Cooke Pond – Au Sable River Primitive Camping

September 5, 2011

After spending a wonderful Labor Day weekend at my parents I decided to stay a night at Cooke Pond – Ausable River Primitive Camping.  Ausable River Primitive Camping is not a physical campground located at one central location.  The designated campsites are spread along 55 miles of river shoreline and are located between the Ausable River Access at 4001 Bridge to near Whirlpool Ausable River Access.  For my first overnight outdoor trip in quite some time I decided to choose a remote camp area and a site that required a short walk to reach.  I had a fair amount of new gear and I wanted an experience that was quick, wouldn’t require much if any hiking, wasn’t difficult and should be relatively safe.

I choose Cooke Pond 061W a walk-in site. Parking for several of the walk-in sites in this area is found off of River Road National Forest Scenic Byway.  I decided to stop at Lumberman’s Monument Visitor Information Center and even on a Labor Day afternoon it was open and the staff was nice and helpful.  They provided me with an excellent map of the area.  I arrived at the campsite parking lot around 5 pm.  There was a sign in the parking lot indicating that this area is heavily populated with black bears. It was about a 600’ walk to the site and slightly downhill. I passed a primitive 3 half-walled outhouse on the way to the site.

The site was beautiful and right on the water’s edge.  The site contained a lot of “log furniture” and it had a nice fire pit.  I was excited to try out some new gear.  I quickly pitched my tent and made camp with no issues.  As a luxury item I carried in about 2 shots of whisky and a diet coke.  After gathering some firewood and collecting and treating two liters of water I enjoyed my mixed drink in peace.

I was the only person camping in the area that night.  After I finished the drink I hung my cook set and food PCT style without any problems about 225’ from camp.  I collected some more firewood and then started a fire in the fire pit.  I enjoyed the fire near the water’s edge until about 10 PM and then headed into the tent for some reading before drifting off to sleep.  Temperatures were forecasted to hit 46F (actual of 45F) and as an experiment I decided to see if I could sleep through the night without wearing any of the additional clothing I had packed and using my sleeping bag “quilt” style.  At some point in the night I decided that this was just too cold and I added my hooded down parka.  This did the trick and I slept the rest of the night comfortably.

In the morning the cool air over the water created some expected fog.  I retrieved my food and cooked some FBC oatmeal and instant coffee.  The morning was chilly but I felt good.  After breakfast, I cleaned up and broke camp.

Overall, it was a big success.  This area would be a great place to camp for a group.  Frankly, you could carry in anything you wanted but still camp in an atmosphere that didn’t include having multiple vehicles parked right next to your site.