Ausable River Camping

Can’t say enough about how wonderful this canoe camping experience was. I brought my Japanese girlfriend during her trip to the United States, and she was absolutely blown away by the pristine beauty of the Cook Pond, the perfect July Michigan weather, the helpfulness of the park rangers who helped us find and make our amazing reservation, and the excellent site we had (065C).

Beautiful huge and very private site. We went in spring and had perfect weather. A few trees to hang hammocks overlooking the water and sunsets. Trails to the water are super sketchy though. We went down two of them anyway. Tough getting back up and no water access at the bottom because the banks are too high.

Beautiful waterfront site but lacks any privacy. Other campers must walk through the middle of the site in order to reach theirs. Disappointing site layout.

Beautiful!

I love this camp site. I have come here in the winter as well as summer and it is always peaceful.
I do have to say tho that I'm really disappointed with other visitors to this site leaving their toilet paper and trash behind. CLEAN UP YOUR TRASH PEOPLE!

Great secluded spot on a bluff overlooking a backwater of the river.

I like the solitude and quiet. NOTHING is better!

It was a very nice site. Very short walk down a kind of steep hill to the site. Steep hill to the river also but steps and rope to help up/down. The site was littered with used TP but clean other than that. Beautiful view and the dam with boat launch and bathrooms was a short drive. Not much for walking trails on the site but there were plenty close by. Site 76 is fairly close to 75, view was obstructed but could hear other campers well. Firewood was plentiful. I would definitely use this site again. The Firepit came equipped with grate for cooking.

Our family stayed at this site for two weeks. The site is nice, big and secluded with a wonderful view of the river on all three sides. This campsite has a path down to a small sandy spot on the river where the kids can swim but it’s a long steep trail back up. During our trip the neighbors from the cabins a crossed the road decided to dock their boat off our campsite and cut through our campsite at 11:30pm. It scared the heck out of my wife because we were laying down to sleep then flashlights started cutting through the campsite and their dog sat barking at our camper until they were gone. This happened again a few days later during the day, so I ended up calling the rangers. Even after having the rangers out, the people stopped by drunk a couple more times during our stay. We have stayed at a few different sites on the AuSable River, and this was the first time we have ever had to deal with anything remotely close to this.

Away from it all, in the best way. Very happy to have found my very favorite pet friendly place! They can become wild animals again! Myself included :D Highly recommended to anyone willing to go off the grid for a few days :)