Back in 1889 -- in 72 days, six hours and 11 minutes -- daredevil journalist Nellie Bly traveled by ship, train, donkey and rickshaw around the world.

Curt Chandler, Post-Gazette photos The Baker Trail was a popular route around Crooked Creek Lake during the hiking boom in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. In a recently published guidebook, longtime trailkeeper Jim Ritchie warns that the Baker Trail is endangered by development and a lack of maintenance, but is still "an adventure-in-waiting for adventurous people." Click photo for larger image. Hitting the Trails This is part of a weekly series spotlighting hiking and biking trails in the region. Publication of the series coincides with the Hike for Health project promoted by the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, state Department of Health and other agencies to encourage folks to get fit on foot. Related content If you go: The Baker Trail More photos from this story Previous stories Find previous installments of this series at our Hitting the Trails Index More pictures from all the stories in this series: Hitting the Trails Photo Journal Next week McConnells Mill A group of boaters is visible from a vantage point on the Baker Trail overlooking Crooked Creek Lake. Click photo for larger image.

Earlier this month, in about four hours and 45 minutes, I traveled by foot across Armstrong County's Crooked Creek Lake property to Cochran's Mills, the hamlet where Bly was born (as Elizabeth Cochrane).

I also felt a bit daredevilish because I was hiking on the Baker Trail, a far-flung and venerable path that, alas, has fallen into disuse and disrepair.

When it opened in 1950, the trail, named for attorney Horace Forbes Baker, stretched 133 miles from Aspinwall to Cook Forest State Park. Development nibbled away at the southern end, but in 1971, the northern end was extended into the Allegheny National Forest.

Nowadays, it starts near Freeport and covers 141 miles, much of it still on private land. From the start, the trail was administered by the Pittsburgh Council of American Youth Hostels. But with that group practically kaput, the trail has just been adopted by the Rachel Carson Trails Conservancy, formerly the Harmony Trail Council.

This spring, that group released an updated trail guide. In the poetic foreword, longtime trailkeeper Jim Ritchie warns, "Today the Baker Trail is endangered" -- by development and a lack of maintenance as well as a few obstinate landowners. But it's still "an adventure-in-waiting for adventurous people."

I took him up on his invitation to e-mail him, and he recommended this 8.5-mile stretch across a flood control project run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Like Ritchie, my companion and I parked a car at the trailhead near Cochran's Mills and then drove to the dam to start the hike.

Along with a bottle of water and the new guide book, I carried Ritchie's caution that this trail is primitive. Maintenance, which for almost 15 years he's lead almost single-handedly, has lately been "sparse."

He worries that the trail will disappear. "It's totally unprotected as an entity," he says. While it crosses various public lands, "There is no unifying oversight from the government."

I found the yellow blaze trail makers and the trail itself faint enough in several places that I lost my way -- such as one spot where I wandered in a maze-like coal mine area -- but I was able to back up and get on track.

Photographer Curt Chandler, who hiked the trail by himself on a different day, had a difficult and frustrating time. Between navigating downed trees and other obstacles, he took three hours just to reach the west end of the lake. He later described this stretch as "a diamond that's returned to the rough."

He half-joked that he'd recommend hiking it with a chainsaw. But, as on most trails, volunteers are always needed. The young Rachel Carson Trails Conservancy will be looking for stewards for various sections, says member Steve Mentzer. "We intend to get it back in shape."

(On Sept. 18, RCTC project coordinator Patty Brunner will lead Boy Scouts from the Seneca District of the Greater Pittsburgh Council in a day of trail work based at Crooked Creek; to pitch in, call her at 724-325-3224.)

Meanwhile, as ranger John Derby says, this section is not for novices. But if you like a challenge and are experienced at reading blazes, the trail can be a blast.

I loved the early sections that go right past people's homes and quaint camps. As Ritchie writes, "The Baker Trail weaves through the green fabric of Western Pennsylvania like a golden thread on the cloth of life. ... [It] is for the cultural traveler as well as the backpacker."

	Curt Chandler, Post-Gazette One advantage of being on a trail less traveled is seeing an abundance of wildlife, such as this rabbit near an entrance to the Baker Trail at Crooked Creek Lake recreation area. Click photo for larger image.

Sometimes little more than a wispy game trail, the route also takes to paved and dirt country roads -- sections I found enjoyable on a sunny afternoon despite the signs warning that the fields had been sprayed with sewage sludge.

The trail also criss-crosses, and sometimes shares, the white-blazed horse trails of the non-profit Fort Armstrong Horsemen's Association Inc.

Scenic highlights include the old covered bridge to carry hikers over Horney Camp Run, and the dizzying view from the mine near where one of the trail's overnight shelters was located (before it was torched, Ritchie notes, by local "beer-heads").

I'd still love to take two weeks and backpack the entire trail, but this taste of it was sweet.

My companion and I were tuckered but happy as we emerged from the woods onto Route 2025. We were really happy that we could drive, rather than walk, back to our other car.

But first we stopped at a bronze marker mounted on a grindstone to pay homage to the world-record-setting world traveler, Nellie Bly.