Palisades & Pipestone Revisited

Bob was disappointed that we hadn’t stopped by Palisades State Park after visiting nearby Good Earth State Park a few days earlier. When we saw the weather forecast was looking half way decent (at least for the earlier part of the day) he suggested we pack our lunch and go. 

The park was quite busy to the point we even had to wait in line to enter.  With the combined visits to Custer, Good Earth and now Palisades State Parks we will be breaking even on the cost of the South Dakota state park annual pass we purchased for $36 in the Black Hills. (Otherwise we would have paid: Custer-$20; other parks-$8 each for individual visits). The pass doesn’t expire until next May so perhaps we will have a chance to use it again in the spring. 

I won’t go into too much detail since I did a previous post and video from our visit in June. We started by going down the trail and steep steps to walk along the river bank at the base of the cliffs. A secluded picnic table at the top of the hill gave us a nice place to have our lunch afterwards. While we were eating, a long line of antique and classic cars drove by...most likely a car club out to enjoy a get-together at the park.  

From lower trail.

Bob standing next to "Balancing Rock"

Our remaining time at the park was spent on the opposite side of the river. After a little exploring, I found a nice rock to park on while Bob went off exploring. With so many people scrambling on the rocks in the river and on the rock faces, I fully expected to see some falls or splashes but everyone stayed safe. 

Without me realizing it, Bob climbed up King Rock and had this view from above.
(Glad I didn't find out until he was safely back down!)

Looking back across the river to Balancing Rock (see above photo where Bob was standing near the top of the rock.)
The steps were the ones we went down to get to the lower trail.

As the afternoon progressed, the blue skies and sunshine switched to clouds, wind and a dramatic drop in temperature. We moved our car the short distance from the King & Queen trailhead to park next to the 1906 historical bridge. We walked a short trail at the top of the bluff and then walked out onto the bridge to see the view down the river.

View looking down the river.

For the 2nd time that afternoon we encountered this couple taking photos in the park.
Bob asked permission to take her photo, but refrained from asking too many questions! 😲

A wooly worm...a sign of a harsh winter?

The smart thing to do would have been to head home once the weather changed. But thinking this could be our last outing of the year we wanted to stretch out the day a little longer and drove on to Pipestone National Monument. It was raining ever so lightly when we arrived, but we each had a rain jacket and decided we wouldn't let a little moisture stop us.

The visitor center was still closed due to Covid (as it was when we stopped here earlier in the summer). With the nasty weather, we walked the mile-long trail in record time!! The waterfall which had been fast-flowing before was now much smaller. (First photo below was in early June.)

   

As we reached the end of the trail, we could hear a pounding noise and Bob realized it was a group of guys quarrying the pipestone (catlinite.) I grabbed the car keys and went to get warm while he headed over to where they were working. Only Native Americans are able to get a permit to quarry the stone and there is a 10-year waiting list for the annual permits. Quarrying is labor-intensive and may take days, weeks, months, or years to reach the pipestone layer. Bob was quite excited to have had the chance to watch and visit with the guys as they worked.

Quarrying for catlinite (rock used to make Native American pipes.)

At the entrance into the monument we had noticed a VERY LARGE peace pipe on display and stopped to get a photo as we were leaving. 

World's Largest Peace Pipe

Before we could get back into the car, a guy pulled up behind us and said "Want to hear the story behind the pipe?" Turns out the man was Bud Johnson who had built the pipe! The world's largest peace pipe began with a vision shared by three spiritual people and was featured in the May 2008 issue of Reader's Digest. You can also read about it HERE.

Bud Johnson telling us the history of the world's largest peace pipe.

Stopping at Pipestone was an afterthought and did not even seem like a good idea once the weather had gotten worse. But Bob having a chance to witness the quarrying of pipestone and then meeting Bud Johnson turned out to be a day that couldn't have been planned but yet brought what I like to call "souvenir memories"!! 😉 Our visit to Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii was another such day with a chance meeting that we will always remember.

Note: It is a week later that I am getting this blog post online and this is what our yard looks like. At least 4" of new snow but our trees still have green leaves!  😥  A clash of two seasons for sure. Praying that there will still be some decent weather before winter sets in for good.