Taking a Break on South Haven’s Van Buren Trail Spur

Downtown Trailhead

This is an easy ride. It starts right outside of downtown South Haven and ends in Van Buren State Park. At the downtown trailhead, you'll find bike racks, restrooms and picnic tables. You'll be able to park your bike after your return journey and stroll the downtown without getting in your car.

Bicycle Rentals

If you need to rent a bike, head over to Rock ‘N’ Road Cycle on Broadway, mere blocks from the beginning of the trail. Ben will hook you up with an easy-riding 10-speed bike and helmet for $20. He’s been there for over 15 years as manager of the store and he rides the trail every morning to work. He’ll direct you to the trail head, across Broadway, down Michigan Avenue to Maple Street, where you’ll take a left leading right to the spur. Trail maps can be picked up at the Visitors Bureau (546 Phoenix Street), which can help further direct you to the beginning of the trail.

The Van Buren Trail

The Van Buren Trail is a beautifully paved 10-foot wide asphalt-surfaced biking and walking trail (also for other non-motorized transportation like roller blades and skate boards), that also is used for cross country skiing and snow shoeing in the winter. Like so many bike trails around the U.S., the Van Buren Trail Spur began as a railroad grade, acquired from Consumers Energy in the mid-1990s. It was used to help construct the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Covert (now planned to be closed in 2022 with wind energy and natural gas to offset the energy requirements).

Van Buren Trail Parking on Aylworth Avenue

Of course, you can certainly take someone with you, or your whole family if you want. But a solitary ride is when one can really savor every small nuance along the way. The trail starts in a residential area, and then winds by industrial buildings, crossing several country roads. But then you’re in the forest and native wildflowers, grasses and trees line the trail. If you travel the trail early enough, you might see deer, a yellow finch, a warbler, a pileated woodpecker or even a grey owl. You are certain to see plenty of butterflies in the summer.

Van Buren State Park

Four and a half miles later, the trail ends up at Van Buren State Park. Then you can bike just a bit further and end up at the beach where you can park your bike (a lock comes with the rental), have a drink of water or purchase drinks or snacks from the vending machine, use the modern, well-maintained facilities and take a short walk to the beach. Or, you can hike up the back of the dune and run down.

If you have your own bike, and a season pass to Van Buren State Park, you can start at the park, ride into South Haven, and then even hook up with the Kal-Haven Trail. Or, if you are looking for an all day ride and are more of a mountain biker, the full 14-mile Van Buren Trail with surfaces of grass, packed dirt and old dirt-covered railroad ballast, ends in the City of Hartford.

But if the quiet, meandering smell-the-flowers kind of bike ride is the one you’re looking for, the Van Buren Trail Spur is just the ticket.