POTATO CREEK STATE PARK New Road Family 25601 State Road 4 • P.O
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POTATO CREEK STATE PARK New Road Family 25601 State Road 4 • P.O. 908 • North Liberty, Indiana 46554 Campground 4.6 (574) 656-8186 3,840 acres Established 1969 Vargo Hill 2 Property Steam Potato Manager's Boat • Residence 4.0 Hill LOCATION MAP Creek CT State Steps Park To 6.2 1 CT South 5 1 Bend Well 5.9 CT House CT 2 1. 4 23 31 Indianapolis PL 4 • 4 North Gate Entrance PL 23 Liberty Main St. SWAMP North 1 2 B 1 ROSE t a t o Campground Office & B P o C r e General Sledding NATURE e Emergency Call Box 0.6 k Store Hill Visitor PRESERVE PL Visitor Cabins 7.4 Nature Red Center PICNIC SHELTER AREAS CT Youth 4 Tent 0.0 Quaking Aspen Area Tulip Poplar Rec Building Red Whispering Winds East B Spring Mt. Bike House Whispering Winds West Treatment Yellow Trail Head Plant oad Orchard Shores West CT R CT Beach house Orchard Shores East & Vending CT Oak Peppermint Hill Rec Building 4 CT WORSTER TRAIL TABLE Red LAKE 4 Dam Porter Rea TRAIL MILEAGE TRAIL TYPE Cemetery CT 2.2 Moderate 2 Rugged West Lot 1 Moderate East CT CT Boat Campground 2.5 Moderate Launch Gatehouse 1 Easy Visitor .5 Easy Parking Friends .75 Easy Horsemen's Horsemen's B .5 Easy Day-Use Campground West Boat 3 Parking 3.35 Bridle Trail Launch 3 1.5 Bridle Trail 2.5 Bridle Trail Green Bicycle 3.3 Moderate Mt. Bike 7. 4 Easy Green 2.8 Easy Assistant Service Property .9 Easy Area Manager's Residence LEGEND Boundary Accessible Blue CT Road Campground Main Gatehouse Hiking Trail Playground t o Paved Bike Trail General Store t a o C P r Horse Trail Shelter e e k SUMMER'S T Mt. Bike Trail Vault Toilet o Ho POND Nature Preserve Emergency Call Box r 6 se T 0.0 Mileage Marker Dumping Station 0 ¼ ½ rails i l CT Connectors Beach r a s T F r i e n d Approximate Scale in Miles PL Peppermint Loop Fishing Pier Park Office Visitors Center t e Parking Boat Rental 6 To Main Ga Restroom Water Fill Station Please carry out all trash you produce Fish Cleaning Stn. Campfire Circle North Liberty in order to keep your park clean and U.S. 31 3 miles beautiful for others to enjoy. 4 miles * All restrooms and comfort stations are accessible 2/2021 RULES AND REGULATIONS CENTRAL RESERVATION SYSTEM • Do not injure or damage any structure, rock, tree, flower, Reservations for all types of camping, family bird or wild animal. Do NOT gather limbs, brush or trees cabins, and shelters at state parks, reservoirs (either dead or alive) for firewood because they rebuild CAMP. and forests can be made online or by calling CENTRAL RESERVATION SYSTEM the natural humus. toll-free. • Any firearm (except lawfully possessed handguns), Call: 1-866-6campIN (1-866-622-6746) POTATO Online: camp.IN.gov BB gun, air gun, CO2 gun, bow and arrow, paint gun or spear gun in possession in a state park must be Reservations for the Indiana State Park Inns and unloaded or un-nocked and stored in a case or locked Inn-operated cabins can be made online or by phone. CREEK within a vehicle, except when owner is participating in Call: 1-877-lodges1 (1-877-563-4371) an activity authorized by written permit. Online: IndianaInns.com • Dogs and cats must be attended at all times and kept on a leash no longer than 6 feet. • Vending or advertising without permission of the FOR MORE INFORMATION Department of Natural Resources is prohibited. Write: Potato Creek State Park • Camping is permitted only in the campground. No youth 25601 State Road 4 groups permitted in the family campground. P.O. Box 908 North Liberty, IN 46554 • Fires shall be built only in designated places. Call: (574) 656-8186 • Please comply with the Carry In/Carry Out trash policy Online: on.IN.gov/potatocreeksp in all day-use areas. Overnight guests shall put waste in receptacles provided for that purpose. • Motorists shall observe posted speed limits, and park SPECIAL NOTE only in designated areas, not on grass. Receipts from admission and service charges are used to • Swimming is limited to places and times designated help defray the operation and maintenance costs of the by the Department of Natural Resources. park. List of fees available in the main office. • Drinking water should be taken only from pumps, hydrants or fountains provided for that purpose. This THIS IS YOUR PARK water is tested regularly for purity. Visitors shall observe the rules, which are designed to • Report lost or found articles to the park office. fulfill the purpose for which state parks were established, • All motorized vehicles shall remain on paved roadway. namely, to preserve a primitive landscape in its natural condition for the public’s use and enjoyment. Native Americans once collected plants Do not park on grass. Snowmobiles are