The system around Fort Wayne: the northern-tier trails

1980s — present

Steuben County, the Potawatomi Trail: Forty-five minutes north of Fort Wayne, in the lake country of Steuben County, runs the one Indiana trail the state does not touch. The Potawatomi Snowmobile Trail — 32 miles north of Angola, through western Angola and the Steuben County 4-H Park, in the ground between Crooked Lake and the Lake James chain — was developed by the Potawatomi Snowmobile Club and is carried on the ISA's list with an explicit note: it is provided "through the cooperation of local snowmobile club and the Indiana Snowmobile Association only. It has no Indiana DNR affiliation." The club has been around since the 1980s and counted 136 members when the Columbia City Post & Mail covered its Crooked Lake Winterfest in 2012, an event whose proceeds went to county trail maintenance and local charities; the trail itself grew from an original 14 miles by some 18 more beginning in 2014. There is no snowmobiling inside Pokagon State Park — Fort Wayne Newspapers' winter recreation guide records the park's naturalist saying so, and pointing visitors to the Potawatomi Trail instead — and the same guide markets that trail to Fort Wayne readers, which is the documented shape of the city's northern riding: the sleds are trailered to the snow.

West, the DNR trails: The other three designated trails lie in the counties west and south. In Elkhart County, the Miami Snowmobile Trail runs some 60 miles by the ISA's count and 61 by the DNR manual's, around Goshen, Bristol, and Middlebury, maintained by the Elkhart County Snowmobile Club. In St. Joseph County, west of South Bend, the Buffalo Run runs 63 miles by the ISA's count and 68 by the DNR's map and manual, maintained by the Michiana Trail Riders Coalition; a DNR pamphlet of December 2004 still credited the trail to a South Bend Snowmobilers Club, the name the coalition's record succeeds. The Salamonie Trail is the system's exception — the one trail on public land, along the south side of Salamonie Reservoir in Wabash and Huntington counties, where the DNR's own Salamonie Lake staff serve as trail managers alongside the Salamonie Trailmasters club of Jonesboro; the ISA gives it 40 miles and the Salamonie Lake page agrees, while the budget table in the DNR's 2025–2027 manual lists 32. In 2013 the department contracted the Salamonie trail's construction, grooming, and maintenance to the Indiana Snowmobilers Association itself for two seasons, the association standing in as the trail's cooperator.

The counties between: Between Allen County and the lake country, the map is blank in every source consulted. No designated trail appears for DeKalb, Noble, or LaGrange County in the DNR's manual or maps or in the ISA's list, and the trade directory lists no club headquartered in any of the three. Kosciusko County has a club — the Lakeland SMC of North Webster — but no designated trail in the lists. Northeast Indiana's documented groomed map is thus two counties wide: Allen in the south, Steuben in the north, and the systems of Elkhart and St. Joseph to the west.

Sources:

1. Indiana Snowmobilers Association, "Indiana's Local Trails & Trail Reports" (Miami 60 miles, Elkhart County Snowmobile Club, Goshen/Bristol/Middlebury; Buffalo Run 63 miles, Michiana Trail Riders Coalition; Salamonie 40 miles, Salamonie Trailmasters; Potawatomi 32 miles, no DNR affiliation) — https://www.indianasnowmobilers.com/trails
2. Treadworld, "Potawatomi Snowmobile Trail" (32 miles; about 18 miles added to the original 14 beginning in 2014; western Angola, the 4-H Park, between Crooked Lake and Lake James; not associated with the Indiana DNR) — https://www.treadworld.com/trail/potawatomi-snowmobile-trail/
3. The Post & Mail (Columbia City), "Winterfest Feb. 4 at Crooked Lake" (the Potawatomi Snowmobile Club around since the 1980s, 136 members; proceeds to county trail maintenance and charities) — https://www.thepostandmail.com/news/latest/winterfest-feb-4-at-crooked-lake/article_e7ec30e6-0be7-5c55-9ac1-1b6012ee1270.html
4. Fort Wayne Newspapers (fortwayne.com), "Winter Recreation: It's Never Too Cold…" (Pokagon State Park about 45 minutes north of Fort Wayne; no snowmobiling within the park; the 32-mile Potawatomi Trail north of Angola) — https://www.fortwayne.com/focus/winter-recreation-its-never-too-cold/
5. Indiana Department of Natural Resources, 2025–2027 Indiana Snowmobile Trails Program Manual (budget-table mileage: Buffalo Run 68, Heritage 34, Miami 61, Salamonie 32; Salamonie Lake staff among the trail managers) — https://www.in.gov/dnr/state-parks/files/outdoor-recreation/or-SnowmobileTrailProgramManual.pdf
6. Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Buffalo Run Snowmobile Trail map (68 miles, St. Joseph County; Michiana Trail Riders Coalition) — https://www.in.gov/dnr/state-parks/files/outdoor-recreation/sp_buffalorun_snowmobile.pdf
7. Indiana State Library, 2009 Checklist of Indiana State Documents (DNR pamphlets, December 2004: "Buffalo Run Snowmobile Trail: The South Bend Snowmobilers Club"; "Heritage Snowmobile Trail: Hoagland Blizzard Blazers Snowmobile Club") — https://www.in.gov/library/files/2009_Annual_checklist_template.pdf
8. Cooperative Agreement for Snowmobile Trail Construction, Grooming, and Maintenance Services (Indiana DNR and Indiana Snowmobilers Association, Inc., 1 July 2013) (the Salamonie Snowmobile Trail in Wabash and Huntington Counties; IC 14-16-1-26; two-year term) — https://contracts.idoa.in.gov/idoacontractsweb/PUBLIC/75017-000.pdf
9. Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Salamonie Lake (Snowmobile Trail, 40 miles, signed and groomed) — https://www.in.gov/dnr/state-parks/parks-lakes/salamonie-lake/
10. Snow Goer, "Indiana Snowmobile Clubs" directory (Lakeland SMC, North Webster; no club listed for DeKalb, Noble, or LaGrange County) — https://snowgoer.com/snowmobile-clubs/indiana-snowmobile-clubs/