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Dam Loud, no really. A Dam on Au Sable River making a Pond named Loud

Sign marking Entrance to Pond, sign on island accessible floating downstream from Alcona 

In the Huron National Forest, the Au Sable River runs from Grayling east to Lake Huron. On the river there are over a hundred designated campsites, many are boat-in access only. Unlike trying to camp "dispersed" which prohibits camping within 200 ft from streams, rivers, ponds, lakes or other bodies of water, the Au Sable River Campsites have been established and maintained by the US Forest Service and Parks staff. recreation.gov to reserve a site

The Au Sable River camps span 55 miles of the Au Sable River and are separated into several segments: Alcona Pond, the AuSable Semi-Primitive Non-Motorized Area, Loud Pond, Five Channels Pond, Cooke Pond, Foote Pond and the Lower Au Sable.

Loud Pond, is one of the easiest places to put in and get to campsites without long stretches of paddling or having to car spot to have a nice weekend or overnight trip. Which is why it has become my default "low hanging fruit" spot to head out of an impromptu canoe camping trip. 

At the upstream end of the pond, more "islands" of reeds and an actual island

Arriving from M-65, the launch site is around 2.5 miles west up Loud Dam Road, maybe 2.5 miles west of the Five Channels Dam. There is reasonable parking there just beside the Hydro Electric Dam a few meters away from the launch site to Loud Pond or the lower section to enter Five Channels Pond.
Loud Pond, facing the Dam heading away from Campsite 21C
Campsites 21C-27C are accessible from Loud Pond, sites 29C-31C are accessed from Five Channel Dam Pond. Site 28C?? Is confusing since the maps show it well away from the water and seemingly equidistant from either pond.
Site 21C is well marked and easily spotted from the water, bank is sort and not too steep
Being a solo paddler, spotting cars and doing longer downstream paddle-through trips is just not my jam. StringGrrrl is a good companion and all, but she doesn't drive and having only one car makes any attempt to paddle through a logistics ordeal that we just don't bother with.
Lugging the excessive gear to the pad deserved a beer as reward
The pond can be quite chill most times, it's the wind up and down the river valley that can make the paddling a challenge. This last trip in late June of 2025, I have no photos of videos until I arrived at the site as the wind was pretty fierce to the point that there were whitecaps on the pond and the chop threatened to bring water over the sides of my slightly overloaded canoe. Three bundles of firewood along with my tendency to overpack had be weighed down more than usual. It shouldn't be an issue for my 14'9" Old Town Pathfinder. But riding lower in the water with wind driven chop was not comfortable.
StringGrrrl checks to see if 20C, Alcona Primitive Loop is reachable against wind & current
Experimentally, I tried to see if it was reasonable to paddle upstream from the Dam and launch to reach sites 20C and 19C. However the steady wind this day made it pretty difficult to attain far enough against the wind to feel that it would be safe to try to reserve either of those camps with the expectation attaining toward the sleeping spot. Someday I will have to arrange for the shuttle or car spotting service to be able to float through the river more completely.
Wedged between some submerged stumps to view the dunes in the distance and have a vape


Sunset brought a welcome break from the breeze pushing steadily downstream

Sign signifying the exit from Alcona Loop to the Loud Pond Campsites

Sure, now there's no wind and the water is like glass. With these conditions, might be able to make 20C

The photos never look as good as the real deal



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