Pumpkinvine Nature Trail

Built along old railroad tracks, the Pumpkinvine Nature Trail threads a lovely path through the Amish Country towns of Elkhart, Middlebury, Goshen and Shipshewana. Locals call this the Amish Highway because so many Amish families bike and walk the 26-mile trail.

Any stretch of the wide, mostly paved trail offers a scenic ride that feels like peddling through pioneer America. Along the way, you’ll pass tidy Amish farms, cross rustic wooden bridges and bubbling creeks, and wind through picture-postcard small towns.

Several local establishments offer bike rentals; a set of wheels runs $10 an hour or $20 a day at Pumpkin Vine Cyclery in Middlebury. At 6 p.m. Wednesdays, bikers can join in a free guided trail ride, and on Saturdays at 6 a.m., the cyclery hosts a 10-mile mountain-bike loop around the lake in Shipshewana.