prohibited. with potato-like roots on this area’s creek • Metal detectors are allowed on main beach between banks. The early settlers’ English translation Labor Day and Memorial Day with written permission BECOME A PARK VOLUNTEER for the name those people gave that plant from the property manager. If you would like to help support and enhance was “wild potato,” hence the name “Potato” • Park is closed from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. No one is allowed Potato Creek’s facilities and programs, join the Creek. in the park, except campers and cabin guests using Friends of Potato Creek. For more information, see Darcey Worster and fellow conservation their sites between these hours. InterpretiveServices.IN.gov. club members first proposed a man-made reservoir on Potato Creek in the late 1930s. Their project was halted by World War II. For a complete list of rules and regulations, inquire at park office. Please carry out all trash you produce Worster kept that dream alive by sending in order to keep your park clean and his hand-crafted insects to state officials to beautiful for others to enjoy! “bug” them about creating a park. His efforts DNR PROPERTIES NEARBY succeeded when the area was designated @ INdnrstateparks to become a park in 1969. andreservoirs @indianadnr @INDNRstateparks Kingsbury Fish and Wildlife Area-archery, boat Potato Creek State Park, 3 miles east ramps, dog training areas, fishing, hunting, target See everything Indiana State Parks has to offer at of North Liberty on State Road 4, became a ranges, trapping, wildlife watching stateparks.IN.gov. reality on June 6, 1977, when the 6-square- Subscribe to Outdoor Indiana magazine today, mile (3,840-acre) area was formally dedicated. Chamberlain Lake Nature Preserve- Visit OutdoorIndiana.org or call 317-233-3046. bird observation platform, hiking trail The park’s 327-acre Worster Lake is named The programs, services, facilities, and activities of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources are for Potato Creek’s clever early supporter. In Kankakee Fish and Wildlife Area-fishing, hunting, available to everyone. DNR prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, addition to the many recreational facilities that sex, or disability. If you believe that you have been discriminated against in any program, activity, or Potato Creek offers, visitors will find a variety trapping, wildlife watching facility as described above, or if you desire further information please write to: Department of Natural Resources, Executive Office, 402 W. Washington Street, W256, Indianapolis, IN 46204, (317) 232-4020. stateparks.IN.gov of natural areas. Most were drastically altered Pick up an Indiana Recreation Guide for more information. © 1/2020 Indiana Department Resources of Natural by decades of farming and other land uses before the ACTIVITIES AND FACILITIES SWIMMING—Free beach, with handicapped area became a park. BICYCLING—There is both a 3.3-mile paved trail accessible area. Beach house and beach open Saturday In the early 1990s an active resource management with some hilly and curvy stretches and a 7.4-mile before Memorial Day and no later than Labor Day. Conditions program started at Potato Creek. The program’s ongoing beginner-level mountain bike trail. Standard bicycle may require beach closing before Labor Day. efforts seek to restore and maintain some of the park’s rentals are available, or visitors may bring their own natural areas, such as its natural wetlands. The goal bicycle. Helmets recommended on mountain bike trail. is to re-create conditions resembling those of the presettlement days of the early 1800s. BOATS, CANOES, PADDLEBOATS, KAYAKS & DESCRIPTION OF HIKING TRAILS TROLLING MOTORS—Day or hour rental. Boat Several areas are being restored to provide valuable TRAIL & DESCRIPTION DISTANCE DIFFICULTY habitat for a variety of plants and wildlife. The wetland rental is handicap accessible. Hours vary—please call. types include saturated soil sedge meadows, shallow BOAT LAUNCH—Private boats or sailboats may Trail 1 2.2 miles Moderate marshes, swamps and beaver ponds. Today, more than be launched only at boat ramps. Only electric Skirts Worster Lake, passing through old fields and a square mile of the park is covered by wetlands and trolling motors, powered by no more than two 12-volt maple and oak-hickory forest. Returns to Nature Center Worster Lake. These areas abound in wildlife, especially batteries, or hand propulsion, is allowed. A mooring area area. during spring and fall bird migrations. is available for a nominal fee. Trail 2 2 mile Rugged Native prairie also is being returned to the Potato CAMPING—Campground is equipped with flush Accessed either from Trail 1 or Trail 4.