Solder's Memorial has got a bit of everything: thick woods, lots of turns, a few tech features - berms, bridges, and a drop off. You can pretty much open it up the whole way.
It is the first official mountain bike trail in the city of La Porte Parks Department.
The trail surface is mostly dirt but it can be full of leaves in fall. Many volunteers help keep the trail clean. Even then, it is a fairly rugged trail for the Midwest.
The trail is marked with blue and red colored arrows with red being the hard trail. Both loops follow the same trail for a lot of it. The red loop is like an extension of the blue loop but with harder, more technical trail geared towards intermediate/advanced riders. Challenge yourself to get up all the climbs on the NW area on the red loop.
The Blue Loop is pretty flat and smooth with enough up and down to keep you flying and pedaling. The trail twists and turns pretty close to and between trees. The loop has very minimal roots in the path and just enough to challenge beginner riders. There are jumps and a drop along the way—all of them are optional paths for more experienced riders and all of the mandatory mounds (set up to jump) can be easily rolled.
The Red Loop gets into some raw, tight trees, sharp corners, and off-camber/sloped trail with a big steep climb. Then play on some wood bridges and more crazy climbs with more tight squeezes between trees. There are also some really good berms here too.
Lakeshore Drive LaPorte, IN 46350
Access Points: You can start at the trailhead off of Lakeshore Dr.
Michiana resident Tyler, aka The Michiana Madman, created his YouTube channel to help answer any questions a beginner mountain biker may have when they first start mountain biking.
The focus of his channel is to showcase the MTB trails in the Midwest region but also other parts of the country as well. How-to and DIY tutorials are sometimes posted as well as Product Reviews.
We here at NIMBA are thankful for all the videos he has created showcasing our trails.