Potato Creek State Park: Hike Report

This is a hike report that I originally posted on the Great Lakes Hikes Yahoo Group:

02/02/03

On Saturday, I headed out with Kathy for a little hiking fun at Potato Creek SP, just west of South Bend, IN. We did about 4 miles on trails #1 and #2 in the northern sections of the park. Terrain was rolling with some good inclines. The lake is a great visual feature and the forest is very pleasant. The lake is currently frozen, so the only "hikers" we ran into were ice fishermen toting their gear out to the lake. Snow was pretty thick on the trails and temperatures were about 36 when we went out. The result was difficult hiking in marginal conditions. It kind of reminded me of sand hiking as the snow on the hills slid us down a half step for every one walked. Snowshoes probably would have been a good option, especially considering that this area seems to get lake effect snow.

That said, this is a really nice place. I'd estimate that there are about 15 miles of trail when you total the hike routes, bike path and bridle trails. There is camping available, although it is in established campgrounds. There also seem to be a few old roads that are not always marked on the map.

Overall, the place seemed a lot like Fort Custer SRA in Michigan. The trails were nice with some good route options in a developed park setting.

Hike rating: 3 boots out of 5.

05/11/04

To the west, you've got Potato Creek State Park just south of South Bend. This isn't a bad park and you get some nice trails along some manmade lakes. We've had a good time hiking there in the past.

I've hiked a little bit in NE Indiana, but I haven't found a really great magic bullet hike yet. I've tried Potato Creek SP near South Bend, Pokagon SP near Coldwater, MI and the Pigeon River SWA near Mongo. Potato Creek and Pokagon are quite nice for dayhiking although they are quite developed. Both have some nice lakes and decent hills. I've always thought that Pigeon River would make for a nice longer distance trail considering the amount of public land -11,000 acres - but the only thing I've seen is a rather sandy horsetrail. But I need to explore it more.