River Preserve County Park
Managed by Elkhart County Parks
48 acres1.2 mi of trail
🐕 Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗
Outdoors in Benton
Parks, trails & the outdoors in Benton
There are about 2.6 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in River Preserve County Park (1.2 mi).
Conserved land
0.7%
171 of 22,829 acres
Trails
2.6 mi
0.1 mi per sq mi
Parks & preserves
1
53 conserved acres per 1,000 people
Bike routes
6.4 mi
Highest peak
896 ft
Sugar Hill
Lakes & rivers
1
1 boat launch
This week on the trails
Best day for a walk: today
65°, sunny, 0% chance of rain.
Today65° 43°0% rain
Sat65° 44°0% rain
Sun69° 44°0% rain
Mon64° 38°0% rain
Tue64° 43°0% rain
Wed69° 47°0% rain
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
The longest trail network is River Preserve County Park, with 1.2 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Things to do
2 places to go in Benton
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Boat launches in Benton
Peaks in Benton
Trails & water
1 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Who protects it
171 conserved acres
Who manages Benton’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Private owners146 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits23 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)2 ac
Private Park · 146 acPrivate Conservation · 23 acOther Easement · 2 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 2 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected places
| Place | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Timber Ridge Country Club Private Park | Private owners | 146 | Open |
| Elkhart River Floodplain Private Conservation | Land trusts & nonprofits | 23 | Closed |
Biking & sports
6.4 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.0 mi
painted or protected bike lanes
0.0 mi
off-road bike paths
6.4 mi
shoulders & shared lanes
Courts & fields
14Tennis
2Baseball
1Football
1Softball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →1 historic site to visit
Plus 2 cemeteries, often the oldest places in town.
Next door
Benton and its neighbors
Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved | Parks |
|---|---|---|
| Benton | 0.7% | 1 |
| Jackson | 1% | 4 |
| Clinton | 0.1% | 1 |
| Turkey Creek | 8.5% | 4 |
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Benton neighbors.
Weigh in
Is River Preserve County Park the best walk in Benton?
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Share a tip
Trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, PAD-US. Measured against the Census town boundary. Forecast: National Weather Service.
How we measure
"Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 20-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what’s typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren’t recorded.