Big Sandy: A Secret Party Place Along Michigan’s Pine River

This unique Michigan spot is not a place to make a roadside stop...it’s a riverside stop that has become extremely popular with canoers and kayakers traveling down the Pine River. People pull in and stop, climb the 160-foot high dune, slide down...anything you can do with a steep dune...it’s been done here.

Big Sandy is located east of Wellston in Manistee County, in a bend in the river that has become a favorite stop for canoers, thanks to this part of the river which slows down, making it easier to pull over and rest.

Back in 2016, the U.S. Forest Service wanted to plant trees and other vegetation on the bank to prevent people from climbing the dune. One of their ideas was to transport 100 trees by helicopter to plant here, but it never happened. The trees and vegetation would bring to an end the sandy bank and the fun.....not to close it down, just to be ‘less inviting’.

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Why would the service want to spoil everyone’s fun? This all came about thanks to the drunken antics supplied by some of the visitors. Some of them drag their canoes to the top of the dune and slide down..... which brought about the death of one such reveler. In 2012, a drunken man got in his canoe and was sliding down the dune when he flew out of the canoe and died.

Another reason to get rid of it was the sand itself. With the sand constantly falling into the water thanks to the climbers, the rocks in the river get covered up...barring the fish from spawning.

Also known as ‘The Big Hill’, ‘Canoe Slide’, ‘The Party Spot’ and ‘Sand Hill’, the view from the top of the dune is the most awesome on the whole Pine River.

So far, as of this writing, ‘Big Sandy’ remains intact.