There’s a place hidden in the forests of Pennsylvania that lies a park with piles of boulders that has a unique ring to it. Literally. Ringing Rocks is the park that has boulders that, when hit by a hammer, creates musical sounds from it. Some sound like pings and some sound like they come from a xylophone.
Located in Bucks County in Pennsylvania, specifically Upper Black Eddy, the forest is an easy drive to the start of the trailhead. Yes, this is a trail and it’s a trail that connects to the largest waterfall in Bucks County. The waterfall is not massive by any means, but it is surrounded by layers of slabs of rocks where you can hike around it.
The Ringing Rocks Ramble Trail
Distance: 0.8 mile
Elevation gain: 114 feet
Difficulty: Easy
Route type: Loop
Ringing Rocks Ramble Trail is a very easy and short hike as you can see from the stats above. Although what made it challenging for my friends and I, was the rain, so if you decide to go in the rain, be prepared for a bit of a challenge. (Be super careful of the rocks becoming more slippery! Not recommended for beginners.) I recommend downloading a map from AllTrails on their trail page to help guide you.
You will loop around and see the waterfall at the end, where its flow can depend on the season and if it’s been a dry or wet season. Because you need to get around the piles of boulders, I recommend two things: good hiking boots (waterproof if you’re going in the rain) and a hammer.
The hammer is for when you’re going to play with the rocks by banging it against them to hear the unique musical sounds I’ve been describing. If you’re going with friends and family, bringing your own hammer each is advisable than sharing one because you may want to be spread apart and want to hear each other playing with the sounds at the same time.
So, what is making the sounds on these rocks?
It still remains a mystery of the exact cause of the sounds. What we do know is that the Ringing Rocks are primordial igneous diabase boulders. Diabase rocks are usually referred to as being dark gray to black to fine-grained and the size of the grain is what makes it different from other rocks like basalt and gabbro. They are very hard on the surface, so using a hammer would not damage the rock.
Scientists have been able to crush and slice open these rocks to discover farther more what is inside of them and found all of them make a ringing sound, but the sounds were really low that our ears cannot even hear them. With that of dissecting the insides, it might seem it is coming from the surface, like an erosion of the rock or the composition of the rocks. Theoretically, if you were to remove a boulder out of the pile of rocks, it wouldn’t ring anymore.
In a nutshell, there is no exact scientific evidence yet as to where the ringing sounds are produced or why, just theories. And my guess (as a little nerd), it might be the size of the grains plus the surface of the rocks eroding, combined, might be the cause. Either way, we all appreciate a cool rock, let alone one that can play tunes.
Fun fact: All rocks are made of the same material but only ⅓ of them ring, so it’s about finding which rocks ring and which doesn’t.
Tell me what you thought below!