Unable to travel, my summer sojourn is to ride Indiana's rail trails. I rode the Nickel Plate between Peru and Kokomo (return) and it's my favorite so far. Upon leaving Peru you cross the Wabash but also several smaller streams. Most of this bonus scenery occurs within a third of the distance to Kokomo. The trail is smooth and well maintained. It is well-shaded.
The first portion south of Peru also has a tree canopy -- nice. Downtown Kokomo is a fine place to R&R before heading back. The trails through Kokomo are appealing, there are murals, and you can eat at a converted railway depot. I have driven past Kokomo about 100 times but this my first visit to the spiffed-up downtown. I hope to do the northern portion of the trail -- Peru to Rochester -- on a future trip.

I started at the southern trailhead parking lot (junction of 35 & 931) and rode to Peru and back, so I am only reviewing the southern half of the trail (which seems to be the nicest section according to other reviews I've read). This is a great trail to ride if you want to get away from people and noise and civilization for a while. The trail will take you through farmland and woods, surrounded by a wall of green and a canopy of shade. Many times I just stopped and enjoyed the peace and quiet ... no noise except for the birds, cicadas, and even an occasional rooster off in the distance.
I rode for 25 minutes without passing another biker on the trail. Such a peaceful ride! There are a number of streets to cross, but since you are out in the country, there are rarely any cars.
As many others have mentioned, bring some snacks and plenty of water, as there are no places to stop on the southern half until to you get to Peru. You will pass through a few tiny unincorporated towns that have nothing to offer the thirsty of hungry biker. Also, you may want to douse yourself with bug spray as I was getting pelted in the head with bugs at certain times.
Note: at the southern terminus, they have extended the path to take you into Kokomo, which is good because I was extremely hungry at that time and was able to enjoy the best Reuben sandwich I've ever had at a great Irish pub named Cook McDoogal's.
Need to de-stress? Ride the Nickel Plate!

This trail is the continuation of the Pumpkinvine Trail into and through northern part of Goshen. It is paved, mostly concrete, fairly narrow, like a side walk, and west of the Oakridge Cemetery it becomes a side walk. It connects with the Mapleheart Trail leading towards Elkhart.

This 17 mile linear rail trail is quite scenic, partly shaded, slightly hilly, and mostly paved with asphalt. Near Goshen there is a section of hard packed limestone easily negotiable with road bike. Several new sections have been completed in recent years, but there remains a short segment (about 1 mile) between Goshen and Middlebury on country roads without any shoulder.
You pass many Amish farms complete with horse-drawn buggies and carts. You encounter many Amish folk bicycling the trail and farmers mowing their fields with a team of horses. Within the town of Goshen at the southwest terminus the trails signs and mile markers end abruptly and you have to pick your way along the river and through Oakridge cemetery to connect to the Mapleheart Trail which takes you to Elkhart.

Starting in Rochester, there’s a section where the deer flys WILL EAT YOU ALIVE. Wife and I have bleeding bites from the flys, the crossings are soooo dangerous!!! Trees are not trimmed and you can’t see the on coming traffic, This is a DANGEROUS trail!!!! Please trim the trails. Otherwise, it’s all paved. Travel at your own risk!!!!

We were looking for a medium-distance trail to stop and ride in order to break up a long drive home from a vacation in Michigan, and picked this one because it was not far off of our route. In the searching, I noticed that there was a bike shop located right on the trail, the Pumpkinvine Cyclery in Middlebury. We decided to start there, figuring the proprietor would perhaps have good intel on the best place to eat. This turned out to be a good decision. The shop was a fine little biking establishment, and the proprietor indeed set us straight on a great place to eat. He also had no problem with us parking the car in his lot for the duration of our ride. So off we went on the 11 miles to Goshen. What a gorgeous ride! Even though rain clouds threatened, we thoroughly enjoyed the twisting and turning route through the farmland. As of July 2020, I can report that the trail surface is excellent. We were riding on a day when the temps were at or above 90 farenheit, and were pleased to find that probably over 50% of the trail is shaded by tree canopy. It was a Friday afternoon, and we pretty much had the trail all to ourselves. I suppose the prospect of rain kept everyone inside.

At Goshen, we detoured off the trail to find the Goshen brewery, as the bike shop had suggested. Excellent choice! The food was delicious and the beer was top notch. As always, the ride back seemed shorter than the ride out. We were packing up to leave when we noticed one of the car's tires had gone flat. Just our luck, all the tire shops in town had just closed for the night, so we opted to get a room rather than drive hours on a donut. Thus, we were afforded the opportunity to ride more of the trail the next day.

The tire having been plugged early the next morning, we rode the shorter 6 mile stretch from Middlebury to Shipshewana, which is much more of a normal straight-as-an-arrow rail trail, but features very scenic farms all around. This being a beautiful Saturday morning/afternoon, the trail was much more crowded than the day before, but everyone was courteous and showed perfect trail etiquette. In Shipshewana, there are a couple of excellent Amish restaurants. We chose the Blue Gate, and once again enjoyed a stellar meal.

All in all, this trail is highly recommended for the casual rider who is looking for a leisurely ride through the countryside.

Once you get to know the trail, it’s great. There are a lot of points around downtown that I had to have my phone out to navigate. We rode the trail a few times over the weekend and by the second try at it, we were good.

I biked on this trail for the first time this summer and thoroughly enjoyed it. We parked at the Krider World's Fair Garden in Middlebury and hopped on the trail from there.
If you are looking to unplug and get away from your daily stresses and get out into nature, then the Pumpkinvine is for you. This is a well maintained, mostly shaded trail that winds through farmland and the countryside. Enjoy the quiet, the birds, and the views of Amish homes and buggies. It is an easy ride with very few hills or inclines.
We ate supper at Das Essenhaus (recommended!) which is only a five minute drive from the Krider Gardens.
Will definitely be riding this every summer!

Smooth, slight Curves and perfect for all types of trail activities (stroller running too!)