Ask a South Haven neighbor about the Kal-Haven Trail and you'll likely hear some version of the same sentence: they fixed it up a couple years back, so it should be smooth sailing now. That's close enough to true that nobody's checked the details since, and far enough off that it's worth correcting before your next ride.
The trail did get a real overhaul. But "resurfaced" was never the whole story, and the parts that changed are not the parts most riders assume.
What the Ten-Month Closure Actually Fixed
In the summer of 2022, the Michigan DNR announced it had secured $5 million through Governor Whitmer's Building Michigan Together Plan to resurface 17 miles of trail between South Haven and Bloomingdale. By the time work wrapped, the completed project was described differently: a $6 million effort, funded through American Rescue Plan Act dollars, that closed and rebuilt a 14-mile stretch. The scope shifted somewhere between the announcement and the shovels going in, which is a useful reminder that a funding headline and a finished project aren't always the same document.
That 14-mile section, running from South Haven to Bloomingdale, closed in July 2023 and reopened in June 2024 after ten months of construction. State trails coordinator Tim Novak put the need for it plainly:
This section of trail had not had any major maintenance or improvements since it was constructed over 30 years ago.
What the crews actually touched was more surgical than a blanket repaving. The Barber Creek Bridge was replaced. A new structure, the Spicebush Creek Bridge, went in with a concrete deck and epoxy coating, and the trail around it was regraded to ease the slope down from County Road 681 and cut down on erosion. The Black River Bridge, an old covered span that members of the Friends of the Kal-Haven Trail had pushed to preserve or at least rebuild in a similar style, was replaced with an open structure instead. The DNR's reasoning was practical rather than sentimental: an uncovered bridge is easier for grooming equipment and emergency vehicles to get through. It's a small dispute, but it tells you something about how these decisions actually get made along the trail, function over nostalgia, even when a local advocacy group pushes back.
The Surface Question Nobody Clarifies
Here's the detail that actually matters if you're deciding what bike to bring this weekend. The DNR was specific about this in its project notes: sections that were originally paved in asphalt were repaved in asphalt, and sections that were limestone and slag aggregate stayed limestone and slag aggregate. The project rebuilt bridges, regraded problem grades, and overhauled trailheads. It did not convert the trail's crushed-limestone character into pavement. If you were picturing a smooth, uniform surface end to end because you heard "resurfacing," that's not what reopened in 2024, and it's not what you'll ride in 2026.
| Feature | Before the 2023–2024 project | After |
|---|---|---|
| Black River Bridge | Covered wooden span, aging | Replaced, open structure for maintenance access |
| Barber Creek Bridge | Original, 30-plus years old | Replaced |
| Spicebush Creek crossing | Older bridge and steep approach | New concrete deck with epoxy coating, regraded approach |
| Kibbie trailhead (Co. Rd. 687) | Basic lot, no ADA path | Redone layout, ADA-compliant spots, accessible path to trail |
| Phoenix Road crossing | Awkward angle, limited sightlines | Straightened for easier crossing and visibility |
| Trail surface | Crushed limestone and slag throughout most of the route | Unchanged material, same limestone and slag base |
If you ride a road bike with narrow tires expecting last year's headlines to mean pavement, you'll find out within the first mile that they didn't. Hybrid tires or anything wider handles the crushed limestone base without complaint, which has been true of this trail since it opened.
The Points Along the Route Worth Knowing By Name
The 33.5-mile trail runs on the old Kalamazoo and South Haven Railroad bed, a line that hauled lumber between 1870 and 1973 before the corridor was converted. A few landmarks along it are worth knowing if you're riding out from South Haven rather than just picking a direction and pedaling.
Heading east out of South Haven, before you ever reach Grand Junction, the trail crosses a covered bridge over the south bank of the Black River, then a second bridge locals call the Camelback Bridge, named for the midspan hump that was a common structural choice when it was built. Both are on the western stretch closest to South Haven. Farther out, roughly at the trail's midpoint, sits Bloomingdale, home to the Bloomingdale Depot Museum, a converted rail depot that doubles as a rest stop with a vault toilet for trail users. It's the natural turnaround point if you're not committing to the full out-and-back toward Kalamazoo.
Starting From South Haven
If you're launching from the South Haven side, the trailhead sits at the Kal-Haven Outpost, a campground that borders the trail directly and offers a water fountain, bike tools, and restrooms for anyone heading out or just getting back. It's a low-key, practical starting point rather than a destination in itself, which is exactly what you want before a long ride.
For those coming from the Kibbie area rather than downtown South Haven, the County Road 687 trailhead is the one that changed most visibly in the 2024 reopening. The old lot got a full redo: new aggregate surfacing, marked ADA-compliant parking spots, and an accessible path connecting the lot to the trail itself, none of which existed before the project.
Near the South Haven trailhead, Latitude 42 Degrees Brewery has become something of an unofficial starting or ending point for riders, close enough to lock up a bike and grab food before or after. Riders who've done longer stretches also mention driving out afterward to Cranes Pie and Pastry, a stop that keeps coming up often enough in trail reviews to count as a known reward for finishing.
The New Stop Downtown
None of this is on the trail itself, but it's timely enough to mention here. Downtown at 407 Phoenix Street, South Pier Creamery and Market, the ice cream and market shop owned by Rebecca Niehus, whose family has been in South Haven for five generations, is hosting a seasonal guest this summer. Zo's Mini Donuts, a Southwest Michigan business that started three years ago when its founders converted a 1950s Coca-Cola trailer into a donut stand, opened its South Haven pop-up inside South Pier Creamery on May 23, running seven days a week from 8 to 11 in the morning through Labor Day.
That window matters if you've been meaning to try it. Labor Day falls on Monday, September 7 this year, with the three-day weekend starting Saturday, September 5, which means the pop-up's daily morning hours have about a month left before they wrap for the season. If a downtown coffee-and-donuts stop before a ride, or a treat after one, sounds like your kind of Saturday, this is the year to make it a habit rather than an afterthought.
What This Means If You're Riding This Weekend
- Bring hybrid or wider tires. The trail's limestone and slag base is unchanged outside the rebuilt bridge approaches, regardless of what the 2024 headlines implied.
- Start at the Kal-Haven Outpost if you're coming from South Haven proper, or the Kibbie trailhead on County Road 687 if you want the newly rebuilt ADA parking and access path.
- Treat Bloomingdale as your natural rest stop and turnaround if you're not doing the full 33.5 miles each way.
- The Phoenix Road crossing is safer than it used to be, but it's still a road crossing. Slow down anyway.
- If your morning starts downtown, South Pier Creamery's Zo's Mini Donuts pop-up runs 8 to 11 a.m. daily only through Labor Day weekend.
The trail you're riding this month isn't the one that reopened in June 2024, exactly, and it's not the one from before the closure either. It's a specific, itemized set of fixes layered onto a route that's kept its original character on purpose. Knowing which parts changed, and which parts didn't, is the difference between a ride that matches your expectations and one that catches you off guard three miles past the Outpost.
If you're weighing what living near this kind of local infrastructure and lakeshore access actually looks like day to day, that's the kind of question Amy O'Sullivan spends her time answering for people considering South Haven. Reach out for a home valuation or a conversation about what's available along the lakeshore corridor right now.
