The Baker Trail

The Baker Trail Guide

Hiker Alerts - January 200

• Follow the blazes at all times; if the map in the Trail Guide conflicts with the blazes, follow the blazes.
• Hikers have been denied access to the Kiski Junction Bridge, where the Baker Trail crosses the Kiski River near the village of Schenley between Armstrong and Westmoreland Counties, by the new owners of the Kiski Junction Railroad Co. The new company runs a short line railroad from Baghdad to Schenley along the Kiski River hauling freight and providing amusement rides on the weekends. Be advised that the Baker Trail is CLOSED over that Bridge. Trespassers may be cited and fined. There is no detour at this time. The section of the Baker Trail from Route 356 in Garver's Ferry to Kiski Junction may only be used for in-and-out hiking. All northbound through-hiking must begin in Schenley
• Directly north of Cook Forest State Park, the Baker Trail is in the process of relocating to a new route. Upon leaving the Park northbound, take Jack’s Hollow Road left to Maple Creek Road; turn right, cross the bridge over Maple Creek, and make a left off Maple Creek Road at the yellow blazes. Southbound, turn right at Maple Creek Road, cross the bridge over Maple Creek, turn left on Jack’s Hollow Road; in about 200 yards, turn right and follow the yellow blazes into Cook Forest State Park. This detour is necessary because the landowner, Ray Musthaler of Troy Hill, Pittsburgh, has denied access.
• The Schenley Shelter is not open for public use. The landowner, Allegheny Sand and Gravel, has prohibited access to hikers.
• The North Freedom Shelter (Langville) has been rebuilt (1999) in a new location; call (412) 828-0210 for details. Backpackers are still welcome to tent-camp at the site of the old North Freedom Shelter.
• The Corsica Shelter (Corsica) has been rebuilt (1999) in a new location, approximately 2-3 miles north of Corsica and directly on the trail. Backpackers are still welcome to tent-camp at the site of the old Corsica Shelter, approximately 3 miles north of the new shelter.
• Backpackers may tent-camp at the site of the old Fisher Shelter at the peak of McNaughton Hill.
• In addition to the shelter areas, tent-camping is also possible at (south to north) Crooked Creek Park Campground near Ford City, the Milton Loop Campground near Dayton, the Cook Forest State Park Campground (Cooksburg), and anywhere in the Clear Creek State Forest. Also, Mr. Himes of Heathville (Mayport P.O.) will allow camping upon request on his property.
• Shelters at Crooked Creek, Cochran’s Mill, Idaho, Atwood, Milo Weaver, Mahoning, North Freedom, Summerville, and Corsica are all open.
• Cherry Run, near Crooked Creek. Still a wet crossing. We are once again pursing the possibility of rebuilding the cable bridge across Cherry Run.
• Road sections of the Baker Trail are not always well-marked. You will need the Baker Trail Guide Book to follow the trail over those sections.
• Never stop in people’s yards or in their driveways to rest or repair. There have been several complaints of hikers congregating in yards to eat lunch and to apply/remove bandages, sometimes leaving litter behind. Please stop in a private area away from yards and driveways and carry out all your trash.

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Paying Back

A Thank You to All Trail Maintainers

Over the past several years, many AYHers have taken on a special mission: the rehabilitation, maintenance, and preservation of the Baker Trail and the Rachel Carson Trail. Much has been accomplished: the trails are open and they are being used. The number of people who have helped for a day, a weekend, a summer, a year or for several years is now in the hundreds. These are people, not only from Pittsburgh and its environs, but also from Butler, Kittanning, Brookville, Sheffield, Summerville, Johnsonburg, Clarion, East Brady, Heritage, Ford City, Brockway, Leechburg, Vandergrift, Indiana, Hershey, State College, and many other locales in and beyond Western Pennsylvania.

Our maintainers have blazed, chain sawed, brushed, cut grass, built water bars, laid new trail, and picked up litter in the rain, in 100 degree heat, in all four seasons. They work on weekend camp-out crews, on day trips to strategic locations, and they work as adopt-a-trail volunteers, taking care of their personal sections of trail. The experiences they've shared include fall evenings at the Girl Scout Campground at Cook Forest, sitting out the thunder and lightning at the Crooked Creek group campground; the time we watched warily as the waters of Mahoning Creek inched their way to the Milton Loop Campground, dinners at the Vowinckle Hotel in Cook Forest, Stockdale's Restaurant in Dayton, and Pitzer's at Crooked Creek, the December maintenance trip when it rained all day long in the 35 degree air and we had to keep working frantically just to keep warm; sawing through a 2 foot diameter fall hemlock with a bow saw in North Park; and jumping along the Rachel Carson putting up blazes at the "transitions", among many others.

As we head into 2000, I want to take this brief moment to say 'thank you' to all who have lent a hand (and a foot or two and a muscle or three) in our efforts to maintain and preserve a part of our Western Pennsylvania heritage and our common experience. Five years, ten years from now, hikers will still be enjoying the experience of "walkin' the trail" that we helped be there for others.

Thanks!

by Jim Ritchie

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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR 2000

Adopt-A-Trail Especially

Each year, some of our adopt-a-trail volunteers on the Baker Trail and the Rachel Carson Trail retire, moving on to the "rest" of their lives, making it necessary to constantly be recruiting replacements. Adopters are asked mainly to paint new blazes for us; for one year, or two years, or whatever they can give us.  AYH pays for the paint and brushes, I send you a map and give you a tour, and you supply a day's labor (or two) each year. If you want to do an extra day or two, you can move debris (downed trees and branches) off the trail, or if you like to do chain saw work, we certainly won't say no. But mainly, we need painters.

If you would like to take a try at taking care of a wonderful trail, getting yourself into the outdoors, give me a call and let me know your interest: my number is (412) 828-0210-leave a message if I'm out. You can also send email to jlr@budget.ba.pitt.edu.

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