Potato Creek State Park Campground

We wanted to explore the “RV Capital of the World” and Notre Dame University while passing through. This park fit the bill. Arrived Thursday with the campground maybe 25% full. By Friday night it was full! Great spacing between sites and offers miles of hiking and biking trails. Verizon signal essentially nonexistent, but air TV reception not bad. Fresh water fill and dump stations were the best we’ve seen anywhere.

Our first time here with our pop-up. It's a beautiful park. So much nature to explore, so we'll have to come back again. Note that my four star rating is based on five stars being perfection, so I would still definitely recommend it.

Our site was purposely located close to a bathhouse, but was not too close to have any bothersome noises. The bathhouse was a bit dated, but pretty clean. Individual stall showers with inner and outer curtains. Curtains could have been a bit longer, because the inner one allowed lots of spray into the outer "dry" part of the stall.

Great playground on the east side of the first loop. Kids seem to play there for hours and enjoy riding bikes around the loops. Very well manicured grounds, including paths from the sites to the bathhouse.

Nice little store that had a little bit of everything attendants were friendly. Firewood available. Cheaper outside the park, but don't mind supporting the park. Was open till 9PM even on Sunday.

Beach was small, but seems adequate for the number of people there. Could use a little sand cleaning, but not bad. Swimming area roped off to keep boats out. Bathrooms have showers.

Already planning our next visit!

We love Potato Creek! The paved bike trails are amazing. The sites are large and private. There are great and there is a good selection between shaded and sunny. With a selection of fun things to do (bike and boat rentals, hiking trails, a wonderful nature center, playgrounds) our family never runs out of things to do here.

Quiet and peaceful. Camp host are very nice couple. Everyone was very friendly. Fishing, kayaking on the lake.

This is my very first time and camping and I loved it they had very natural and they had very nice night and they had very nice areas for tents

Good for basic family or friend camping! We have stayed here loads of times over the years and we’ve always had fun. The only downsides are you are very close to the other campsites so it’s pretty noisy and bright!

We took the family several times during the summer we had a ball there is so much to do

Amazing place. So much space. Great bathrooms and amenities. So much nature. Loved our stay here.

 We've camped here several times in the last 28 years, but not in a while. We decided it was time to go back! Love Potato Creek! 

We stayed in site 96, which isn't the best site if it's hot. Not a lot of shade. It's hard to pick a "best" site. Loop A- sites 25, 39,41& 42. Loop B- sites 94, 98,& 104. Loop C- site 72. Loop D2- site 165. These are all good sites. Check the site description when you make your reservation. It should tell you if it's in full sun. Always be aware of the pit toilets & dumpsters. The sites aren't right on top of each other, but some have more room than others. 

Each loop has a comfort station. Bathrooms & showers are surface clean. Typical state park clean. I shared my shower with a spider one night. Lots of webs & hair in the women's side. 

There's a single playground that's more central to loops A B & C. There's a water fill up area for use before getting to the campground. The dump station is old, but usable. There's also a horseman's campground, Youth tent group camp& cabins for rent.

I took my son for a quick trip, but the camp grounds were full, so we made a day of hiking, biking and fishing…of course we had a picnic, too. The trail head near the fishing dock was the perfect place to park. It allowed hiking one way and biking the other. The trails were very well maintained, wide and shaded for a hot midsummer day. The picnic areas were clean and spread out all over the park, as well as the restrooms. The fishing dock was crowded, but being a clear summer day, it’s to be expected. We just made our way around the bank and dropped a line. The water was beautiful! Folks were kayaking, canoeing and paddle boating all over. The staff were very pleasant and helpful, too. All in all, a great visit. Will definitely be back to pop a tent now that we know the area!

The park itself is rather large, and the camping area is pretty expansive as well. Bathrooms are cleanish…but they start getting a little wild as the weekend wears on. Perpetual mud and slop from the showers, but functional. The sites are roomy enough but they are a little close together. Some sites are shaded, some are open…hard to tell when booking. Not many trees to set up a hammock on site. General store was well stocked and the staff across the board were very helpful.

Nice layout and easy access to camp amenities made this weekend trip away from home a relaxing one. Though early in the season, the campground was busy. Beautiful state park scenery.

The campground is huge, but we have never felt crowded. There is a nice prairie area to walk around in, and an easy to ride pave bike trail. We watched the osprey nest one year for several hours. We have not yet had a kayak out on the lake, but the lake is big. The bathrooms have always been clean, and the campground hosts friendly. The sites vary in size and slope, so research and prepare for anything. But all of the sites are manageable. South Bend is close by if you want to adventure in.

Solid campground with space between the sights. Great for families, has a general store with essentials, and lots of activities. A little pricy.

Campground has improved over the years. Trees planted are providing better shade lots.

