Hinchman Acres Resort — Hotel in Mentor Township

On Saturday, July 30, 2016, my wife and I took our kids on a kayak trip in this section of the river, along with another family that had never been on a river trip before. The river was beautiful and the weather matched! However, the beauty of the river quickly turned as hundreds of people in tubes used the river as their own mardi gras. Drunken floatillas of 20+ people passed around bottles of hard liquor and screamed litanies of profanity in front of my children. Drunk people insulted me and my wife as we passed by. At one point, 50 feet in front of me and my 9 year old boy, a lady popped her top and flashed her naked body while others threw beads at her. This happened several times. There was a conservation officer on the river, but I did not see him do anything about it, and it seems that one conservation officer is not enough to take care of this enormous problem. We were completely disgusted and appalled. A few times I quipped that I had children and asked that people refrain from saying and acting this way in front of them. Each time the retort was “why did you bring your children here on the weekend?” The last time I checked, the beauty and majesty of the resource belonged to everyone, and everyone has the right to use the river in a lawful manner. I didn’t know that there were times when we couldn’t bring our family kayaking on Michigan’s famed Au Sable. It seemed that everyone in Mio said there is nothing they could do about it; the canoe livery, Hinchman Acres, did nothing to discourage it. In fact, on the bus ride home from the river the bus was filled with these drunk people that were screaming profanities in front of my kids. Several needed to be carried on to the bus they were so drunk. The bus driver said and did nothing. I complained at the office, but they said there is nothing they could do about it. It's not right that I cannot bring my family here to take a kayak trip without complete debauchery happening all around us. I really wish they had told me this when we made the reservation with them and told them we were bringing 3 families, but it seems they just...

My family and I have gone here my entire life, even knew the original founders/owners and such. I miss going every year that I don't. Overall amazing service, even when they're overloaded and have to skip on some families that day for rafting, so that's when you go the next day! They have so much to offer that isn't staring at a screen. But if you go just for rafting and get upset if they cant take you, get your own gear then. They only have so many amazing people that work there trying to accommodate everyone, first come, first serve. If you get upset at that? Money can't solve everything. Gotta' call and plan that even when you get there so you know! It's not hard, so don't balme any of their amazing staff! It's such an amazing getaway from the hustle and bustle of life and a breath of fresh air to enjoy nature and being with your loved ones without screens. I will always spread the love and joy of Hinchman Acres to anyone who wants a nice getaway. If you expect everything to go your way for how much money you have, this isn't for you. This is a place to reconnect yourself with life. If you want perfection with money, go get a 5 star Hawaiian/Bahama resort, or be amazed on their prices and rustic life ways that make you appreciate nature, family, friends, and overall life way more than your phone and social media can give you. I can't wait to rent a cabin with my fiancé and show him a major part of my childhood and what helped make me realize the important things in life! Taking a vacation down to Florida, Hawaii, etcetera; or Hinchman Acres? I'll always choose Hinchman Acres! I'm so happy to see this home away from home still going strong! I can't wait to bring my fiancé to visit! Some of the best times in my life we're made at...

I did the canoe route from Hinchman Acres to Comin flats. It's a nice trip, the rental canoes and paddles are the same as other Ausable River rental places, they don't give you any kind of floatation vests but the river is pretty shallow near Mio so it's not that big of a deal (you can stand in the middle of the river in most of the area I was in). The pricing is pretty cheap and they got my group on the river pretty fast after arriving, which are pluses.

My one complaint is that the advertised distances for the canoe routes are completely wrong. The Mio - Comins Flats route is advertised to be 10 miles on the website and according to the guy that was doing canoe rental paperwork, but I had Strava on my phone and a dedicated Garmin trail GPS recording on my trip, and both of them agreed on an actual trip length of 7.15 miles from drop off to pickup. This was pretty frustrating because some of my group started getting pretty stressed about being late to the pickup point on time during what was supposed to be a leisurely outing, then we arrived at the pickup point 45 minutes early. You start at Hinchman Acres and get picked up at Comins Flats where they charge a late fee if you show up late to Comins Flats, which is unusual for the other Ausable river canoe rental places They also don't offer several of the routes listed on their website anymore, such as all of the ones that start up river and end at Hinchman Acres.

It's pretty trivial to correct the distances with the wide array of affordable tracking tools available nowadays or even with satellite imagery, which is something that Hinchman Acres really...