Get Off Road At Oklahoma’s Little Sahara

I'm not sure how "famous" Little Sahara is down in Southwest Oklahoma, but growing up in North-Central Oklahoma, it was all anybody talked about in the days leading up to any of the school breaks throughout the year.

If you've never heard of it, you're not alone. I've had this conversation a few times over the years trying to convey exactly what this place is.

Over ten thousand years ago, a great and mighty river flowed through Northwest Oklahoma. It was called the Cimarron River.

The river is still there, and it's still called the Cimarron River, but it's not what it once was. In falling from "great river" status a few thousand years ago, it left a great area of sand dunes in the Northwest corner of the state.

Over the last hundred years, it has become a great place for Oklahomans to explore with a little horsepower.

The dunes of Little Sahara are like a constantly changing miniature mountain range in the middle of our plains.

Some dunes are small, around that twenty-five-foot area, and others have grown up to seventy-five feet in height. For decades, the standard to playing in the state sandbox has been dune buggies and four-wheelers... but in the last decade, we've all seen motorsports shift to something in between called the side-by-side.

Technically a four-person four-wheeler, but more fun with less learning curve. Some handle like gocarts, others drive like modern cars. From mild to wild, they are "the" thing to explore the dunes on. As with anything in life, it comes with a cost. These SxSs cost anywhere from ten grand up to fifty thousand dollars.

While that is an understandably steep price for a weekend of fun, you can rent them for much less.

I can remember my parents telling me I couldn't go with friends to Little Sahara because we didn't own a four-wheeler, and given their historically expensive nature, there was no way we could afford that kind of toy. Nowadays, there are places that rent ways for you to have fun in the sand.

Now, you might be saying "It's too cold to have outdoor fun" but you'd be wrong. This is the best time of year to do something like this. The fair-weather crowds won't be there, and if you're lucky enough to catch the dunes in the snow, it sure would make for a great story to tell later in life.

Park information and rental information can be found here, if you're up for it.