runs the PEAK program in partnership with Leave No Trace that is designed to teach kids about outdoor recreation and how it impacts the environment around them. It has worked with scout troops, school and church groups as well as inner-city groups to encourage more minorities to get involved in the outdoors.

Venture Outdoors also is part of Pittsburgh Connections. Every Saturday it takes students from CMU and Duquesne on outdoors excursions as a way to help them experience the region and hopefully want to stay after graduation.

“(Pittsburgh’s outdoor community) absolutely doesn’t get the attention now that it deserves,” Greninger said. “It’s a special place where you really can do anything you want within a short drive if you can’t do it in the city. There are few cities that can claim that. And as more and more people recognize that, even native Pittsburghers are starting to realize that.”
Bringing the outdoors home

Here’s a list of several notable non-profits, groups, clubs and organizations that foster participation in the Pittsburgh outdoors scene:

Allegheny Trail Alliance: A group of seven rails-to-trails organizations working to complete the Great Allegheny Passage, a 150-mile multi-use trail between downtown and Cumberland, Md., where it connects to the C&O Canal Towpath and establishes a link between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

Bike Pittsburgh: An advocacy group working to establish Pittsburgh as a city that is increasingly safe, accessible and friendly to bicycle transportation. It lobbied to get bike lanes in Bloomfield, bike racks installed downtown and is holding a series of neighborhood forums with Mayor Luke Ravenstahl to gain input on how to improve bike facilities and infrastructure throughout the city.

Friends of the Riverfront: Its mission is to increase awareness and engagement with the Pittsburgh region’s rivers and riverfronts through activities, stewardship and expansion of water and land trails. The group has been involved in creating nearly all of the trails that run along the three rivers. It also sponsors the Pittsburgh Triathlon.

Pittsburgh Trails Advocacy Group: An all-volunteer organization comprised of mainly mountain bikers that maintains, repairs and rebuilds trails on city, county and state park lands to make them sustainable and safe for bikers, hikers and equestrians.

Venture Outdoors: The non-profit group leads hundreds of trips every year, with an emphasis on teaching beginners new activities, from hiking to kayaking to climbing and beyond. Its mission is to make the outdoor recreation community a vibrant centerpiece of the region.

Karen Price can be reached at kprice@tribweb.com or 412-320-7980.