The Darden Road counter was added this year to the domain previously occupied by the Pumpkinvine Trail – Elkhart County, Pumpkinvine Trail – Middlebury, Pumpkinvine Trail – Shipshewana and Millrace Trail. The counts for pedestrians and bicyclists recorded by each counter are presented in this report. Data from the counters are transmitted for analysis to a website maintained by the Michiana Area Council of Governments.

Most trail users travel in one direction and then return so the numbers counted should be divided by two for estimating the number of people using the trails. Also, the Darden Road, Elkhart County and Shipshewana counters failed to work for part of 2022 so the counts presented below are low. The gaps in the line graphs reveal the times of the failures.

Site

Total

Daily Average

Darden Road Counter

66049

181

Darden Road Counter Pedestrian

20926

Darden Road Counter Cyclist

45123

124

Elkhart County - Pumpkinvine Trail

6396

Elkhart County- Pumpkinvine Trail Pedestrian

3292

Elkhart County- Pumpkinvine Trail Cyclist

3104

Middlebury - Pumpkinvine Trail

99212

275

Middlebury - Pumpkinvine Trail Pedestrian

35333

Middlebury - Pumpkinvine Trail Cyclist

63879

177

Millrace Trail

77903

214

Millrace Trail Pedestrian

50270

138

Millrace Trail Cyclist

27633

Shipshewana - Pumpkinvine Trail

79203

260

Shipshewana - Pumpkinvine Trail Pedestrian

24805

Shipshewana - Pumpkinvine Trail Cyclist

63879

178

The 2023 Pumpkinvine Bike Ride Bicyclists

Where They Came From

Typically, most of the Pumpkinvine Bike Ride bicyclists come from Indiana and the three adjacent states, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. The 2023 ride had a similar roster of participants (see the table below). They came from the four states mentioned above plus eight more distant ones. Ride participation was lower than usual in 2022 after cancelation of the 2020 and 2021 rides due to the Covid pandemic. Attendance this year increased by 25% compared to 2022.

Area

No. of riders

2022

2023

Goshen / Elkhart / Middlebury / Bristol / Millersburg / Bremen / Shipshewana / LaGrange / Nappanee / New Paris / Wakarusa

160

195

South of Warsaw to Indianapolis plus southern Ind.

Mishawaka / South Bend / Walkerton / New Carlisle / Niles / Granger

Fort Wayne and region

West of South Bend to Illinois

Arizona

Florida

Illinois

Iowa

Kentucky

Michigan

Missiouri

New York

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Texas

Vermont

Virginia

Wisconsin

Military

Total

402

508