Ausable River Camping

The Ausable River sites are my favorite in all of Michigan. Very secluded and close to what my definition of camping means.

Incredible views of the forest and the Ausable River. It's a very brief 'hike' from the parking spot on the dirt road through the woods before you get to the camping area. It was isolated from everyone and, best of all, zero cell phone service (exactly what I wanted). I hesitate to call it a hike as it's completely flat, on a worn path through the woods, and isn't even 1/4 of a mile. But it gets you away from it all and into the woods. It was perfect in every way.

We had beautiful weather, and a clean campsite. We enjoyed watching the swan family on the river.

Very large secluded campsite

The most beautiful spot I've ever camped in.

Love this site, especially when the water is up

The big island is the best campsite on the river probably the best one in Michigan. That’s the way I feel, but there are people who do not respect the island. When I arrived there on August 4 th I was very disappointed with the people who had just left. I’m sure it was the kids that were there that left behind the cellophane wrappers from juice boxes. I pick up almost 20 from one end of the site to the other. Come on parents those poor kids may never learn how to respect nature!! And the adult that was too lazy to dig a cat hole and left a large pile of poop on the base of a tree just steps from the campsite. NICE JOB! I am sure that came from the group that had just left because the friendly raccoons that visit each night couldn’t find any thing at my camp cleaned up the pile of crap. Oh yeah one more thing whoever thinks that the campers that follow you likes the look of thousands of pistachios shells everywhere you are wrong so wrong they are too small to rake up so you just have to walk through them. You should be banned from camping. Try a wastebasket or the fire pit. I hope you are lucky enough to get the chance to visit next year an see what all the others that do not trash the place have to look at the whole time they are there. Another great job from someone who has no respect for nature and the great number of people who share that island and do respect it!!

Sorry to be so harsh on a few people because most of you islanders do love and respect that small place of paradise.

Very peaceful camp, couldn’t barely hear the neighbors down the road (quite a bit down the road, barely any drive by), and it was a perfect campsite. Little messy from previous campers but we cleaned it up before we left. Highly recommend and will definitely return to any of the sites on this strip in the future. About a ~100 yard walk down a hill through the woods to a perfect riverside relax site along the water. We chilled there for a while and skipped rocks before going back to make dinner. Highly recommend this site!

This is a beautiful site. Too bad some youngsters didn’t want to leave because they set up camp a day before their check in. We had to wait a couple hours for them to leave and we were able to catch the sunset. The nice staff at Lumberman’s Monument refunded the overnight fee.

Scenic and spacious. I’ve stayed at this site 3 times now. The only down side is the trees are starting to obstruct the view.