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Status: 12.7
miles open in 3 separate sections (see map)
County: Miami,
Fulton, Howard
City: Rochester,
Macy, Denver, Peru, Bunker Hill, Miami, Bennetts Switch, Cassville, Kokomo
Endpoints:
Peru section (3.4 miles paved, 4.4 miles total)
North - Wallick Road & Riverside Drive
South - 600S (pavement ends at 500S)
Bunker Hill-Cassville section (3 miles paved, 6.8 miles total)
North - Pipe Creek
South - Cassville/Main Street/550N
(pavement between Bunker Hill and Miami)
Denver section (limestone & natural, 1.5 miles)
North - 800N
South - 645N
Trailheads:
-parking at SR18 in Bennetts Switch
-parking at north end of Wallick Road, Peru
-parking in town of Bunker Hill
-parking in town of Miami
-parking in town of Denver
Connections:
Activities:
walking
mt biking
horseback riding (unpaved sections)
Surface:
natural, asphalt (Peru section)
Length: 12.7
miles open in 3 separate sections
Descrption:
The Nickel Plate Trail is generally wide, smooth, quiet and well-tended,
and has an even mix of wide-open and tree-canopied areas. The
surrounding scenery is flat to rolling, pastoral and quintessential rural
Indiana. At several points south of Bunker Hill directly along the east
side of the corridor, one can spot remnants of the less protruding grade
of the electric interurban rail line, which was abandoned about 1940.
The trail between Peru and Cassville is paved for several miles in two
separate sections, and the only unopened portion in this stretch is the
short trestle over Pipe Creek in Bunker Hill. This is one of the prettiest
trails in north central Indiana, following the babbling Little Pipe Creek
south of Peru, and immersing the visitor in some of the best sights, sounds
and scents nature has to offer. An interesting old dam is to be found
just south of the Wallick Road trailhead. Remarkable plant & animal species
abound in the surrounding woodlands and wetlands.
North of Peru, the trail is partially usable (but not officially open
except in Denver) except for trestles over the Eel River near Denver and
a couple minor streams.
The Indiana Trails Fund received a grant to protect the Birmingham Prairie
area in 2001. The 1-acre empty parcel, once slated for a sidetrack, depot
or grain elevator, hosts these rare, undisturbed flora. The trail is not
yet open here, though the area is open for viewing.
Future Plans: A
section heading north over the massive iron-truss Wabash River bridge
and a connection to the existing Peru Riverwalk
are in development. Eventually the trail will connect Kokomo to Rochester
and become a 40+ mile trail, a section of which will provide an American
Discovery Trail leg.
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