Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MI · 44.43445, -83.62223
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →U.S. Forest Service lists this as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 4104 (Monument Campground), 260 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as asphalt surface and maintenance level 4 – moderate degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 4104 (Monument Campground), 260 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles May 1 – Oct 30. That season ends after Oct 30.
MVUM record for FR 4104 (Monument Campground): “05/01-10/30” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 823 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Au Sable River Backcountry CampsitesNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel6 mi
- DDump7 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- ShShower7 mi
- HHardware10 mi
- @Mail10 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- EVEV fast charger10 mi
- RxPharmacy12 mi
- OOutfitter20 mi
- LLaundry24 mi
- PPropane26 mi
- WWater26 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 26-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 6 mi out.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
823 ft
Ground slope
3% · gentle
State
MI
Coordinates
44.43445, -83.62223
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureCooke Dam Pond · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townSand Lake · ~7.6 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelSunoco · ~6.4 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane · ~25.5 mi
- Dump station~6.9 mi
- GroceriesIndian Lake Outpost · ~7.2 mi
- PharmacyWalmart Pharmacy · ~12.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicHale Saint Joseph Medical Clinic · ~9.9 mi
- HardwareHale Hardware · ~9.8 mi
EV charging — from Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger10.0 mi straight-line NW — Rogers Family Foods Glennie MI (at a public site) · RED_E · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach7 within 25 mi · 12 within 50 · 100 within 100 · 397 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)52.1 mi — Bad Axe, MI - Tesla Supercharger, Bad Axe
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO12.7 mi — COYNE ENERGY N SHORE PARK 2, Tawas City
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)9.7 mi — Washington St Hale MI (at a public site) · RED_E · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 351315 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Flush restroomLumberman'S Monument Visitor Center · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMonument Campground · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRiver Road Orv Trailhead · ~1.7 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSawmill Point Access · ~1.8 mi N · USFS
Coming out here — Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites · Huron-Manistee National Forest · MI
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Cooke Dam Pond as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.2 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 3% — gentle. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites elsewhere
Other camps near Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Monument Campground~0.1 mi · fee
- River Road Horse Trail Camp~4.1 mi
- Round Lake Recreation Area Campground~6.8 mi · fee
- Rollways Recreation Area Campground~7.7 mi · fee
The unit that manages Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites are set by Huron-Manistee National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites
Source
U.S. Forest Service recreation data
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-08-26: $10 per night, single site -- and the forest warns that some parking areas carry separate fees of their own. recreation.gov publishes the same $10 for the 2026 season (Apr 15 - Nov 30); the $0 it shows for January 1 - April 14 is the window outside the forest's stated April 15 - November 30 season of use, not a free period. Interagency Senior and Access passes take 50% off single campsites only. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r09/huron-manistee/recreation/au-sable-river-backcountry-campsites and https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234130.
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Au Sable River Backcountry Campsites
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Gear & rig loadout →All field notes →