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The difference a trail makes: the area south of the bridge over the Little Elkhart River

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 Every time I ride the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail over the trestle bridge spanning the Little Elkhart River in Middlebury, I’m reminded of how bad the area south of the bridge looked before it was turned into the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail. I remember it as something like a dump, and I’m amazed to see how much better it looks today with the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail on the east side and Krider World’s Fair Garden on the west. They make an inviting and pleasing place to visit or ride through. 

I’ve mentioned the transformation of the area south of the bridge to many of my riding companions over the years, but when I looked for a photo of the area to prove my point, I couldn’t find any in my Pumpkinvine picture collection.

Then today while scanning some old Pumpkinvine slides, I found one from 1989 that shows the area. The slide is indexed as “Looking south from Middlebury bridge.” You can also identify the area from two details in the photo. On the near left you see the railing of the bridge, and on the right is the windmill in Krider Garden. The area doesn’t look as junk-filled as I remember it, but keep in mind that it was another six years before the Pumpkinvine was built in this area, so it could have gotten worse in that time. 

It is also important to note that this view of Krider World’s Fair Garden is prior to its renovation. It was not in good shape in 1989. Together the new Garden and Pumpkinvine result in a striking transformation of this Middlebury area.

 

FAQs about the new Pumpkinvine section between CR 33 and CR 20

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Q: Is this section finished?

A: No, it is rideable, but not finished. Additions will include privacy fencing near the overpass and at CR 33, a donor- recognition area, a second entrance-exit to County Road 20 and signage.

Q: Why is there a curb along part of the trail just north of the overpass?

A: The curb is designed to keep gravel from the lane just south of the trail from coming onto the asphalt trail. This lane gives the landowners access to the land they own south of the trail.
Q: Why is there an overpass in this section?
A: The overpass is the result of negotiations between the Friends of the Pumpkinvine, Elkhart County Parks and the adjacent landowners who had land and buildings on both sides of the trail. The Friends and Elkhart County Parks did not want the trail to leave the old Pumpkinvine corridor in this area because it would have put the trail into wetlands. But the landowners were reluctant to divide their property with the trail.  The Friends of the Pumpkinvine and Elkhart County Parks promised an overpass if the landowners permitted the trail to stay on the old Pumpkinvine corridor and avoid the wetlands in this section.
Q: Why are there concrete sections on the trail?
A: One concrete section along County Road 20 is for a driveway and a possible future driveway. The others represent easements that allow the landowner with land on both sides of the corridor to cross the corridor with heavy equipment now or in the future. These concrete easements are consistent with other easements along the Pumpkinvine.

Q: Who built the overpass?
A: Custom Manufacturing, Clinton, Wisconsin.

Walkers benefit from the new trail section, too

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A note from Friends of the Pumpkinvine board member Vivian Schmucker, our most faithful walker and advocate, about her first walk on the new section of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail between CR 33 and CR 20 reminded me that this new section will be a welcome addition to the trail for walkers as much as it is for bikers.

Even before it was officially open, I saw area residents walking down the trail enjoying its beauty and safety.  But Vivian walks with a greater purpose: she is training. She participates in the Maple City Walk’s marathon walk in the fall that uses the Pumpkinvine as it’s main venue, and in the past, walkers needed to use county roads for 3.4 miles (1.7 miles each way) of the 26.2-mile marathon course. Now the new section of the trail has eliminated two miles of that on-road route, making for a much safer walk.

Comment from Vivian:  “Since the distance between CR 33 and CR 35 by county roads is 1.7 miles, the marathoners previously had to walk 3.4 miles on the county roads for the round trip to Middlebury. Now that the new section of the trail is open, the marathoners will only have to walk .7 miles on county roads between CR 20 and CR 35 for a total of 1.4 miles for the round trip.”  

Those of us who are primarily cyclists have a tendency to forget that walkers make up over 40 percent of trail users and that a new section of trail that takes walkers off the county roads improves their safety significantly, too.

The Indiana legislature passed two laws, effective July 1, 2019, that impact cyclists in Indiana.

