Explore the best rated trails in Elkhart, IN, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Granger Paths and Mishawaka Riverwalk . With more than 52 trails covering 4019 miles you're bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
It’s a fun little trail with a lot of nature to admire
We began our ride on the far north end, at the Plym Park trailhead in Niles. Parking is more than adequate and very safe. However, as with the entire trail, there are no modern bathrooms. Simply a porta-potty every now and then. Plym Park seems like such a nice place and we were pretty surprised at the lack of facilities there.
The first 2.5 miles is probably not our favorite that we've ever done, and that's trying very hard to be diplomatic. The signage was non-existent, the crossings were poorly marked (especially the first major crossings at Wayne St and M-139. No buttons to push for crossing at a very dangerous and partially obstructed intersection. At worst, they need a push-button flashing yellow, probably a Hawk light. Either way, we made it past there to the riverfront part of the trail. Again, lots of beauty here, but it was hard to take your eyes off of the trail in front of you because the roots that have undergrown this part of the trail have caused massive bumps and ruts. This continued for the entirety of the Niles (city) part of the trail until we reached Fort Street, a little over 2 miles in to the journey. We had decided to ride the hybrids today and not the road bikes. We were very glad we had made that decision.
Once we crossed over Fort Street, we rode along a fairly new section of the trail alongside 3rd Street. This was MUCH better pavement conditions. However, about a half mile down, you are required to cross this very busy street with (again) no lights, no flashers, etc., just on your own with some white paint on the road. Crossing over, you ride a circular trail cut through a nature park, which is nice because it takes you away from this very busy street. (It was our bad luck that a very large tree had come down overnight and forced us to "portage" over this tree! Never had that experience before.) Once back to 3rd St., you hit US12, which is a major road. Fortunately, there are very good pedestrian crossing signals here, and we didn't have any issues in either direction. Crossing this, you are dead-straight North/South for the next 3.5 miles until you are almost on Notre Dame's campus. This is a very nice ride with the exception that there are probably seven or eight cross streets so a lot of stops. Not dangerous crossings, but ones that prevent you from going a nice distance to stretch your legs out.
Once you reach Douglas Road and Business US 31, you are on the NW tip of the campus. Lots of great places to ride there which are not part of this trail, so I won't talk about them here.
Overall, it's a decent trail and the City of Niles is actively working on it, patching many of the bad spots with new pavement, as well as clearing brush and trees that are encroaching, so props to them for their efforts. Unfortunately, there are just SO many place that need fixing, they are fighting a losing battle against those tree roots. We're glad we got to finally experience this trail. Unfortunately, its lack of facilities and poor pavement quality make it a three-star at best, and that's only to the south of Niles. North of Fort St, no more than two.
Rode this trail last year. Started in Goshen and headed toward Middlebury. There is a large section of trail that is exposed to the wind. Chose a calm day, it’s not pleasant riding into a 20 mph wind!¿
Very well kept and comfortable trail. Effective July '24 extends an additional mile or so beyond what's indicated here, along the Sylvan Lake dam on the west end.
The trail is nice but be careful with small sinkholes . There are many ….. at least at the section from South Heaven (I rode about 15 miles). I rode in one of them and fell down pretty badly.
I rode from Kalamazoo to South Haven, staying 2 nights in South Haven, and returning to Kalamazoo on July 1. I love this trail and my trip was great. The east part of the trail is narrower and has more shade and the surface is older. About midway the trail is wider and has fresh crushed limestone. I stopped at a Dollar General at Bloomingdale to get snacks for lunch and to use their restroom. I plan to do the trail in the fall when it will be a different experience.
Rode from South Haven to Grand Junction. State did a great job of rebuilding trail by widening, improving drainage and building a new bridge. However, the loose crushed stone makes it difficult.
We love riding both sections of the Nickle Plate trail. However the section in the middle though the town of Peru isn't the most enjoyable. It's not really well marked.
As of June 2024 trail is now fully open.
This trail is very poorly marked through the downtown area. No directional signs or designated bike lanes. I was completely confused about where I should be biking- street or sidewalk? Connecting to the pumpkinvine trail took a lot of guess work and stopping to check my google map.
In April a limestone parking area was added to the east side of Starke County Road 700 East adjacent to the current southeast trailhead. On May 25 a 5K Run and 3K Walk was held beginning a few feet northwest of this location. The starting point for the event is painted on the pavement with the turnarounds for the 5K Run and 3 Walk also painted--for persons training for other competitions and a possible repeat event here in 2025.
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