The city is located in the middle of the Northern Michigan region at the junctions of Interstate 75, U.S. Route 127, M-72, and M-93.

Grayling is well known for hosting the Au Sable River Canoe Marathon in July of every year since 1947.

It was called "AuSable", "Forest", "Crawford Station", and during the lumbering era "Milltown".

[12] Before they could recover, non-native sport fish such as brook trout were introduced in the 1890s[13] and competed with the grayling for food.

The Grayling Fish Hatchery was founded in 1914 by timber baron Rasmus Hanson (1846–1927).

[14] He hoped to restore the grayling to the Au Sable River system; ironically, its disappearance was caused, at least in part, by the massive habitat destruction caused by logging, which was the source of Mr. Hanson's and other lumber barons' immense wealth.

Nevertheless, the hatchery continued to play an important role in natural resource conservation.

It is being operated by a privately owned fish farm, although continues to be open to the public during the summer.

In 1916, he donated 13,826 acres of cut-over land in Crawford County to the state of Michigan for use as a forest game preserve and military reservation.

[16] Since 1947, Grayling has been the starting point of the Au Sable River Canoe Marathon, which is held every year on the last weekend of July.

The area is proud of its history, and has preserved landmarks, which it uses for historical events, including reenactments.

[25] Camp Grayling is a Michigan National Guard training facility located near the city.

Through the year, around 10,000 troops train at the base, and it generates an estimated $20 million in local economic activity.

[41] The Guard base sits on land originally donated by Rasmus Hanson and is the nation's largest National Guard training site and the largest military installation east of the Mississippi River.

The 147,000 acres (590 km2) are used for year-round training with participation by active and reserve components of the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy.

[43][44][45] Grayling is 4 miles (6.4 km) north of the confluence of two major north–south freeways: I-75 and US 127, and the junction with M-72, an east–west cross-peninsular state highway route.