Fort Custer Recreation Area — Attraction in Charleston Township

Two part review: camping and mountain bike trails.

First off, the camping here is really quite nice. Most of the sites are wood lined, at least along the back, so you have a little privacy, and tend to be about average size for state park camping. Sites are split into two areas, each of which looks kinda like a jellybean, with the sanitizing station between them (warning, the line for this when it comes time to leave can get rediculously long!). There was a "Movies in the campground" event for the first time when we were there this past October, and the kids loved it. They showed a family friendly movie on a projector right by the campground ranger station. I'm not sure if they'll continue that tradition, but I hope they do! Two modern bathrooms with showers and a couple random vault toilets for those of us who don't have campers with amenities in them. There's a lot to do here: hiking, biking, canoeing, fishing, horseback riding, playing in the fields, and a beach. Just watch out for poison ivy. It's everywhere.

The mountain bike trails are really quite good here. From the point of view of a non-spandex-wearing, 40something-year-old-dad that just loves to ride mountain bikes: It's old-school single-track with a few modern moments thrown in to keep things lively. There are four bikeable trails of varying difficulty, one of which is multi-use trail (blue) that's still fun on a bike, just be courteous of your fellow trail users, and watch for horse poop. A quick breakdown, as it's not as intuitive as you'd think.

Yellow seems the most tame, it's wider and flatter and less curvy, but still beautiful Michigan woods riding and some fun spots. Just about any bike with good brakes and knobby tires would be OK on this trail. I can't remember if horses are allowed here or not.

Blue is a little hilly with some rough decents you may want kids to walk, and lots of sand. If you get to a long, narrow wood board bridge crossing a stream, look for signs and know that there is a traditional bridge upstream you can ride to. Don't get me wrong, riding a 2x10 across a 20' stream is an awesome challenge, but it's not for youngins or the inexperienced. This trail gets a little rough so an appropriate gravel bike with wide tires or mountain bike is recommended. Watch for horses and families on this trail.

Green is longer and the next hardest, and it's twisty and rooty and sandy and full of switchback climbs and decents and some nasty drops. But it goes right by the water and offers a great view of the lake (the water-focused photo). I would not advise gravel bikes or cruisers for this trail. Mountain bikes with good brakes recommended. Trail-oriented fat bikes seem to excel on this one too.

Red is the longest, rooty-est, curvy-est, climby-est, and by far my favority-est! And though it's the most technically challenging, it has the most to offer including a couple spots right by the water. The segments here have alarming and well-deserved names such as "cardiac bypass" and "the trenches" and "amusement park". Inexperienced riders should not attempt this one. Experienced riders can look for epicly rooty climbs, rocky and narrow rollers, more roots, tight banked corners, drops, sandy corners, and of course more climbs. There are also a couple parts that are set up almost like a bike park. So much fun! While the other trails might be OK on a rigid mountain bike, I think a true mountain bike with suspension fork really is needed on the red loop, as it's got some really rough decents and you'll need that fork to keep your grip to stay on two wheels. For a non-pro, it's a huge challenge, but totally worth it!

Anyway, there's something here for every biker and signs with maps at almost all the intersections telling you which direction you should be going on which day, so if you don't ride beyond your skill level and know what color you want to follow, it can provide a great experience.

Do be aware, per some rule by Michigan (NOT the trail authority or the park itself, please don't be mad at them) e-bikes are not allowed on the...

Decent, small campground. I would come back. Although, the first part of coming in was crazy, meaning the cost to bring your car into the campground. $11 per day, no matter if you have a camping spot or not. Luckily, I didn't move my car at all weekend or we didn't go out of the campground till the day we left, saved us some money. I wanted to get a shot glass for my collection, but when I saw that the "store" had them and the price I quickly changed my mind. $12 for a shot glass?? And this wasn't anything special, just a plain looking shot glass, with a plain sticker that said Fort Custar. Not to mention everything in the camp store is cash only except for the firewood, from what I was seeing by signs they have all over the shelves. A lot of stuff over price, I understand needing to make your money back from what you spent, but to charge dang near double what it cost for that same exact product, is ridiculous. There is no real designated overflow parking, just a horseshoe area that you can park in, luckily, we were able to have our car in the campsite without being in the way of anyone else, and we had enough room to park mine with my mother in laws. The 1st stall in the women's restroom wouldn't lock, the slide piece was I believe put to high up so you had to hold the door shut. Toilets you have to either flush multiple times or hold on some of them for them to flush all the way. Even though it's not fully camping season, someone needs to be checking sites before next reservation comes in, whoever was before us, left trash and tent poles all in the bushes. I know that can't always control what people leave, but someone should have caught that if they were checking how sites were left. Always know when you go camping you leave the place you had cleaner than it was when you came. We did pick up the trash and the stakes and tossed anything that needed picked up. But common camping courtesy is to clean up after yourself. This campground specifically needs more walking trails, not just horse trails that are LONG. Pit toilet near the lake needs some of that blue stuff they put in the port a potty, a smell good, or more ventilation, it was BAD!! One of the worst pit toilets I have delt with. Overall, I would come back here for a relaxing weekend, but not if I was wanting to do anything like walking trails, site seeing the town (especially like the 2nd day having to come back in and pay $11, again). It will be one I recommend to family that goes as well, that only wants to get away for a weekend. This one so far though, is at the bottom of my list to return to...

Went here on 5/15/2022 to watch a friend compete in a mountain bike race. Brought both of my german shepherds with me.I took them both straight down to the lake because it is 80° out and sunny. The beach had about 50 ppl on it in various groups and 2 of them had off leash dogs. Not feeling very sociable i made my way down to the bushes and found alittle shore line 50 yards from any people and proceeded to let my dogs play in the water. I stood on the edge of the water for no more than 2 minutes before 2 rangers made their way over to inform me that my dogs had to be on a leash. I recognized them, they were the blonde girl ranger and old man ranger that let me in the gate not 5 minutes before this(they're fast). I kindfully complied and releashed both my hounds, they thanked me and then walked away to what i assumed would be to tell the other dog owners on the actual beach to releash their dogs. But no they moved back to the hill top above me and just stood there and watched me sit on the ground with my 2 dogs and put my socks and shoes back on. Feeling very personally attacked and in almost disbelief at how the last minute of my life played out i quickly wished my friend luck in his race and left this horrible place never to return again. They saw a young well dressed man in a nice car with 2 beautiful dogs and figured they could easily get me to disrespect them and their rules just so they could write me a ticket. Textbook ENTRAPMENT on their part. This whole park is an endless trap for them(park rangers) to write innocent ppl minor infraction tickets so they can keep their cake summer jobs. Im not dumb enough to get caught in some park ranger bob snare trap and i hope your not either. This is my 2nd time here and I 10/10 would not recommend going here for any reason. And deffinantly do not bring your dogs here, they do not want...