Michigan's Silver Lake Sand Dunes Area Offers Off-Roading and Boating Adventures

If your family is the type that enjoys a variety of summer powersports, you can understand the challenges of planning a vacation focused around multiple full-throttle activities. It’s difficult to plan a trip that includes all the options: personal watercraft (PWC), boat, off-road vehicles (ORV) and whatever other toys live in your garage. Most times, you can only bring one of them as a vacation focal point, which satisfies most family members, and disappoints some.

Michigan’s Silver Lake Sand Dunes area is an exception. It’s a vacation destination to enjoy ALL your family’s favorite powersports toys protected by Quicksilver products. Bring the boat, the PWC and the ORV.

The Silver Lake Sand Dunes are located along Lake Michigan’s sweeping shoreline between Muskegon and Ludington. Covering almost 2,000 acres of rolling sandhills (1.5 miles wide and 3 miles long), the area is considered one of the largest deposits of living dunes on the shores of Lake Michigan. At the northern end, you will find all the fast-paced, free-roaming action you could want on the Silver Lake State Park Off-Road Vehicle Area. This 450-acre area will test the limits of every sort of ORV imaginable.

Once you wrap up a day on the dunes, plan your next adventure on the 690 acres of Silver Lake waters – home to a massive beach at the base of the sand dunes. It’s perfect for swimming in clear waters and creating a home base for your PWC and boating activities.

If you don’t own a boat, you can rent a variety of watersports equipment from a local marina to help you create a day on the water suiting your style. Choose a ski boat, PWC or pontoon boat, and don’t forget to rent some ski and tubing equipment, too.

Or, if you crave vast open waters and ample fishing opportunities, the shores of Lake Michigan are located just on the other side of the dunes.

Three Ways to Explore the Dunes Your Way

1. You can rent dune buggies and other ORVs from several places in town. There are options for individuals up to an entire family to ride together.
2. You can ride along with an experienced driver for a tour of the dunes. Local businesses offer this service for families and groups.
3. You can take your own ORVs up on the dunes. Visit the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Silver Lake State Park ORV Area website for details about permits, vehicle use rules, and the dates and hours when the dunes are open for riding. Do your homework before going to ensure you’re able to enjoy the ride once you get there.

Three New Dune Additions as of 2021

1. More Parking for Trailers

Silver Lake State Park has opened a new parking lot for vehicles used to trailer in ORVs that are not street legal. The Michigan DNR has created hundreds of new parking spaces for trailers, ensuring enough parking for the Silver Lake Sand Dunes on all but the busiest summer weekends and holidays. There is also a parking lot voucher system in place on summer weekends to help reduce wait times to access the dunes. Details are on the Silver Lake State Park ORV Area website.

2. Two-Lane Entrance Ramp, Shorter Lines

In addition to a better parking experience, an expanded entrance ramp now makes it easier for vehicles to access the Silver Lake Sand Dunes. What used to be a one-lane road leading to the dunes and past a DNR checkpoint now has two lanes. Traffic flow is much improved, and lines to get on the dunes are now much shorter, eliminating waits that were up to an hour at times in the past.

3. Food Truck on the Dunes

A local contractor is now operating two food trucks in the southwest corner of the ORV area near Lake Michigan. Visitors can get a burger, snacks and drinks without having to leave the Silver Lake Sand Dunes and come back into town.

For more information about visiting Silver Lake Sand Dunes State Park, and the dunes area in general, visit the Michigan DNR website.