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The first is a three-foot passing law that says when a motorist is overtaking a bicycle proceeding in the same direction, the motorist must “allow at least three (3) feet of clearance between their vehicle and the bicycle and not return the vehicle to the vehicle’s original lane of travel until the vehicle is safely clear of the bicycle.”A vehicle may pass a bicycle or electric bicycle in a no passing zone if it is safe to do so, complying with current law.”
The second law creates three classes of E bikes. The Pumpkinvine Advisory Committee made up of the four agencies that managing the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail will be discussing how this law applies to the Pumpkinvine at its July meeting.
Class 1 electric bicycle means an electric bicycle equipped with a motor that provides assistance only when the operator is pedaling and ceases to provide assistance to the operator when the electric bicycle reaches a speed of twenty (20) miles per hour.
Class 2 electric bicycle means an electric bicycle equipped with an electric motor that may be used exclusively to propel the electric bicycle and ceases or is unable to provide assistance when the bicycle reaches a speed of twenty (20) miler per hour
Class 3 electric bicycle means an electric bicycle equipment with an electric motor that provides assistance only when the operator is pedaling and ceases to provide assistance once the electric bicycle reaches a speed of twenty-eight (28) miles per hour.
The operator of an electric bicycle has all the rights and responsibilities as the rider of a non-electric bicycle.
Unless specifically stated by statute, ordinance, etc. Class 1 and 2 electric bicycles may be operated on any bicycle path or multi -purpose path where bicycles are permitted.
A class 3 electric bicycle mightnot be permitted on bicycle paths or multi use paths and the operator should look toward local ordinances for guidance. (Most trail managing agencies prohibit class 3 electric bicycles.)
A person less than 15 years of age may not operate a class 3 bicycle. A person less than 15 years may ride as a passenger if the bicycle accommodates more than one rider. Anyone who rides or operates a class 3 bicycle that is less than 18 years of age must wear an approved helmet.

A smooth ride — thanks to Bob Carrico

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In two day, June 15, 2019, a thousand riders will participate in the 20th Pumpkinvine Bike Ride. They will enjoy seeing the new colts in the fields, the beauty of the Indiana countryside and at some point in their ride, experience the shade and off-road safety of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail. As they ride the Pumpkinvine, what they may overlook, is the work done to patch the cracks in the trail by Bob Carrico and his crew that results in a far smoother ride than would be the case if they hit a crack multiple time every mile.

Parts of the Pumpkinvine’s asphalt surface are now 20 years old, with the majority of the asphalt being 10 years old. In that time, freezing and thawing have created cracks in the surface of the asphalt that give bike riders a jolt. (The bumps caused by tree roots going under the trail are another issue.) Filling these cracks in a way that makes them smooth is labor intensive, and the local park departments that manage the trail do not have the staff to fill them.

Enter Bob Carrico, the Trail Operations Manager for the Friends of the Pumpkinvine. He has devised a system for filling the cracks that is so good most riders will never know they just passed over a filled crack. In the past month, Bob and his crew have filled every crack in the 16.5 miles of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail from Abshire Park in Goshen to County Road 850W in Shipshewana.

Every time I ride the Pumpkinvine I’m aware of this difference this crack sealing makes, i.e., how smooth they are. Unlike the patches I encounter on the road, which more often than not, substitute create a bump up where there was a bump down, Bob’s patches are smooth, the work of a cyclist who knows how much cyclists dislike bumps that are even a quarter inch high. This kind of patching takes time and patience, something Bob’s crew has in abundance.

So, anyone who rides the Pumpkinvine Bike Ride this weekend or locals who ride it year round, when you encounter a sealed crack, remember the effort and attention to detail that went into making your ride a lot smoother because of the dedication and skill of Bob Carrico.

Work progresses on new Pumpkinvine section but final construction may be delayed until the end of June

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Work on closing the gap in the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail between County Road 33 and County Road 20 began at the end of July, 2018 and the bridge across  the south fork of Pine Creek was finished during the winter by Yoder Construction. Pulver Asphalt and Paving, Albion, Ind. has resumed construction on the remainder of the trail and expects to finish by the end of June.

“The bridge builders had other projects to work on and could not give the resources to building the bridge when they were needed,” said Bernie Cunningham, superintendent of Elkhart County Parks, the agency managing construction.

Frequent heavy rains slowed the construction after it resumed this spring.

Closing a Pumpkinvine Nature Trail gap

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It won’t be long before we will see the closing of a one-mile gap in the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail between County Road 33 and County Road 20. This project has been in process for over five years and involved negotiating with five landowners because the Friends of the Pumpkinvine owned only five percent of the Pumpkinvine corridor in this section. 

This part of the Pumpkinvine corridor was conveyed to the railroad back in the 1890s as an easement, and that easement went away when the railroad abandoned rail service in 1982, i.e., the land reverted to the adjacent landowners. So, to put a trail through this section on the old corridor meant getting the cooperation of these five adjacent landowners who now owned the Pumpkinvine corridor.

Our thinking all along was that the most persuasive argument for the trail would be for these landowners to see and use the Pumpkinvine themselves as it approached their area. So, we waited over 20 years for that to happen before we approached them. All were Amish and trail users and by that time they saw the value of the trail for the Amish community. They like the Pumpkinvine, but arriving at a route through this section involved missing wetlands and figuring out a way to accommodate a landowner whose land was divided by the trail.

The trail through this section will eliminate hills on County Road 33 and County Road 20, and the rough surface of County Road 20, which seems to get worse by the day. It also has very fast traffic. Now the challenge is to close the gap between County Road 20 and County Road 35.

