We just got back from the first of what I hope will be 4 weeks of 'up north' camping trips this summer. We like to try something new at least once each summer, and this one was Silver Lake. The area is best know for the ORV area on the Silver Lake sand dunes, one only two places in the us where you're allowed to drive on the dunes. They can have as many as 2,000 ORV's on the dune on a busy weekend, but luckily we visited during the week. More importantly to us, there's also a nice lake located on the edge of the dunes and fronted by a state park. The lake is relatively small, so it was 70 degrees for our visit, despite the cool spring we've had.

Here's a few pictures of the dune, or the biggest beach my kids have ever played on!

This is from the top of the dune, looking down on the lake and our boat. The kids had no problem going up and down the dune 5 or 6 times, but we adults were tired out after just once! It's a LONG way to hike in the sand.

A closer picture of our boat on the beach, with us getting ready to grill some lunch.


We did take some time to go on the 'Mac Woods Dune Ride', and we were not disappointed! It was a great ride, with a knowledgeable guide. The kids had a ball, and it was a nice look at parts of the dunes I wouldn't have seen otherwise. Several people around us commented that it was a much better trip the a similar one on the Saugatuck dunes.



Silver Lake is now on our list of places to return to, it's a great area.

Glad you enjoyed it. Been there many times over the last 30 years, always something fun to do there. Did you stay at
Jellystone Park? Or the State Park ?

Very, very nice. Kind of like Glamis Sand Dunes on the water.

Great pics...this is one lake that I want to visit now that we have a trailerable boat. It is just over an hour away from our house which is an easy day trip.

Capn, we stayed at the state park. It's rather shallow for a ways out, so I had to walk the boat in to get close to shore. It was nice to leave the boat in the water, and with it being a small lake I didn't worry that the water would get rough enough to matter.

The state park ramp is pretty good, but it gets really shallow as soon as you launch. I ended up having to walk the boat out to deeper water once we got it in the water, and back to the ramp the same way.

Is that the only ramp on the lake? It is really that shallow?

Yes it is that shallow. Small boat, PWC and pontoon boat lake primarily. Mainly because it is shallow quite a way out from shore, and the only place deep enoughh to run a boat of any size is in the middle, which reduces the useable boating area.

There are at least two other ramps I know of. One south and one north of the state park. They are no better.

Silver Lake

Don't get me wrong, the ramp is plenty deep enough, it's the trip out to the rest of the lake. I have a pretty deep draft for the length of boat, the outdrive is mounted rather low. I don't imagine you'd have any trouble getting the boat out in or out, just have to walk it to and from the deeper water.

We are headed to the Yogi Bear campground at Silver Lake this weekend. They had one site left and we were looking for something fun to do so we jumped on it.

We camped at a different park there last summer and as always really loved the area. Mac Woods is very entertaining and worth the trip.

Strangest thing happened though...and you guys will think I'm nuts... but I was walking down a huge sand dune in the viewing area next to where the dune buggys and ATVs make their first climb, and all of a sudden the sand beneath my right leg gives out and falls into a hole which was at least 3-4 feet deep. Fortunately the sand around the hole was firm enough to where the rest of my body caught my fall and I fell onto my butt, but my right leg was literally hanging into a pit of unknown depth right beneath me. I pulled my leg out and sand filled the hole and I walked away with a really uneasy feeling about what had just happened. I thought if it had been one of my kids, who were probably 100 feet away when it happened, they could've disappeared beneath the sand without a trace.

Jeff...any issues getting your boat into Silver Lake?

Based on that I'm assuming I won't have a problem. I have not done it before though.

Had the boat on Silver Lake this weekend. Great weather, beautiful area, awesome weekend. The ramp is fine and I had absolutely no problems loading or unloading. The east side of the lake opposite the sand dunes where the launch is located is pretty shallow for about 100 feet, but once you get beyond the swim area the rest of the lake was about 20 feet deep, plus it stays deep up until about 15 feet of shore of the dune side. There were bigger boats than mine out there as well.

The coolest part was this family that made a slip and slide waterslide down the side of the dune. They dug a trench at least 100 feet high, maybe more, and laid a tarp down. Then they had a pump in the water with a 3 inch hose pumping water to the top. They said they do it once a year. It was really cool.

Kids had fun tubing. I even took a spin and my arms are burning today.