With a mild winter to start January 2023, if you live in the Great Lakes region, you may be tempted to take a walk along the beach. You may need to be careful you don't come upon a section of beach that is essentially quicksand.

Check out the conditions at Rocky Gap County Park which is along Lake Michigan just north of Benton Harbor in Berrien County.

The county warned on Facebook

With the warmer winter weather that we've been having, something to keep an eye out for are sections of the beach that look like the picture

The water is very deep and some sections look like stable sand mounds but you can still fall through!

Whoa! That sounds like quicksand doesn't it?

One commentor on the In and Around St Joseph Facebook page put it into succinct perspective:

sand, with water under it... so you can think you're walking safely on sand then fall through to a frigid lake. It becomes life threatening in seconds.

We know that Great Lakes beaches can be treacherous, even fatal. Do you remember the story of the boy swallowed up by the sand at Indiana Dunes and needed hours of searching to be rescued? Mount Baldy near Michigan City was closed for years following the incident. How about the expensive and time-consuming rescue needed should you fall down the steepest dune at Sleeping Bear in Northern Michigan?

Enjoy the Great Lakes beaches, as always, but never forget the power of our inland seas.

This 'quicksand' warning is a powerful reminder.

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