Best Equestrian Camping near Grayling, MI

I like the location; very secluded in the State Forest but only a half hour from downtown Traverse City. This facility meets the recreation need of a diverse cross section of Michigan residents. It’s a great home base or overnight camp for canoeists and kayakers (my particular interest). The camp is also used by mountain bikers & gravel riders, ATV riders, anglers, and equestrians (separate camp area). Large wooded sites. Primitive means vault toilets, no power and hand pump water. No reservations — FCFS.

Negatives: can be noisy at times with the ATVs and also large camping groups. But for the most part I’ve found ppl to be respectful. A couple of the sites flooded after an unusually heavy rain today, so I would avoid any site that looks low if rain is expected.

Site 16 is good. High and dry after the rain.

This campground is not my favorite, although my husband did not mind staying there. One of the reasons it is not my favorite is because the bathrooms were disgusting. I do not think that they were cleaned the entire four days we were there. They were super-hot and dirty. Another reason I did not care for the campground is because while we were there, my cousin’s dog was taken to doggy jail! We went on a kayaking trip down the Au Sable river and were gone a couple of hours. My cousin has a big dog that was tied to the tree. The dog had water, but must have knocked it over. The weather was not hot, it was in the low 70’s. My uncle’s site was right next door and he was watching the dog. My uncle was preparing dinner and went into the camper to grab what he needed to grill hamburgers and hot dogs. While he was making hamburger patties someone must have walked by and saw that the dog’s water was empty (because the dog knocked it over), that person went to the park attendant and they called animal control. My uncle came out of the camper and the dog was gone. My uncle said he was in the camper for about 20 mins making patties and getting food ready to grill outside. Apparently, it is not actually animal control that came to get him, it was a person down the street that takes the animals to his home on the weekend when animal control is not open. My uncle came out of the camper and the dog was gone. My uncle was frantic and walked around the entire campground and then went to the front desk. The lady was so rude to my uncle. My uncle is a very nice and funny man and he was just beside himself! My cousin came back from the kayaking trip and my uncle told him what happened. My cousin went to the man’s house that took the dog and had to pay $80 to get him out! It was quite the ordeal. My uncle felt bad because he wasn’t out there the entire time with the dog, but he wasn’t gone that long and it wasn’t that hot outside. My uncle would have seen that the water was empty and would have refilled it. The sites are HUGE and there are some trees, but I would not camp here again. That situation left a bad taste in my mouth and the bathrooms not being cleaned during our stay put me over the edge.