kalhaven from south haven trailhead to kalamazoo trailhead is about 34 miles each way. this is a rail trail, so if you want to ride shorter, literally you just turn around. there are also little towns along the way so you can stop, get an icecream or a sandwich or a brew and then putter back at your lesiure. the south haven trailhead is a short ride to the downtown and the beach. south haven is harbor town. great little maritime museum, and plenty of food and drink.
steelhead route is 55. this is a lasso loop, so again there are some strategic turn around points. the starting point is klock park so you are at the beach, and also in the middle of a top level golf course, and a short ride to a good tavern on the water and a great burger place and a couple micro brewerys as well as downtown st joe and its stuff.
watermark pints usualy have a three distances based on three speed groups. i think the short ride is like 10 casual, and i think the fast guys do 20-25.
from three oaks, the routes are a bunch of loops, so you can actually do a bunch of short loops until you hit your number also a good distillery nearby and other stuff. also a ride from there to new buffalo is a great ride to the lake and a great hamburger joint or a nicer place on the harbor
keep in mind these are just choices of mine. there are also the trails that run from niles to south bend and notre dame and mishawaka. if we go a little north we get all of the ottawa county MUPs
as far a road traffic goes, the kal haven is all rail trail. the steelhead route uses a lot of m63 which is a state highway with a 8 foot shoulder and is a heavily ridden road even though it is a 55 mph road. i ride it every day on both cb and trike. people expect there to be bikes on this road. on the side roads, if you are on the steel head route so many people ride it for practice its expected to have bikes on it.
in terms of camping, my first suggestion is to camp at van buren state park. this is on the lake and also on the paved portion of the vanburen trail which ties into the kalhaven trail. no cabins here but campsites.
if you are looking for cabins and campsites, the KOA on coloma road has cabins and campsites, and is about a mile east of m63 which is a part of the steelhead route. but there is also cabin camping south county and warren dunes state park has standard campsites and some decent sized sand dunes on the big lake. south haven has several cabin campsite campgrounds.
also this area is replete with hotels of all levels, b&b's and vacation rental houses, so as soon as we set a date, i suggest people get reservations.
i have no new information on my work schedule for the ideal weekend. i may know more end of this month.
