If you gave up checking the Border-to-Border Trail sometime around the Fourth of July, you had good reason. For most of this spring and summer, anyone trying to walk or bike between downtown Dexter and Dexter-Huron Metropark ran into detour signs, and it was easy to assume it was all one long construction project that would eventually just finish. It wasn't one project. It was two, in two different places, for two different reasons, and they didn't wrap up on the same schedule. Understanding that difference is the only way to know what's actually rideable on your regular route right now.
The Boardwalk Rot Nobody Could Ignore
The first closure was straightforward, if inconvenient. Six boardwalks inside Dexter-Huron Metropark had timber decking that had rotted and needed full replacement. The Huron Clinton Metropark Authority and Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission shut the segment between the park and Central Street starting April 20, 2026, with an expected reopening by mid-June. That closure briefly lifted over Independence Day weekend, July 3 through 5, so trail users could get the corridor back for the holiday, then closed again from July 6 through 10 to finish the work. By the second week of July, this particular stretch, the one that runs closest to the mill itself, should have been fully back in service.
That's project one. It's the one most people noticed first, and the one most people assumed was the whole story.
The Second Closure, Closer to Downtown
Project two started later and had nothing to do with rotted wood. It's part of the Dexter Connection segment, the new link being built to eventually join downtown Dexter to the Chelsea corridor. To keep that construction moving, crews closed the existing boardwalk on the City of Dexter side of the project and posted detours routing pedestrians and cyclists onto the Mill Creek Trail system instead, the path most locals still call by that name even though it was formally renamed the Pat & Paul Cousins Memorial Trail. As of mid-July, crews had finished roughly 30 percent of the stone base along Dexter-Chelsea Road and were preparing the corridor for concrete paving, with a crane still needed to set steel piling for a new trail bridge over the Huron River. County officials said at the time they expected the boardwalk to reopen within days, though no formal reopening notice had gone out as of that report.
Here's the piece that gets lost when people talk about "the trail being closed all summer": these are two separate segments, on opposite sides of downtown Dexter, closed for entirely different reasons, on different timelines. The wood-rot repair inside the Metropark was a maintenance fix with a hard deadline. The downtown boardwalk closure was a byproduct of new construction, the kind of project where "within days" can stretch a little.
What That Means for Your Walk This Week
Nearly six weeks out from that mid-July update, the downtown boardwalk is very likely open. If you head out and it isn't yet, the detour described in that same update, onto the Pat & Paul Cousins Memorial Trail through Mill Creek Park, will get you around it without adding much distance. Either way, the corridor as a whole is in better shape than it's been at any point since April.
For anyone planning a route, the Dexter segment of the Border-to-Border system breaks into three named stretches worth knowing by name, not just as "the trail":
- Hudson Mills Corridor, 4.58 miles, connecting the Hudson Mills Metropark entrance at North Territorial Road to Main Street at Mill Creek Park North
- Ann Arbor-Dexter Corridor, 2.6 miles, linking downtown Dexter at Central Street to Zeeb Road and continuing east
- Dexter-Chelsea Corridor, 2.1 miles, the newer stretch running along Dexter-Chelsea Road, the one tied up in this summer's second closure
Put together, a rider starting at Hudson Mills and finishing at the Cider Mill on Central Street is looking at close to five miles one way, mostly shaded, mostly along the river, with the boardwalk sections now carrying fresh decking instead of rotted timber.
Why This Particular Week Matters
The timing lines up with something else worth knowing. The Dexter Cider Mill, family owned and operated on Central Street since 1886, opens for its 140th season around August 28. This isn't a seasonal pop-up shop. It's the oldest continuously operating cider mill in Michigan, still wood-pressing cider on the bank of the Huron River, and the trail's Ann Arbor-Dexter Corridor runs almost directly to its door.
A few practical details worth knowing before you go: the mill typically runs Wednesday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., from late August through mid to late November. It's cash or check only, though there's an ATM on site if you forget. Donuts, wood-pressed cider, caramel apples, and apple nut bread are made daily, with weekend additions like apple strudel, apple turnovers, and hand rolled gingersnaps showing up Saturday and Sunday mornings. The mill has also started producing a small batch hard cider in recent seasons, pressed from the same Michigan apples, for anyone who wants something a little different to bring home.
Building the Ride Around It
If you're mapping out a weekend loop now that the corridor holds together, the pieces fit naturally. Start at Hudson Mills Metropark and ride the 4.58 miles south into downtown Dexter. Along the way, or on the way back, Raterman Bread Haus & Bistro on Grand Street runs a full sourdough program that extends into pizza, sandwiches, soup, and salad, a solid stop for lunch before or after the ride. Erratic Ale Co. sits near the same stretch for anyone looking to close the day with a drink at the trailhead rather than driving somewhere else. Finish at the Cider Mill on Central Street, where there's seating behind the shop along the river if you want to sit with your donuts rather than eat them in the parking lot.
A month ago, this same loop meant at least one detour sign somewhere along the way. That's the actual news here. The trail isn't new, the mill isn't new, but the version of this loop where you can do the whole thing without hitting a "trail closed ahead" sign is new, and it landed right as the mill's 140th season starts.
The Window Before Winter
Cider mill season in Michigan runs on a clock nobody controls. By late November, the mill's season winds down, and the days for an easy five mile ride followed by warm donuts by the river get shorter and colder fast. If you've been putting off getting back on this stretch of trail because you assumed it was still torn up, this is the week that assumption stops being true. The wood rot repair is done. The downtown boardwalk should be close behind it, if it isn't already. And the mill that's been doing this since 1886 opens its doors for year 140 in the next few days.
Details like these, the kind that only show up if you're paying attention to what's actually happening on the ground in a place, are part of why living in a town like Dexter feels different from just having an address here. If you're weighing a move to Dexter, or thinking about what your next chapter looks like in a town where the cider mill and the trail behind it are still run by the people who've always run them, JoAnn Barrett has spent years getting to know these details block by block. Reach out to schedule a free consultation when you're ready to talk about what's next.