Really nicely maintained facilities and campsites. Decently busy family campground. Lots of children running around biking skating etc... Very safe feeling! :-)

Very clean park and campground. Very nice trails to hike. Kids love the beach.

Great walking trails, great for families with youngsters. Park activities and lots of trail walking. 25 mins away from South Bend/Mishawaka and 40 mins away from Elkhart and there RV Hall of Fame. Only electric at sites but they are big and roomy. Quiet and full of wildlife.

We have been blown away by the efforts put into Indiana’s state parks and Potato Creek is no exception. Well kept, beautiful grounds and trails. Restrooms are a bit dated, but clean and functioning. Our daughter loved the play area and huge grassy area to run around on. The Peppermint Hill mountain bike/hiking loop was really fun and not to be missed. Seems like a very popular place, even in the off season, so you’re best bet is to make a reservation or call ahead to make sure they can accommodate you.

Great place to camp. Trails are well groomed and maintained. Clean campsites and great staff!

Very clean. Spacious sites. Miles of paved bike paths and unpaved mountain bike trails. Nice lake and beach

Campground= 4 stars; check-in= 2 stars. Very large campground with close to 300 sites plus a horse camp and about 20 cabins. We picked this park solely because it was convenient to our next destination, so we were not concerned with amenities. We did not make a reservation because I really do not want to pay the extra fee if it is not necessary. Upon arrival, we paid the $9 entrance fee ($7 for Indiana residents) and drove the 3 miles to the campground office. Somewhat surprised to find both staffed at 6 pm on a Thursday after Labor Day. We were told to drive around and pick several desired sites as they could not tell us which ones still had people due to arrive that night who had reserved. Huh?? So, we drove around two of the five loops and picked half a dozen sites that would be suitable. But that’s where the fun began- not! There seemed to be some computer glitch in that every site we asked about showed as not available, even though more than half the sites were empty. Eventually, we were told to just go to one of the sites we picked and set up and that a security guard would come and collect our money. Eventually, at just before 9 pm, the security guard did come and told us the glitch had been fixed and asked that we come to the office and register. The glitch was not fixed! But we paid our fee and were able to stay the night and the staff was very apologetic. 

There is no differentiation between RV and tent sites (the only one that is separate is the horse camp). The E Loop seemed to be the most crowded, mostly with RVs. The sites in the D Loop were spaced a decent amount of distance apart but other than that, there was no real privacy between them. This was not a problem because the loop had many empty sites and we were able to easily find one that had an empty one on either side of us. There are paths to the beach accessible from the D and E loops but note the beach is only open from Memorial Day through Labor Day. There is no longer a dog beach at Potato Creek. There is a general store(open until 8 pm) and bike rentals which, if we were going to stay longer, we might have taken advantage of. There are boat rentals in season. Several trails and playgrounds so I imagine that in the summer, this is a nice family campground (even the name is Family campground). 

The mosquitos were vicious, likely worse due to the amount of rain the area has had this year. Bathrooms were very clean and there was hot water, a nice luxury but you have to be careful not to bump your head on the shelf over the sink when washing your face. Didn’t use them but there were also showers. 

The check-in process notwithstanding, our stay was fine for the night.

Bike trails, parks, lake; this place had all the amenities we needed. Unfortunately, the lake was a little on the undesirable side...blue-green algae warnings made us not want to put more than our feet in the water. The beach area is nice, though.

Nice campground and spacious campsites. Lots of hiking trails. Boating, swimming. Park staff exceptionally friendly and helpful. HOWEVER since when has solicitation been allowed in a state park. Big event tent set up on one site serving as base for an RV dealer/mfg. 20+sites reserved for gathering of that brand of RV some with brand advertising signs. We pulled in on Thursday and were unable to stay through the weekend because the park was full—-full because of buy up of sites for solicitation. 😡

We have visited this campground twice now. The first time we stayed in one of the cabins. The cabins are large, bathroom was very clean, large screened in porch. Only con was that the cabins all share one large firepit. This past weekend we stayed in a camper. The sites were a nice size. Clean sites. Bathrooms were decent for a campground in my opinion. The kids had a great time riding bikes, playing on multiple playgrounds, and playing in the lake all day.

Good size sites, Ample shade, lots of activities..

Variety of hikes can be done here through wooded areas, wetlands, and prairies. You can rent boats or bikes. Lots of bike trails. Canoeing the lake is very enjoyable too and reasonable prices ($20 for the day). The campground is pretty open, not much/any buffer between campsites, but they are large sites. Nature center is very nice for young kids.

Nice size campsites. Plenty of shade. Lots of things to do.

Bike trails, hiking trails, fishing, beach fun for the whole family.

Hiking, biking swimming, fishing, what more could you ask for. We love it here