Gun Lake and Yankee Springs: Barry County's playground

Halfway between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, Barry County keeps the weekend infrastructure both cities depend on. The hub is Gun Lake: 2,600 acres of clean, busy, all-sports water with a state park beach on its shore. It’s one of the biggest inland lakes in West Michigan, ringed by year-round homes that used to be cottages until everyone wised up. Yankee Springs Recreation Area wraps around the lake’s east side. That’s more than 5,000 acres of glacial knobs, nine kettle lakes, and the Devil’s Soup Bowl. Its mountain-bike loops and bridle paths draw riders from across the region.

The rest of the county rolls on like that. There are more than two hundred lakes. The Thornapple River winds through Hastings, a classic courthouse-square county seat with one of Michigan’s nicest small downtowns. Historic Charlton Park, a village museum on the river, hosts gas-engine shows and Civil War weekends. Barry is the county where southwest Michigan goes to be outside. Living there just means skipping the drive home.