August 25, 2012 PEDALS adventure:
If one decides to be a “quiet sports” enthusiast, then one
has to forgo an allegiance to scheduling your outside adventures... weather
takes precedence over planning. This weekend was a perfect example. Earlier in the week, it appeared that the
best day for an outdoor adventure would be Sunday, so even as late as Friday night,
we planned our weekend chores and church for Saturday, leaving Sunday free for
an early start. However, Saturday
morning dawned not as bad as predicted and Sunday did not look as promising. Friday night I had researched possible kayak adventures in
southwestern Michigan based on the Pure Michigan email that had recently been
delivered to my inbox and read up on more bike trails too! We deliberated the pros and cons of both
adventures and both days of the weekend but abruptly, around 8:30 AM we decided to go to South Haven, Michigan to ride the Kal-Haven
Trail. It's a good thing it doesn't take much to get ready to go for a ride!
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| BRIDGE OVER THE BLACK RIVER |
The Kal-Haven Trail is one of the oldest Rails-To-Trails and
connects towns of Kalamazoo and South
Haven. It is listed as crushed limeston so we were slightly concerned about smoothness and trail dust. We checked out other riders’ experiences on
the path and they seemed pleased so we decided we needed to ride this trail
ourselves.
We landed in South Haven around 12:30, after taking a slight
detour through Dowagiac to check out a possible kayaking adventure on the
Dowagiac River. A company provides shuttle transportation so it can be a
one-way float. It looks promising, so we look forward to
trying it eventually. Tom says, although it seems counterintuitive,
to ride in the heat and kayak in the cool!!
The reasoning is that there is a lot of ambient breeze while you ride,
giving the impression it’s not too hot.
On the water, you just get humidity and often it feels hotter….getting
out of a kayak to cool off in the water presents a problem when you have to get
back IN the kayak. So, I guess Tom is
right…we’ll save the Dowagiac River for a later date.
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| VIEW DOWN THE PATH |
As previously stated, we arrived in South Haven in early
afternoon, and after a packed lunch in the picnic area of the large parking
lot, we set off. Immediately, we were
struck by the fairly long, and, for a Rail-To-Trail path, steep decline that
the path took as it followed alongside and eventually over the Black
River. I commented that it wasn’t going
to be much fun riding up the incline at the other end of the trip. The path was again shaded by lots of trees
and straight. On the whole, there was
nothing remarkable about the scenery, but we could imagine it in the fall as a
potentially beautiful ride.
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| TOM PUMPING WATER |
There was an area where the trees thinned out and we could
really see the crop land and farms on either side of the path. The worst part of this area is where the path
travels closely to a chicken farm…and let’s just let the imagination take over…’nuf
said!
There were two first-time attractions on this path. First, we came across a functioning old
fashioned water pump. It was at a nicely
placed resting spot, complete with picnic table. Many people stopped to refill their water
bottles at this spot. Great idea (if
you like that kind of water!).
Second, we came across an actual railroad crossing on our
Rail-To-Trail….a rail that has not been converted to a trail!!! We stopped for a photo moment, and I hoped,
in vain, for a train to come by, but it was fun anyway.
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| RAIL TO TRAIL MEETS RAIL! |
Soon after, we reached out 10 mile destination of the very
small town Grand Station. According to a
Kal-Haven brochure, there was a restaurant in the town. We got to the town, had to ride a short
distance from the trail, and found the restaurant….10 minutes AFTER it
closed. Not to be deterred, I spotted a
Marathon gas station just up the road.
I had a hankering for some ice cream, so we rode on up to the gas
station/convenience store.
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EATING AN ICE CREAM NOVELTY
IS A BIKE TRAIL NOVELTY!! |
WELL, riding up to it, and after going inside, we decided it
was in our best interest to make a QUICK selection and get out of there. Let’s just say that we were aware that
southern MI is (reportedly) home to several ultra-conservative militia groups…we
may have spotted a few of their members!
We stuffed the ice cream novelties into my bike pack and drove back to a
shaded area on the trail. Judging from
the surprised expressions on bikers that passed us, people eating ice cream on
a bike path. We answered people’s
questions as to where we conjured up some ice cream (“just up the path on the
left at the gas station”) and let them have their own experiences!
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| CELEBRATION!!! |
It was time to head back, and it was then that we hit the
milestone of 400 miles traveled on my pedometer. Of course, it was a photo moment and time to
celebrate (and rest).
We finally made it back and, as I remembered, the last part
of the path was uphill. We did stop for
a break before the big incline to enjoy the bridge over the Black River and
ride down a wooden boardwalk to the river so the final push wasn’t too
bad.
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| VIEW FROM BRIDGE OVER BLACK RIVER |
As I again discovered, the last 3
miles of this 20 mile ride were the worst (I was ready to be off my bike, and
my feet always seem to hurt at the end).
We did notice that there is a shuttle service that serves the Kal-Haven
path, allowing a person to have to ride only one way, get further, and avoid
the return trip mileage. Sounds like a
plan to me next time!
The stats: 20.18(RT), Time 2:18:48 , ODO: 407.48
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| FIND THE TURTLES . . . |
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| . . . HERE THEY ARE |
Notable Nature Sightings:
Lots of turtles on a log are not really notable, but we did cross a real RR crossing and use a water pump
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