Donziikid
Rock Stacker
Forewarning: This is a very long two post containing very lengthy dialogue which you may or may not like to read. Over 12,600 characters.. If you don't like reading I suggest you just look at the picys and comment. :lol: Otherwise, enjoy the read. Any comments and criticism welcomed. Also, I understand this isn't exactly crawling, but, hell, it's still off roading! Please enjoy! "thumbsup"
Although not nearly as popular as the northern Michigan sand dunes, The Sleepy Bear, the Silver Lake State Park sand dunes are popular for the culture, the scenery, the feeling and the roar.. Yes, I did say roar..
The Silver Lake State Park sand dunes are one of the only dunes East of Utah that you can take a private motorized vehicle and drive on them. With more than 2,000 acres of sand and 450 acres drivable it is quite a step up from the sandbox in the backyard! Throughout this post I will share over twenty pictures of our adventure back over the dunes in our 1999 Ford F350 dually. Some in town said we are crazy.. we just thought it would be a heck of a lot of fun!
To reach the dunes you must first drive through a wonderful Lake Michigan shoreline city, Silver Lake, to get to the Off Road Vehicle Park Entrance. On the way through you’ll find numerous Go-Kart tracks, parks, beach lines, hotels and the female favorite: gift shops. If you have a very small amount of testosterone coursing through your veins you’ll probably find yourself at one of those places first. For those with a little more in their system, you will be at the entrance gate far before the park opens at 9AM.
Slowly driving down Lakeshore Drive we make our way to the park entrance we pass through the beautiful town of Silver Lake. Nearing 9AM everyone in the truck is slowly awakening from their overnight stay at a hotel in nearby Hart, MI. Just a few moments ago we were chomping down on cereal and donuts provided by the hotel; hopefully the one most weary about this dune excursion will be able to hold down her Cheerios!
Stopping at the gate we are greeted by a woman asking us to show our ORV pass. Oh, no.. we left them at the cottage! No matter, for a small fee, along with the park entrance fee, we purchase another ORV sticker and make our way to the staging area.
After finding a nice parking spot the ladies hit the restroom as I lay down on the ground and start to deflate the first of the six tires down to 15PSI. Sadly, the night before we just switched from the BFGoodies back to the General’s to ruin on the dunes, and in order to do so we had to inflate the General’s to a wonderful 80PSI… Boy, this was going to take a long time to deflate all six tires back to 15PSI… After about a half hour of me crawling around on the dirt, the truck is generously lowered down about two inches and is now planted on six black pancakes.
All five of us pile back again into the truck and make our way to the real entrance to the park. Creeping up behind the now miniature looking Jeep we stop at the gate. The gateman takes a peek through the open windows and checks to see we’re all safely seated and secured with those wonderful things called seatbelts. Pointing to the front passenger side tire he asks to make sure we deflated to no lower than 10PSI and proclaims how long he was watching us on the far end of the lot releasing all of that air. He then waves us through and we punch the throttle. As all ten cylinders scream the tall mast now mounted to the front bumper smacks their flag check pole as we drive past and leave the entrance gate far behind.
Winding our way through a small sand valley we discuss our plan of attack: duct tape the old ladies mouth. We haven’t even made it onto the dunes and she’s already flipping out over how much she dislikes the idea of a “massive truck driving over the dunes next to all these little Jeeps.” We reassure her that the only one in harms way are the little-bitty-(rented…)-Jeeps. After finally getting her to shuttie we find ourselves at the top of entrance hill..
Down off of entrance hill you can either drive West towards the water or turn South and head up the largest hill at this park. Seeing as how it is so early in the morning we make our way past the largest hill and towards the water towards the North-West. On our way over to the water all you can see is this large hill to your left (1) and these beautiful beach front homes to the right (2).
On our way to the water we pass this slow Chevy (1) and a few sand-beaten tree stumps (2). What a beautiful view and we’ve barely made it into the park!
Once arriving at the beach we sit and watch the waves rolling in and the gulls flying around looking for any scraps of food from previous travelers to the beach. In the distance you can see a handful of kites floating in the breeze. I plant myself on my stomach and watch the waves roll in and the gulls walking across the beach (1). After photo sessions of the beach, the gulls, the waves and the girls, we make our way back to the truck and back onto the dunes. We approach the first hill slowly as a yellow buggy blasts by through the trees, unaware of anyone else around (2). Figuring he is long past I jump out of the truck and run down the opposing end of the long hill we just climbed to take pictures of the descending dually (3). Like the wonderful man my father is he races up the next hill and stops… waiting for me to run up the hill after the truck… Ah, fathers… (4)
Finally catching the truck at the top of the next hill we descend the next hill only to meet this gorgeous Blazer (1). This Blazer is certainly one I would love to replicate as a crawler. Simple yet very effective statement. Plus, the color’s great, to boot! I assure you this beast was not stock; there was something very, very deep throated under that hood! The dash was even beautifully laid out with gauges and gadgets galore (2).
