Complete: The last stretch of the White Pine Trail is paved

The paving of the final stretch of the Fredrik Meijer White Pine Trail is completed, making the 92-mile former rail bed the longest paved path in Michigan. 

Linking 15 communities from Comstock Park (outside Grand Rapids) to Cadillac, following the rail bed of the now-defunct Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, the trail is the third longest paved single trail in the country, according to americantrails.org.

“Now that it's 100 percent paved, we're seeing significantly more user traffic, especially on the northern end of the trail,” says Ben Dietrich, who is unit supervisor of the Fred Meijer White Pine Trail State Park.

What’s Happening: The final conversion of the old rail bed to a paved trail in the linear state park occurred this summer with the replacement of a bridge over Hardy Creek just north of Howard City and the paving of the final one mile section, Dietrich says. The Friends of the White Pine Trail and the Michigan DNR Parks and Recreation Division celebrated the completion of the paving on July 23.

Courtesy of Ben DietrichPaving the last section of the 92-mile-long White Pine Trail.About the White Pine Trail: Work on the trail began in 1998, with the segment from Big Rapids to Reed City, Dietrich says. Additional segments along the rail bed were completed over the years. The trail is surfaced with asphalt pavement and the complete trail is ADA compliant, relatively flat with no grades greater than 5 percent. The trail is intended for bicycling, walking, running or jogging, skating and skiing.
The trail is in use all year long, Dietrich says.

Although it’s generally non-motorized, the White Pine Trail is open to Class 1 e-bikes, which give riders the option of an electric motorized boost as they pedal, and Class 2 e-bikes, the bikes that have throttles to provide the boost without pedaling (those require a permit from the Michigan DNR). 

The trail also allows snowmobiling at times. “From December 1 through March 31 on the section of the trail just south of Cadillac all the way down to Russell Road is an open snowmobile trail during those time periods,” Dietrich says.

Elsewhere during the winter, he says, Friends of the White Pine Trail plow a portion of the trail all the way up from Comstock Park. Crews clear snow from about three quarters of the trail and leave the other quarter or so with snow for folks who want to do some snowshoeing or cross-country skiing.

The back story: During its heyday, the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad transported passengers and freight between Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Straits of Mackinac. The railroad company was formed in 1854 and by 1891 boasted the longest north-south rail line in the country. Access to rail transport helped promote settlement of the forests of Northern Michigan, back then largely wilderness. 

But as forests were cleared and the lumber industry declined, so did the railway.
In 1909, the railroad reported a profit of 24.4 cents for every passenger for each mile carried; by 1921 the railroad was losing 19.5 cents per passenger mile.

The company changed hands and in 1975, the Michigan Department of Transportation bought the railroad; within 10 years it had largely ceased operation, with the exception of a stretch from Cadillac north to Petoskey.

During the 1990s much of the old railroad right of way between the north side of Grand Rapids and Cadillac was taken over by the Michigan Department of Transportation. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources used funds from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund to purchase the right of way, which was used as the route for the White Pine Trail State Park.

What’s next: Now that the final mile has been paved, Dietrich laughs, “kind of as soon as we finished it, we got to start all over again,” with maintenance of the older sections as well as the infrastructure — bridges, culverts, etc.— of the original rail bed, some more than 100 years old.

“There's pretty much always a project involved with the White Pine Trail,” Dietrich says. “We have a number of different crossings slated for replacement,” and other maintenance work as well, he says. “We don't have any plans necessarily in stone.”

Rosemary Parker has worked as a writer and editor for more than 40 years. She is a regular contributor to Rural Innovation Exchange and other Issue Media Group publications.