Sept 9 &10 Pipestone MN, Sioux Falls, SD

We overnighted at Pipestone Crossings Hotel and on Sept 10 proceeded into down town Pipestone The reddest color you see in these photos would be similar to pipestone, a compressed clay stone formation.

Pipestone National Monument is just north of the city of Pipestone in southwest MN. Native Americans open-mined the soft red stone and fashioned pipes, vital to and ceremonial religious practises.  Today, they have exclusive rights and still mine.  Craftsmen fashion the pipes and then other items from the scrap pieces at the welcome center

Craftsman at Welcome Center using saws and files to fashion pipestone

Mined from open pits.  You can't really see it, but the lowest layer of "wall" is th red pipestone.  They do hard hand digging to get it.

We took the circular nature walk to Winnessa Falls.  Gorgeous and worth it.

Headed toward Falls

Winnessa Falls

Down stream

Oracle above Falls.  To find it look through hole on high rock above Oracle.  From here legend has it that Earth was repopulated after the great flood.

 Oracle's nose is in center

Rocks near Falls
 

Meadows here are beautiful.  Park Service works to keep them natural and exclude invasive species.

We checked into Quality Inn & Suites in  Sioux Falls SD and the  headed for the waterfall park to be  there about sunset.

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