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Print Friendly MapShaver Road Bikeway begins on the south side of E. Centre Avenue in the southern Michigan city of Portage. On the north side of the roadway, a connection to the 4-mile Portage Creek Bicentennial Trail can be made. Both trails are part of the city’s 17.5-mile network of multi-use trails.
From Centre Avenue, the paved bikeway provides convenient access to shops and restaurants, then heads southwest paralleling Shaver Road and an active set of railroad tracks for much of its length. The trail heads due south when it meets Portage Industrial Drive and then east to end in South Westnedge Park, where recreational amenities abound, including a skate park, baseball diamonds, and a soccer field.
Parking is available in South Westnedge Park (9010 S Westnedge Avenue).
The trail is kinda bumpy throughout and switches from nature to urban almost immediately, with nothing really to see. Still, I felt I enjoyed my time on this trail, but if you're not local, I wouldn't bother.
The north end of the trail hooks up with the Portage Creek trail and travels southwest along Shaver road for a bit before heading south and then east to Bishop's Bog. Where it turnes east, you can continue south through the Eliason Nature Reserve on a paved trail all the way to the parking lot and full service restrooms off of Osterhout Ave. This is a nicely wooded area with a winding trail. We actually started our ride from the parking lot heading north to do the Northwest Portage Bikeway and the Portage Creek trails. This gave us a respectable 24 miles of riding.
At the southest end of the Shaver Road trail you can continue into Bishop's Bog. The bog is tranversed by a floating plastic boardwalk peppered with holes. Each step will force water through these holes drenching your socks, underwear, shorts and at times face. A local hiker said it was ok and possible to go on your bike. It wasn't. Completely unridable as the water squirts through the holes in the platform and it's unstable. At the southern end there was a sign forbidding bikes.
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