Lower Ausable Campsites 98-102

98D-102 sites are located along the AuSable river. Sites have a fire ring and that's all. No trash, toilets, showers, electric or water available. Only way to pay for site is online at recreation.gov. maybe at a ranger station? Site 98 is in full sun for most of the day with little shade. This seems to be a popular fishing spot due to the amount of vehicle traffic throughout the day on this dirt, bumpy road. Getting to the river to fish, is a fairly steep climb down the hillside. Saw a lot of fish but no luck, nor did other fishermen seem to have any luck all 3 days. You are particularly close to the oscoda Airport, approximately 1 mile in distance. Loud jumbo jets can be heard at all hours of the day, either idling on the flight line or taking off. The high pitched whining sound is annoying at 2am. Ran into coyotes and porcupines in area, watch your pets. At&t 5G was available somehow. It's slow and unreliable, 4G was way faster and had 3-4 bars when 5G would fail.

Au Sable River Camping consists of 102 dispersed primitive campsites along the banks of the Au Sable River in the Huron National Forest. Sites are listed as "D" for drive-in, "C" for canoe-in and "W" for walk-in. The permit season was just extended from mid-April to mid-November but unless you plan ahead with reservations at Recreation.gov, getting a permit on site isn't easy. There are no registration kiosks or payment tubes at the campgrounds. When I called the Monument Visitor Center they were closed. I drove there and the sign said: "Visitor Center closed for Season" - it was April 25th. I didn't sweat it and enjoyed a night camping for free, albeit in a different area further upstream. These sites have a fire ring and that is it.

Each drive-in camping area is a bit different due to elevation, topography, proximity to the river, road condition, etc. In general, one might want to scout ahead if you have low clearance or a tall rig. Some of the loops can be narrow, rutted with low hanging branches but I managed fine with my Class C. This eastern (Lake Huron) shore of Michigan isn't as developed as the west (Lake Michigan) shore as there are no large cities anywhere but that is fine as it has a lot to offer in the way of natural beauty.

Be sure to check out the guide to touring the Scenic Byway - https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/hmnf/recreation/scenicdrivinginfo/recarea/?recid=18982&actid=105