Short trail but leads you straight to the beach!

The ride is very enjoyable. It is more scenery at the Nile town area along the river. There are quite a few benches along the trial just in case you want to sit down for short break.

I’m more of a road rider, but picked up a gravel bike recently and this trail really put me and the bike through our paces. Up to 10 inch deep puddles of stagnant water along with mud sections, the full trail is not for the faint of heart.

Even after a night of rain, the trail was hardly wet. This is truly one of most well maintained trails. We started in South Haven just off the Blue Star highway and ended in Kalamazoo. The trail is perfectly shaded with some nice breaks of farmland and wildflowers. Trail is mostly flat with some gradual inclines in places. We stopped in Bloomingdale for some air in the tires and a few other points alone the trail. We really loved the area near Mentha. The whole trail was very well marked and as two women, we felt safe. We loved stopping to read all of the historical markers. Really a great trail!

Absolutely loved biking this trail, great signage allow the way. Every cross road was marked, letting us know exactly what our location was.

This trail is the continuation of the Pumpkinvine Trail into and through northern part of Goshen. It is paved, mostly concrete, fairly narrow, like a side walk, and west of the Oakridge Cemetery it becomes a side walk. It connects with the Mapleheart Trail leading towards Elkhart.

This 17 mile linear rail trail is quite scenic, partly shaded, slightly hilly, and mostly paved with asphalt. Near Goshen there is a section of hard packed limestone easily negotiable with road bike. Several new sections have been completed in recent years, but there remains a short segment (about 1 mile) between Goshen and Middlebury on country roads without any shoulder.
You pass many Amish farms complete with horse-drawn buggies and carts. You encounter many Amish folk bicycling the trail and farmers mowing their fields with a team of horses. Within the town of Goshen at the southwest terminus the trails signs and mile markers end abruptly and you have to pick your way along the river and through Oakridge cemetery to connect to the Mapleheart Trail which takes you to Elkhart.

We were looking for a medium-distance trail to stop and ride in order to break up a long drive home from a vacation in Michigan, and picked this one because it was not far off of our route. In the searching, I noticed that there was a bike shop located right on the trail, the Pumpkinvine Cyclery in Middlebury. We decided to start there, figuring the proprietor would perhaps have good intel on the best place to eat. This turned out to be a good decision. The shop was a fine little biking establishment, and the proprietor indeed set us straight on a great place to eat. He also had no problem with us parking the car in his lot for the duration of our ride. So off we went on the 11 miles to Goshen. What a gorgeous ride! Even though rain clouds threatened, we thoroughly enjoyed the twisting and turning route through the farmland. As of July 2020, I can report that the trail surface is excellent. We were riding on a day when the temps were at or above 90 farenheit, and were pleased to find that probably over 50% of the trail is shaded by tree canopy. It was a Friday afternoon, and we pretty much had the trail all to ourselves. I suppose the prospect of rain kept everyone inside.

At Goshen, we detoured off the trail to find the Goshen brewery, as the bike shop had suggested. Excellent choice! The food was delicious and the beer was top notch. As always, the ride back seemed shorter than the ride out. We were packing up to leave when we noticed one of the car's tires had gone flat. Just our luck, all the tire shops in town had just closed for the night, so we opted to get a room rather than drive hours on a donut. Thus, we were afforded the opportunity to ride more of the trail the next day.

The tire having been plugged early the next morning, we rode the shorter 6 mile stretch from Middlebury to Shipshewana, which is much more of a normal straight-as-an-arrow rail trail, but features very scenic farms all around. This being a beautiful Saturday morning/afternoon, the trail was much more crowded than the day before, but everyone was courteous and showed perfect trail etiquette. In Shipshewana, there are a couple of excellent Amish restaurants. We chose the Blue Gate, and once again enjoyed a stellar meal.

All in all, this trail is highly recommended for the casual rider who is looking for a leisurely ride through the countryside.

Started at Tunnel Park and rode approx 11 miles north to Kirk Park. Enjoyed a packed lunch and a little time on the beach. Then turned around and came back.

Note that the trail is a more akin to a sidewalk along a residential street. We rode mountain bikes on the path, but every person on a road bike opted for the road. The trail was pretty hilly, especially between Port Sheldon and Coswell street. The bridge over Coswell street does not have a dedicated/separate bike path so we walked our bikes on the shoulder. It was a little unnerving so on return trip, routed through a residential neighborhood to avoid the bridge.

Both parks had restrooms, vending machines, bike racks, and beach access and made for very nice starting and stopping points.