PLACES TO RIDE - MICHIGAN
Stay young, have fun, Play!
SILVER LAKE SAND DUNES - MEARS, MI
June 10, 2023 - Our first dune trip was back in 1991 to Moses Lake, in Washington state and after 30+ years playing in the dunes out west; Moses Lake (WA), Florence, Winchester, & Coos Bay (OR), Dumont (NV), Buttercup, Gordons Well, & Glamis (CA), Coral Pink & Little Sahara (UT), and St Anthony (ID), we finally made it to Silver Lake, Michigan and are looking forward to going back! Our trip was a quick one as we had a small window of playing and trying to beat the rainstorms coming. We didn't know it beforehand, but we showed up on 'Free Dune-Pass Weekend' and the place was packed! The lower lot at the base of the dunes, well, don't even think about a spot opening up in there, so we parked with all the other hearty duners in the overflow lot about half a mile up the road. We got ourselves reading and hopped on our 2006 Honda TRX 450ERs ready for some fun. After cruising down the street and being waved into the park by the first attendants, we were stopped by the 2nd check point. Our orange triangle flags the we run at all the other dune locations were not up to code for Silver Lake. So, we headed into the local shops for merch and purchased a pair of orange square flags on 10 foot poles and back up to our trailer to make the switch. There are tons of rentals available if you don't have a ride and want to have some fun, and if you have a truck, jeep, mini van (yes, we saw one out there), SxS, rail, or anything bigger than a quad, you will need a front bumper mount bracket for your 10-foot-pole-square-flag. Yes, we purchased a front bumper bracket for our SxS as well, know your tubing diameter or come prepared with a tab welded on. Soon, we were on our way back down the road... at this point were were glad we hadn't put our paddles on (face palm). Our GoPros have our footage that we need to put together and upload, but as we re-entered the park and were waved in again by the first attendants, the second attendant went through a quick inspection, verifying our flags and checking to make sure we had spark arrestors. We were waved through and began the next part of the journey, the half-mile or so dune trail entrance with posted speed limits. Once we made it to the dunes there were machines everywhere! It was crazy, not a zoo like a holiday weekend at Glamis, but a great collection of toys to checkout - racing the drag hills, the sand drags, chilling on the beach, and everywhere in between. There's fencing set up along the beach where you can walk through and go to the lake, and the show and shine on the beach was a lot of fun. The riding area is small in comparison to where we have been able to visit, but we still had a great time. Other than a few hiccups at the start, just not being prepared for the riding rules, we had a blast ripping the dunes, learning the area, and we always enjoy seeing The Lake, but next time we will plan our trip better; not a holiday/free weekend, park in the lower lot, and paddle up. We'll try to get our videos uploaded soon. Thanks for checking out our site and as always, Stay Young, Have Fun, PLAY!
