Silver Lake State Park is a public park covering 2,936 acres (1,188 ha) located next to Lake Michigan and Silver Lake. It is four miles (6.4 km) west of Mears in Oceana County, Michigan. The park is made up of older forests and more than 2,000 acres (810 ha) of sand dunes. The park includes the Little Sable Point Light and an area for off-road vehicles (ORV) where people can drive on the sand dunes.

History

The park began in 1920 when 25 acres on the east side of Silver Lake were given for use as a park by Carrie E. Mears, the daughter of lumber baron Charles Mears. In 1926, the federal government gave 900 acres to the state, which became Sand Dunes State Park in 1949. A plan from 1949 guided the merging of the two areas, and Silver Lake State Park’s new boundaries were officially established in 1951.

Features

The park is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) wide and 3 miles (4.8 km) long. It is divided into three parts: The northern area is a space where all-terrain vehicles can be driven on sand dunes, the middle area is a place where vehicles are not allowed (called the Walking Dunes), and the southernmost part is managed by a private company.

The park covers the full 1.6-mile (2.6 km) western shoreline of Silver Lake, a natural lake shaped like a kidney that is about 690 acres (280 hectares) in size and located about one mile inland from Lake Michigan. The Silver Lake shoreline includes the park’s active dune area and a wetland area near the lake’s southwestern edge.

The discovery of Piping plovers nesting in the northern part of the all-terrain vehicle area has caused officials to sometimes create buffer zones to protect this federally endangered bird species.

Activities and amenities

The park offers many activities such as camping, hunting, swimming, hiking, boating, fishing, picnicking, and off-road vehicle driving.