Add Singing Sands to Your Bucket List

Hundreds of miles of freshwater coastline invite sunbathing, sculpting sandcastles, a game of volleyball, kite flying and long beach strolls. If conditions are right, with every step you may experience the phenomenon of the “singing sand.” The sound won’t win any music awards—it’s more of a squeak, a moan or an eerie whoosh created by friction with the soft sand—but it’s rare and fun to check off your bucket list.

Although it hasn’t been fully explained, experts seem to agree that uniform, round grains of sand and not too wet, yet not too dry, conditions are required to emit a tune. In addition to spots along the Lake Michigan shore, you can catch a performance of the singing sand at Bete Grise on Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula.