One of the numerous hiking websites raved about Palisades State Park. It’s one of the reasons for the two nights in Sioux Falls. It’s an easy thirty-five minutes from the Super 8 Motel.
All the weather guessers were saying sunshine. The walk across the motel’s parking lot was met by a light drizzle, a rain just at the point where you start questioning your plans. Fortunately, during the drive, the rain did stop, though the sky didn’t exactly clear.
Finding the state park was fairly easy. It was the $6 that was an issue. I wasn’t about to give them a $20. I just hope they didn’t mind the five singles and a bunch of pocket change, mostly small.
There are four trails within the park. All told they cover about five miles. Since it’s mostly level hiking, it does make for an relatively quick visit.
Just a few minutes north on Hwy 11 from Palisades State Park sits the city of Garretson. In town you'll find two parks. The first is Split Rock Park..
After waiting at a railroad crossing for a string of track maintenance vehicles to pass, it was onward to the Devils Gulch. The name comes from the noises the wind makes blowing through the gulch's twenty foot high Quartzite walls.
The park offers a trail down to Split Rock Creek as well to a number of overlooks.
One side of the trail dead ends at an outcropping by a railroad bridge...
I hadn't been there very long when I heard a very familiar sounding rumble. Could I have gotten lucky with another train? No, just one track repair vehicle after another...
From another overlook near the other end of the trail... Note the foot bridge...
The gap at the bridge is eighteen feet across. The story goes, in September of 1876, legendary outlaw Jessie James was trying to escape a posse after robbing bank in Northfield, Minnesota. Riding a stolen horse, he jumped across, leaving the posse behind.
There's no proof the jump actually happened. And while eighteen feet does sound implausible, according to the folks at Guinness, the world's record jump was by a horse named Something. In 1975, Something jumped twenty-seven feet, six inches.
Ridiculously ahead of schedule, I pulled out both my South Dakota and Minnesota maps. Two places caught my attention, Pipestone National Monument and Blue Mounds State Park. Pipestone would be less than a half hour up Hwy 11 and lets be honest, it's hard to go wrong with a national park or monument
Just across the Minnesota state line is the town of Jasper, named after the deposits of the gemstone Jasper in the area. In a small lot by the railroad tracks, I came across the Lunch Shack. The offerings were limited, but the chicken sandwich was quite good. The cole slaw... delicious.
Every town has a story. In 1927, a tornado blew through Jasper. Sixteen year old Lucille Handburg chased after it with her camera. She got a shot, then continued to chase the storm to get two more. She won an award at the state fair for unusual photos. A year later the San Antonio Light ran a story about it. You can read that here:
That's not the end of the story though. Forty-seven years later, her photo was used by the band Deep Purple for the cover of their Stormbringer album. Ten years later, her photo was used again on Siouxsie and the Bandshees album Tinderbox.
After lunch, it was on to Pipestone National Monument. The name comes from the red stone that's been quarried here for three thousand years. The plains indians considered the quarries sacred and neutral. Warring tribes put aside their differences on the grounds.
Layers of Catlinite produce a soft, red stone. It could be easily cut and drilled into pipes, thus the name Pipestone. It's still being used that purpose today.
There's a loop trail that starts behind the visitor center...
Piles of discarded Quartzite that had to be removed between the layers of Catlinite.
By now it was mid afternoon. Hwy 75 did take me close to Blue Mounds State Park, and I seriously considered a stop. A little earlier and I definitely would have. There are quite a few trails to explore as well as the park's own bison herd. In the end, I drove back to Sioux Falls.
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