Proceed to post number two!
Although not nearly as popular as the northern Michigan sand dunes, The Sleepy Bear, the Silver Lake State Park sand dunes are popular for the culture, the scenery, the feeling and the roar.. Yes, I did say roar..
The Silver Lake State Park sand dunes are one of the only dunes East of Utah that you can take a private motorized vehicle and drive on them. With more than 2,000 acres of sand and 450 acres drivable it is quite a step up from the sandbox in the backyard! Throughout this post I will share over twenty pictures of our adventure back over the dunes in our 1999 Ford F350 dually. Some in town said we are crazy.. we just thought it would be a heck of a lot of fun!
To reach the dunes you must first drive through a wonderful Lake Michigan shoreline city, Silver Lake, to get to the Off Road Vehicle Park Entrance. On the way through you’ll find numerous Go-Kart tracks, parks, beach lines, hotels and the female favorite: gift shops. If you have a very small amount of testosterone coursing through your veins you’ll probably find yourself at one of those places first. For those with a little more in their system, you will be at the entrance gate far before the park opens at 9AM.
Slowly driving down Lakeshore Drive we make our way to the park entrance we pass through the beautiful town of Silver Lake. Nearing 9AM everyone in the truck is slowly awakening from their overnight stay at a hotel in nearby Hart, MI. Just a few moments ago we were chomping down on cereal and donuts provided by the hotel; hopefully the one most weary about this dune excursion will be able to hold down her Cheerios!
Stopping at the gate we are greeted by a woman asking us to show our ORV pass. Oh, no.. we left them at the cottage! No matter, for a small fee, along with the park entrance fee, we purchase another ORV sticker and make our way to the staging area.
After finding a nice parking spot the ladies hit the restroom as I lay down on the ground and start to deflate the first of the six tires down to 15PSI. Sadly, the night before we just switched from the BFGoodies back to the General’s to ruin on the dunes, and in order to do so we had to inflate the General’s to a wonderful 80PSI… Boy, this was going to take a long time to deflate all six tires back to 15PSI… After about a half hour of me crawling around on the dirt, the truck is generously lowered down about two inches and is now planted on six black pancakes.
All five of us pile back again into the truck and make our way to the real entrance to the park. Creeping up behind the now miniature looking Jeep we stop at the gate. The gateman takes a peek through the open windows and checks to see we’re all safely seated and secured with those wonderful things called seatbelts. Pointing to the front passenger side tire he asks to make sure we deflated to no lower than 10PSI and proclaims how long he was watching us on the far end of the lot releasing all of that air. He then waves us through and we punch the throttle. As all ten cylinders scream the tall mast now mounted to the front bumper smacks their flag check pole as we drive past and leave the entrance gate far behind.
Winding our way through a small sand valley we discuss our plan of attack: duct tape the old ladies mouth. We haven’t even made it onto the dunes and she’s already flipping out over how much she dislikes the idea of a “massive truck driving over the dunes next to all these little Jeeps.” We reassure her that the only one in harms way are the little-bitty-(rented…)-Jeeps. After finally getting her to shuttie we find ourselves at the top of entrance hill..
Down off of entrance hill you can either drive West towards the water or turn South and head up the largest hill at this park. Seeing as how it is so early in the morning we make our way past the largest hill and towards the water towards the North-West. On our way over to the water all you can see is this large hill to your left (1) and these beautiful beach front homes to the right (2).
On our way to the water we pass this slow Chevy (1) and a few sand-beaten tree stumps (2). What a beautiful view and we’ve barely made it into the park!
Once arriving at the beach we sit and watch the waves rolling in and the gulls flying around looking for any scraps of food from previous travelers to the beach. In the distance you can see a handful of kites floating in the breeze. I plant myself on my stomach and watch the waves roll in and the gulls walking across the beach (1). After photo sessions of the beach, the gulls, the waves and the girls, we make our way back to the truck and back onto the dunes. We approach the first hill slowly as a yellow buggy blasts by through the trees, unaware of anyone else around (2). Figuring he is long past I jump out of the truck and run down the opposing end of the long hill we just climbed to take pictures of the descending dually (3). Like the wonderful man my father is he races up the next hill and stops… waiting for me to run up the hill after the truck… Ah, fathers… (4)
Finally catching the truck at the top of the next hill we descend the next hill only to meet this gorgeous Blazer (1). This Blazer is certainly one I would love to replicate as a crawler. Simple yet very effective statement. Plus, the color’s great, to boot! I assure you this beast was not stock; there was something very, very deep throated under that hood! The dash was even beautifully laid out with gauges and gadgets galore (2).
Proceed to post number two!
