South Dakota Sunday: Palisades

Palisades State Park

Today I am pulling form my archive for South Dakota Sunday. These photos were taken at Palisades State Park in September of 2011. The park is only about a half hour drive from Sioux Falls, SD.

Random Photographs: Palisades State Park

Here are the last of the random shots from our walk at Palisades State Park.

Random Critters: two legged, legless and four legged

My Granddaughter pretending to be little Purple Riding Hood

This little guys scarf says "Palisades Bark Patrol"

Random Plants

 This Cati was a bit of a surprise to me.

I so wanted to eat these wild blueberries but as it is a State Park I didn't want to get in trouble.

Now for some Random rock formations.

I can't wait to go back once Fall is officially here and get some Fall shots. I will not be taking the family next time and will be able to spend more time photographing the gorgeous park.

Teaching Them Young

Just before we came to the fork in the trail I talked about in yesterdays post A Beautiful Climb we came across these rock climbers. The little one really seemed to like swinging back and forth along the rocky face of the cliff with her dad.

When we got to the top of the steep trail I was excited to see that it came out just before where the rock climbers had anchored their line. Much to the dismay of my daughter and granddaughter I just had to get a shot from above.

Obviously I didn't get my focus right but my girls were not about to let me take any more time, even though I did promise I was being careful hanging onto the tree you see on the left.

A Beautiful Climb

While on our nature walk at Palisades we came to a fork in the trail. My granddaughter asked me which way and I chose the fork leading back to where we had left my husband.

My granddaughter and daughter both thought I was a bit nuts when they saw what was ahead.

Half way up first section of stairs.

Here is a closer look at the tree half way up the gorge in the quartzite cliffs.

The first flight of stairs were steep and partially outside the gorge.

Looking back down the first flight

A few small fissures near the tree.

And now for the second half to the climb.

The second stage was much shorter and not as steep. The girls were so out of breath by the time they got to the top they were ready to call it a day. I guess my weekend in DC got me into better shape than I realized because I wasn't even tired. It was so beautiful I didn't even mind the climb.

Autumn Is Coming!

Today I took the family on a picnic to beautiful Palisades State Park. This is one of my favorite get away spots. It was so lush and green it was almost easy to forget that Autumn will be coming soon.

 Yet if one looked closely there were signs all along the trail that Autumn is coming.

We hiked the trial for about an hour and I was able to capture so many wonderful shots it will take me a bit to go through them but I will be sharing more of our hike in Palisades. I am also planing a longer photo day at Palisades next month hopefully I will be able to capture the trees in their full Autumn glory.