Potato Creek Loop

Dogs Leashed

Features Birding · Fall Colors · Fishing · Lake · Spring · Wildflowers · Wildlife

Nice lake, spring, pond. Mostly woods running on a double wide trail that is well maintained.

Entrance fee to the park is $7 (currently) for residents. Unsure non-residents of the state.

This is a great 6.3 mile run with a good couple of hills at the end if you're looking for a good running workout (backwards you get the hills out of the way sooner). This starts at the nature center, but could be started from the playground just north. When you get on the trail, stay to along the lake at the junctions, or you'll end up back at your car like I did.

Trail 1 T's into Trail 2 about half way to the junction over to trail 4's loop. The junction is a gravel single lane with a creek at the bottom. Trail 2 will point the opposite direction from where you want to go for Trail 4 when you get to the gravel road. (If you have a dog, the creek is accessible and my hound was more than happy to cool off for a second and grab a drink.)

After the creek crossing, you'll find where Trail 4 crosses the gravel road the first time and go left.

Trail 4 loops through some woods and then along the cemetery, heading back along the lake to where the foundation for the farmers house that owned the land originally lived, and the storage house that is still by the spring fed pond.

Once you get past the pond, the trail isn't marked well for this direction and you may end up at a fishing spot if you go left. The Trail 4 marker where the trail T's is only tagged for running the other direction. Follow that up the hill and not to the lake.

Once you get back to the gravel road, cross back over the stream and continue Trail 2 from where we left it up the hill.

Trail 2 from here is a long climb including some stairs and a "summit" even further past those. The rest of the run out tames out after that taking you back to the playground just north of the nature center.

Originally farmland, lake is spring fed and has a dam at one end. The park includes running, horse, and MTB trails and is a favorite of local fishermen.