Potato Creek State Park

Fun trail! Typical Midwest single-track winding through the woods. No steep ups or downs, but definitely not flat. Pretty much a "wheels on the ground" trail. Don't let the "Beginner" designation be a deterrent to giving it a ride. Watch for rocks scattered throughout the trail, some are just right for clipping a derailleur or pedal. My GPS clocks around 8 miles. Nice park with nice facilities.

I really appreciate having the Potato Creek trail in Northern Indiana. This is a great place for beginners to intermediate riders. Beginners will get a taste of many typical MTB trail features including a few dips, minor rock gardens as well as a couple tougher climbs. Intermediate riders will find they can achieve some decent flow out here if they hit enough speed to carry up the small climbs.

This trail system is surrounded by restored wetlands so when our weather is wet in the area, expect a few areas to retain water. If there has been a lot of rain leading in to your intended ride do check trail conditions before heading out and consider another trail which drains better. NIMBA's facebook page usually contains helpful updates on trail conditions and they have a weekly ride here.

Not much to say had more fun behind my house cost too much to get into Park for that ride

One of the fastest trails in Indiana i have ridden. Well maintained trail with excellent camping at the park. Ridden at least a dozen times and have never seen more than 3 people on it. Not technical at all, but fun if you like to ride fast.

This is only the third mtb trail I have ridden but it had a few technical challenges I have never encountered before. It is the most difficult beginner trail I have ridden to date. It was harder for me than the intermediate trails at Franke Park and Bonneyville Mill.

The other reviews cover the ride quality well, some other logistical items: The singletracks app directions feature take you to the wrong side of the park. So follow your way to the beach, park at the nature center of the beach is closed. Parking is free M-F in the a.m. but otherwise there is a per vehicle charge (Michigan parks do that too, Ohio state parks are usually free). The trail drains pretty well. There had been recent rains, so I was ready to not ride if trails were soft. I brought my fat bike to give me the best chance. I found conditions good enough even for normal bikes in most spots. So that was great.

Wow!!! What a trail, all 7.2 miles are perfect and fun. My 9 year old daughter had her best mountain bike ride so far. I would recommend tho trail to anyone that wants to have fun and get their kids going on a mountain bike. Whoever maintains the trail does a fantastic job, much appreciated.

This is a great track for beginners, there are not a lot of jumps and there are not a lot of technical sections but there are enough to keep it fun. They recently put a lot of sand out on the track and in the corners so you can loose a lot of speed going into a corner or slide out a bit more then you were ready for. All and all i like this track a lot as its one of the few i can ride with my wife, she is not as much of an adrenaline junkie as i am. But beware the sand!!!

This trail receives a lot of crap due to it being a beginners trail (which it is), but the trail is really fun. It has one or two difficult technical climbs and some pretty cool little drops. Also this trail has some insane flow and speed in certain sections not to mention some the most beautiful forest scenery around! Making this a perfect example of good quality XC trail. But the trail has a lot of sand even on some climbs, and some of the small jumps are wore down.

Overall very good. Not overly difficult. Nice scenery. Lacking some of the difficulty of other top trails. Fun though.

Nice flowing single track. It' a beginner trail but very nice trail system. Marked well.

Overall a pretty fun trail. Not much technical stuff. Fast trail. Not many steep downhills or uphills. Good beginer trail. Biggest downfall to me is that it is fairly sandy, best to ride a day or two after a rain. The moisture helps to pack the soil.

Fun and flowing trail. There was enough technical obstacles to make it interesting. Fun, fast trail to ride. Beat my expectations.

NIMBA has expanded the trail in the spring of 2012 by adding another .5 miles of flowing trail to the middle section of the trail. At the end of June 2012 NIMBA re routed the rutted climb at the start of the trail into several gradual looping turns. The new sections in the middle have add more fun flow. This is the fastest single track in Northern Indiana and you have a lake with a beach at the start of the trail to cool off in. Awesome single speed trail.

The best part of this trail was seeing a momma and baby deer! There are a few rocks on the trail but nothing too technical; mostly fun, fast, and easy. When I rode it there were 3 guys on the trail who I'm pretty certain were drunk. At one point a guy fell off his bike and I just sat there watching 3 drunk guys try to figure out how to fix a bike. Made the ride a lot more interesting. My whole point is- if they can ride it intoxicated, you can ride it sober! So check it out, and enjoy!

Fun, fast, and flowy explain what this park is like. It is not technical at all, but it can be very fun and fast.

Potato Creek is fast. For northern IN, it is super fun. I topped out at 24 mph at one point. Its not the most techy trail ever. But it is a super fun ride that you can really just go out and get some! Heres the loop:
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1246487

* Review edited 8/26/2011

I like Poatao Creek MTB trail it's a really nice trail for the beginer (which at the moment I am) when i first rode it I walked the bike over the rock sections as they were a bit intimidating to me, but on my 2nd visit there (after some advice from a seasoned mtb pal) I rode across each of the rock sections without much trouble, I think the key thing for the begining mtb'er is not to think about it to much, just pick a line & keep moving when you come up on an obsticle. to date i have ridden potato creek just 3 times & the only downside to the trail for me is that it is 35-40 miles from where i live, which stinks as it's a very nice course in my opinion...& I would ride it more often if i lived closer.* Review edited 1/31/2011

This is fun flowing singletrack trail. There aren't any steep climbs or big downhills. It's not all that techinal to where you're rubbing knuckles on trees pasing by. There are some rock gardens and a couple dips. This is not a place to go if you're looking for tough training. This can be a fast fun loop that is easily done twice. I look forward to coming back and riding it again. The trail is well maintained and well marked. Now that the leaves have started to fall someone went out and lined part of the trail with small flags to show where the actual path is. I only encountered 1 walker on the trail (which happened to be an older person so maybe they didn't realize they were on a bike path)

The Potato Creek mountain bike trail is very well designed and fun. Though it is listed as a beginner trail, there are a couple of areas the beginner may struggle with on their first pass. The trail incorporates a good mix of flat areas, a few rock piles, some narrow tracks along hills, slight inclined areas and fun downhill sections that are groomed. It is not a technical course, nor is it a downhill riders dream or a climbers training ground. It is a great trail to ride as a beginner since it includes small elements of all things mountain bike trails should have. The advanced rider may find it somewhat lacking in hard-core adventure but it is doubtful they would find it boring, especially on a group ride where rider skills vary greatly.

The trail’s distance is puzzling- it can be found to be anywhere from 6 to 7 miles in length. A GPS tracking of the course produced the following data: 5.876 miles; min. altitude- 564ft.; max. altitude- 865ft.

Overall, if you are looking at getting into mountain biking, you would be hard pressed to find a more suitable trail in the area to find out if this sport is for you. Make a couple of passes, come back another day and make a couple more. You will know if it is something for you or not.