I was just curious if anybody else on this site rides at the Silver Lake sand dunes in Western Michigan. I can't wait until April when they open back up, I'm really itching to get back out there.

It is my favorite place to ride, and unfortunately I don't get out there near as much as I want to. I got in a wreck out there this past spring and broke my hand, so that pretty much killed the whole season for me. I got my wolverine all repaired and got my cast off by September, but I didn't have any chances to get back out there and ride before they closed the park for the year.


So if there is anybody else on atvconnection that rides at Silver Lake, please post some pictures of your sand toys and tell us where you are from, and how often you get out there.

I will start it off, here are my Sand Toys.

Test Hill:



On the flats:



And the Beach:



Me last year on my Wolverine jumping out of one of the bowls (obviously before I wrecked it):



Me getting ready to yank one of my buddies out after he burried his quad on test hill



How it looks now after the wreck, and its a re-born virgin to the sand...lol:



My girl tearing it up on the Bruin:



Im from LaSalle, MI which is in the southeast corner of MI, and about 3.5 hours away from the dunes. Like I said, I dont get out there near as much as I would like because of a buisy work schedule, but I plan on making many more trips next year.

 

I am hoping to check this place out in the next few years. It is a bit of a drive for me, about 14 hours or so I think. Would I get bored if I spent a week out there? Any other public places to ride nearby?

 

I would love to have a week up there. If you go with a group of friends, then you could easily occupy a whole week riding. If you went by yourself, or just with one other person...you may have had enough after a few days, its always more fun to ride with more people.

With the dunes themselves, you could pretty much see every inch of them with one good day. But there is a lot of different types of terrain in the park itself, so you can find many different places/areas to ride that offer different things like big dunes, mud, water holes, drag strip, the beach, etc....so its hard to get bored there, at least it is for me.

As for other trails, there are a few large ones fairly close to the dunes, not something you could just buzz over to on the quads, but I would guess within an hour drive from Silver Lake state park by car. The only two I know of are the Lincon Hills trails, and the Little-O trails, I have never ridden at either one, so I cant vouch for the quality or the technicality of the trails. But I'm sure you could find all kinds of information on them on Google.

Another website I'm on (fordtruckworld.com) has at least one group trip up to the dunes every year, we have guys come from Ontario, Chicago, all over Ohio and Michigan...and I have never heard one person complain about the drive once they got out there.....bitching about the drive home is a different story though..lol.

I never owned a quad or a 4x4 truck until after I took a trip to silver lake with a group of friends...we went there and rented some little Honda recon 250's and buzzed around the sand for two days, now 3 years later I have about 60k worth of sand toys and its my biggest hobby now....so I guess you could say I'm a huge advocate for the dunes, and I recommend everybody try it out at least once, I'm still trying to get my parents to come out there with us and ride once.

 

It's ben a year since I have ben on the dunes [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] This year for sure!!! Live just south of Lansing. I tend to do more trail riding..

 

My first trip was October '05 with guys from work who take their 4WD pickups, Jeeps and quads to play. I bought a race buggy in Grand Rapids on my way there :-) I got hooked!


June 2007 with my Ridge Runner:


Took my Rzr October '07:


Friend crashed my Ridge Runner same trip:

Not serious - 1 broke balljoint & bent tierod & 2 flat tires. Back in the dunes 2 hours later. Very tough buggy!

 

good looking toys guy48065! Catch a little too much air with the ridge runner? Also, how does that RZR do out there? I have been looking at side by sides for a while, and the RZR definitely looks like the best one for my style riding.

 

I let a friends 14 yo son drive it. He's an experienced dirt biker and was doing great until the last dune. He made a last-second correction to go through a cut and caught air at an angle and landed on the LF tire. Oh well...not much trouble to fix it in the parking lot & the rest of the day went fine...with his dad driving! LOL

The Rzr is lots of fun in the dunes. I was a little doubtful because of the width but it never felt tippy. The rear paddles are on reverse offsets and made the Rzr 58" wide so that may have helped. The RR is more fun in the sand due to the terrific suspension but the Rzr does fine & has plenty of power. The Rzr was still under warranty then so I babied it a little and didn't do any big jumps. Looking forward to spring so I can air it out [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

I may take the RR with me & put a For Sale sign on it. 90% of my riding is on 50" trails and it's 58" wide. I hate to give up the performance but I need to be legal and the Rzr offers enough excitement for this middle-aged man [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

We try to go out there from NY every couple of years. We've been there 3 times but its been a few years since we've made it out. I've got a good job now with some real vacation time so I'm planning on hitting it up with a few friends again this summer. We always bring a gang of trikes and my Dodge Diesel as a tow machine.

John

 

Some friends and I are planning a trip out there this spring. from the pics it looks great and it is our first trip to any type of dunes. I am a little worried about the noise levels of a couple of our quads. I am running a full Sparks big bore exhaust on a TRX 450R and a friend up mine is runnung a full Bill Balance on a YFZ 450 and they are LOUD. We both have quiet cores for them but to my ears there is little difference. Is this rule strictly enforced and if so do you get a ticket and have to park it or can you still ride afterwards. Thanks

 

When we were out there a few years ago (the first summer of noise testing I think), they were pretty consistent with testing everyone with a dB meter at the correct RPM. My 250r was close with a fresh Duncan silencer and a spark arrestor on it. Once guy had a 400EX with a Yoshi exhaust and he flunked the test. Luckily I brought some steel wool to put in his exhaust to get it through, once he got into the sand the steel wool would blow out anyway and we never had any hassle from the rangers once we were out there since they only checked you on the way in.

John