Transitions can be opportunities

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In May 2018, I attended the Mid-America Trails and Greenway Conference in Columbus, Ohio and went to a workshop titled “Building and Maintaining Sustainable Organizations” led by the first onsultant the Friends of the Pumpkinvine ever had, Rory Robinson, from the National Park Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program in Cleveland, Ohio. One of the questions discussed in the workshop was, “How do trail groups remain viable for the long term and retain new younger members to continue to support the management and promotion of constructed trails?” That question brought forward in my thinking thoughts of retirement that I’d been considering for some time, and in January at our annual retreat, I told our board that 2019 would be my last year as president of the Friends of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail, Inc.

While there is no perfect time to retire, I think January 2020 makes sense for me and the Friends organization. I would love to remain on the board until we close the three gaps in the trail, but we are close enough that I’m convinced they will be done soon. The gap in the trail between County Road 33 and County Road 20 will be completed in the next few months, the gap between County Road 20 and County Road 35 is in the final stages of negotiation, and the town of Shipshewana is working on closing the gap between County Road 850W and downtown.

As for the board, one way to remain a viable organization for the long term is to welcome new ideas, and those ideas frequently come from new board members and new leadership. That’s what I mean by a transition being an opportunity. So, taking that assumption to heart, our board has made a conscious effort in the past five years to recruit younger members. And on a regular basis, we’ve been asking ourselves: as the construction of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail comes to a conclusion, what direction will the Friends of the Pumpkinvine take?

Most critical for this transition is the fact that our board of directors includes many capable people who have a vision for building and maintaining the trail. And the board has a year to work on a plan for succession, a process they have already begun.

I look back on the past 30 years with great satisfaction at having been part of helping create the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail. It’s been a wonderful experience to see the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail grow, phase by phase, between Goshen and Shipshewana, and then to see spurs branch off from it, e.g., the Abshire Trail, the Monroe St. Trail and the Ridge Run Trail. Through some engineering magic, it connected to Elkhart via the MapleHeart Trail.

I cherish the board members, supporters, trail users and friends who have encouraged us the past 30 years. In particular, I’m grateful for the support of my wife, June, and daughter, Mandy, who saw value in the trail for the community and made space for me to advocate for it. I’ll still be around to consult with the board as needed, but the time has come to let others take the reins. This change is an opportunity for the Friends of the Pumpkinvine to move in new directions. I look forward to seeing what the future will bring for the trails of our area.

Learning from three trail incidents

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In early August, a young male was observed riding back and forth on the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail between the State Road 13 and County Road 43 on a moped. Besides the illegality of riding a motorized vehicle on the trail, the person was also harassing other trail users. Those trail users called the police, and they arrested the person for riding a motorized vehicle on the trail.

Around the same time, two men set up a table at the County Road 37 parking lot to distribute religious materials to trail users, not understanding that it is illegal to sell or distribute literature in a public park. And I recently heard about a cyclist who was traveling at a high speed and ran into the side of a car crossing the trail at Sunrise Lane (where cars have the right of way) damaging the door of the car, and then somehow managed to speed away without taking responsibility for the damage he caused to the car–a thoughtless case of hitting and running.

These types of incidents are, fortunately, rare on the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail. In the 18 years since the first 1.75 miles of the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail opened in 2000, there have been very few illegal or anti-social activities reported. Indeed, the trail is one of the safest parks in the area. Most cyclists, walkers and runners are considerate of others and anti-social behavior is rare.

Yet, as these three incidents illustrate, there are a few people in our society who are inconsiderate of others (e.g., the speeding cyclist), unaware of trail rules (e.g., no solicitation or sales on trail property) or are acting illegally (e.g., riding a motorized vehicle on the trail). And even though park staff patrol the Pumpkinvine on a regular basis, it is important for all trail users to be alert to illegal or anti-social behavior.

What should you do if you see such activities on the Pumpkinvine?
1. First, do not attempt to be the police. It is not your job to enforce trail rules. If you observe illegal activity on the trail, you should call 911, report what you saw, and give them the time and location of the incident.
2. If you see someone breaking the posted park rules (like putting up a sign advertising a house for sale, handing out literature or riding over 15 mph or recklessly), report the incident to the appropriate managing agency with as much detail as possible. A list of agencies and their contact information is found on page 5 of this newsletter. It would help to take a photo of the incident as well.

Finally, the best way for us to keep the Pumpkinvine safe is to use it often and demonstrate good walking and cycling behavior. Cyclists should alert walkers to their presence with a bell (a legal requirement for cyclists in Indiana) and announcing that they are “passing on the left.” Walkers can be considerate by not walking three abreast, blocking the trail and turning down their music so they can hear a cyclist’s bell and their words, “passing on the left.” Together we can keep the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail a safe place to exercise and enjoy nature.