fort custer recreation area

Love this place, great trails for hiking, biking, dog sledding, horseback riding, camping. Several lakes for swimming and fishing. Have been going for over 40 years. It can get crowded, especially when they have a mountain bike race going on so check the schedule.

Whether it's a day trip or overnight camping, always beautiful and well maintained! Great hiking trails, beautiful, warm lake to swim in, bike riding trails. It has everything!

Cross-country ski, bike, dog sleds, kayak, walk, picnic, camp, mountain bike...fabulous place to do it all!

Let’s start with I am not a camper. It has been many (~30) years since I camped. Ft. Custer State Park completely lived up to what is posted on the State of Michigan DNR site. The campground was nice, quiet and clean. Facilities weren’t too far. Each site had electrical and most offer some level of privacy. Lakes for swimming are a bit far. Trails for biking and hiking are nearby. All in all, a very nice time and place.

We hiked the multi-purpose trail around Jackson Hole and the Witford/Lawler Lakes. It was a good trail, a little narrow at times, but passable, with nice wooded, marsh and prairie vistas to enjoy along the way. The flies were a little intense but we kept moving and they were not unbearable. We would consider camping here in the future, there is a well laid out electric campsites at this park with restroom facilities. The lakes were no wake and seem like a nice place to kayak or canoe, although we did not have time to do more than a couple hour hike.

Ft Custer has nice trails for hiking,biking or horseback riding it also has three lakes for fishing,boating and kayaking. I have camp there on a few ocassions it's nice just to enjoy the great outdoors.

Ft. Custer Rec area offers a wonderful swimming beach on a large lake. The beach has a sandy bottom and plenty of area for swimming or playing. They also have a well maintained camping area, disc golf(watch out for poison ivy), mountain biking trails, equestrian trails, and some great hiking trails. If you are into geocaching there is a challenging multi-part cache here. The beach area has a concession stand. They also rent canoes, kayaks, and rowboats.Overall, it is a beautiful recreation area and well worth a visit. Also, Great Fishing!

I rode the green trail yesterday and was pleasantly surprised by the great scenery and view points the trail has to offer. Trails are well maintained and challenging. I even saw a pair of Sandhill Cranes along the way.

Located halfway between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, Ft. Custer Recreation Area has 219 semi-modern campsites, 2 mini-cabins, 3 rustic cabins, 20+ miles of mountain bike trails, about the same amount for equestrians. Open year-round I especially like it for kayaking on Eagle Lake, Whitford-Lawler lakes and Jackson Hole. Peaceful and fun to look for sandhill crane couple and swans and hiking all seasons. If we ever get 3+ inches of snow I take the snowshoes out and tromp around. I've been using this park for over 15 years as my wilderness escape. This past year there was an abundance of grapes and blackberries and I made jam from both. Also found wild hops growing on a roadside. Harvest Fest is third week of October and gets busier every year.

Fort Custer Recreation Area was once part of Fort Custer, where new recruits trained for deployment for WWI and WWII. Now it is a tucked away gem. There are camping sites large enough for 5th wheels, good fishing in Eagle lake, and trails for hikers and horses.

We have never camped here before. Drove around looking for three campsites. There really isn't a bad site. There may be two or three that were out in the sun for most of the day that we saw by driving around. Nice level and large sites. Great for riding bikes. The beach on Eagle lake is very nice, we rode our bikes from our campsite to the beach, not a bad ride at all. We will stay at this camp grounds again for sure.

A very nice Michigan State Park located between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. Large campsites with a great deal of privacy as compared to many state parks. Pump water. Electric at campsites. Very reasonable season pass for out-of-state campers. Several lakes to canoe or kayak. No motors. Great paths to hike or bike. Only drawback is there is a lot of poison ivy in the woods and growing up the trees in the campgrounds. The sites are large enough to not come in contact with it but it was impossible to put up a clothes line.

Camped for two nights here with children. Pros: Family oriented, no alcohol permitted - therefore it was reasonable quiet with no craziness even on a weekend before July 4. Nice beach - too bad it was a bit chilly for swimming. Cons: Must drive to beach. Only two bathroom facilities for the whole campground - with five toilet stalls and I think only five co-ed showers. We stay at a fair number of campgrounds, and I would rank the cleanliness here as only average at best. No matter what time of day we visited the facilities, it was on the disgusting side. Tips: Remember the bug repellant and you will need a powerful one. If staying for a short time, plan to skip the shower - the dirt level just isn't worth it.

The drive was nice. The location was good. It was wet and cold though. There could have been more to do for a family with younger children. He was bored in just a little bit.We tried to look at other areas but more of the same.

Great camping great biking. There are a number of trails at varing difficulties. Trails are in great condition and very well maintained. Get an annual park pass and you can bike anytime!