Palisades State Park - Garretson, SD

It’s a short drive (don’t get too used to them).  We get in early enough for lunch...Deb has been wanting to make potato salad since Idaho.  We have a couple of Idaho Russets, just waiting. Delicious.

Palisades Park is the second smallest state Park in South Dakota.  It is a small stream that runs through palisades of catlinite.  Catlinite is a pink rock, also called Sioux Quartzite.  This is the only place it is found, and primary use is to make Indian Peace Pipes.  My father had a piece of catlinite that he carved into a pipe and polished.  With well established trails and mowed fields, we took in the entire park in about an hour and a half.  We looked at the palisades from the top, from the bottom, from the north bank and the south bank.  We studied the historic bridge built with Platt Girders in 1908, as well as foundations of Pattens Mill.

Sioux Quartzite

By 3:00, we had it covered, but it also started to shower, which was an ideal time to go back to the campsite and make some pizza dough.  By 6:30, we were eating personal pepperoni pizzas right off the Barbie.  We finished the evening eating popcorn watching “San Andreas”