Fort Custer Recreation Area in Augusta is prairie and second-growth woods around Eagle, Whitford-Lawler, and Jackson Hole lakes, with the Kalamazoo River inside the same park, and the first night out of Kalamazoo is its modern loop. You go out from there on more than 40 miles of hiking, mountain biking, and horse paths. Fort Custer covers 3,033 acres between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, enough for a full day on the bike without moving the van. Come back to Eagle or Jackson Hole when you want a break from the trail.
Some sites on the 219-site modern campground take 50-amp electric, and there's a sanitation station. If you need more sleeping space than a campervan, those pads also fit a larger RV. Michigan DNR sites open six months ahead of arrival, so reserve the site before you book the van on summer weekends, when the hookup season fills.
Winter camping stays open here, with modern restrooms still running, and spring and fall are the easy dates. Yankee Springs Recreation Area at Gun Lake is the inland overnight Grand Rapids uses.
Warren Dunes and Van Buren State Park
Hang-gliders launch off a 260-foot dune at Warren Dunes State Park in Sawyer, above 3 miles of Lake Michigan beach. The sand starts at the water and climbs to that crest. That dune and woods cover 1,500 acres, and Red Arrow Highway is the road in.
Mt. Randall is the modern campground, with pull-throughs available. Hilldebrandt's 37 semi-modern sites have no electrical service, which matters once nights get cold.
Van Buren State Park in South Haven puts open dune and beach directly off the campground, with a paved spur trail to the water. You sleep next to that shore and walk out. A Recreation Passport is required to enter state parks.
The Kal-Haven Trail follows an 1871 railroad bed for 33.5 miles of crushed limestone from Kalamazoo to South Haven, through orchards and small towns, with Bloomingdale's caboose museum at the midpoint. There's no camping on the trail.
Saugatuck is a day in town farther down the same shore, and Holland State Park is the Holland overnight. The Upper Peninsula and the Straits are on the Michigan campervan hub.