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2000s — in construction
The Pufferbelly is one section of something larger: the Poka-Bache Connector, a State Visionary Trail in the Indiana Department of Natural Resources' system, planned to run from Pokagon State Park in Angola, through Steuben, DeKalb, Allen and Wells counties and their seven communities, to Ouabache State Park in Bluffton — joining the two state parks whose names it shortens. When complete it will be the longest trail in Indiana. Its stated length has drifted as the alignment has been surveyed: 80 miles in the project's early descriptions (when the vision was also called the Upstate Indiana Trail), 81 miles in the early 2020s, and 82 miles in the City of Fort Wayne's current project pages. This section carries the drift rather than choosing among the figures.
By 2018 about 30 miles of the connector stood complete across Fort Wayne, Bluffton, Auburn, Waterloo and Angola. The City of Fort Wayne states, in 2026, that the trail "is 60% complete or funded" — with, in Ritchie's words at the Golden Spike celebration, 30 miles still needing funding. The work proceeds segment by segment as land becomes available: the State awarded Next Level Trails grants in the December 2023 round to Angola ($1.5 million, for 1.2 miles to the city's southern boundary) and to Steuben County ($3.7 million, for over three miles toward Pleasant Lake). In Fort Wayne the connector's southern half leaves the Pufferbelly corridor and follows Bluffton Road through Waynedale: a 2.1-mile, ten-foot trail on the road's east side from Lower Huntington Road to Ferguson Road was in design in 2025–26, with a public information meeting on 8 April 2026, land acquisition in 2027, and construction to begin in 2028. In January 2026 the Fort Wayne City Council accepted a land donation from McIntosh Energy Company — a parcel valued at about $80,000 on Bluffton Road near the airport, to hold a parking lot and trail access for that same section. Organizers have said full completion could take ten to fifteen years; Allen County pursued a federal FY2025 BUILD grant for its segment, with a letter of support from Senator Jim Banks dated 27 January 2025. The connector also anchors a wider ambition: the Northeast Indiana United Trails effort, Fort Wayne Trails' attempt to seed trail organizations across the eleven-county region so the Poka-Bache is the first of a family of regional trails rather than the only one. The state-park end segments also serve walkers on natural surfaces; that record belongs to the Hike Trails leg.
Sources: City of Fort Wayne, Engage, "The 'Golden Spike' section of the Pufferbelly Trail" — "part of the 82-mile long Poka-Bache Connector… (the trail is 60% complete or funded)." City of Fort Wayne news release (24 Mar 2026) — the Bluffton Road phase meeting, 8 April 2026; construction to begin 2028; "the longest trail in Indiana when it's completed at 82 miles long." Indian Village neighborhood project tracker (reviewed Mar 2026) — the 2.1-mile Bluffton Road design, phases to 2028–29. WBCL (21 Jan 2026) and WLZZ Radio — the McIntosh Energy land donation, 10317 Bluffton Road, valued at about $80,000, council-approved. Input Fort Wayne, Next Level Trails award report (27 Dec 2023) — Angola $1.5 million and Steuben County $3.7 million NLT grants for the Poka-Bache; "The final trail will be 81 miles long." Input Fort Wayne (18 Apr 2018) — about 30 miles complete in Fort Wayne, Bluffton, Auburn, Waterloo and Angola; completion "sometime in the next 15 years," per Ritchie; the United Trails vision. Parkview trail guide — "the Poka-Bache Connector, which will be 81 miles in length when completed." Geocaching GC1CGCG (2008) — "a State Visionary Trail, dubbed the Upstate Indiana Trail, that will ultimately be 80-miles long." The Post and Mail (Dec 2025) — Ritchie: "We still have 30 miles yet that need to be funded." Sen. Jim Banks letter to USDOT (27 Jan 2025), for Allen County's FY2025 BUILD application — 82 miles, seven communities, four counties, a State Visionary Trail.