Journey To Nature - Falls Park

Though we were done with our camping in Lewis & Clark, trip wasn’t over yet. Sioux Falls was just 2 hours away from our campground. Who would want to miss the opportunity to visit the famous place ?

It was Sunday and our aim was to return Omaha till 6 in evening . So we got up early and left for Sioux Falls as soon as possible. We had breakfast in an American restaurant on the way. Route was very scenic, few areas were heavily covered with snow and visibility was too less in some foggy areas.

We reached Falls park at around 2 PM. It was bright and sunny out there and there were very few cars in the parking lot. Park was not overcrowded, but still decent number of people were present at the time. There was no park entrance fee. Just at the entrance there was Falls Overlook Café, which was closed unfortunately.

What to Expect in the park :-

• Observation tower
• Café
• Souvenir shop
• An old mill structure
• Walking trails

There was a bridge parallel to the café, providing perfect view of the waterfall. We stood there for few minutes, enjoyed the scenery and took photographs. Needless to mention, bridge was slippery and full of snow. There was also an abandoned mill structure in the park, which is not in use anymore.

We decided to hike the park, trails were clean at least. Observation tower was visible from our location, but we were not sure if it was open. So we hiked to another point which was very close to the waterfall. Information about the fall, its formation and history was mentioned on a board there. We took photographs and then decided to go down towards the fall. Since it was partially frozen, few people were walking near fall surface. We also followed them :)

Fall was so beautiful, it was frozen from many points and water streams were flowing over the frozen parts. It seemed to be made up of stalactites, we were mesmerized. I tried to capture the beauty in the video.

We were careful enough not to go too close of the fall, didn't wanted any causality to happen. After spending there enough time, we hiked towards the top of the waterfall, basically the origination of it. That part was also covered with snow and frozen in many areas. Everything was so good and warmth of the sun was the icing of the cake.

We noticed few people at observatory, so decided to check if it's open. Observatory was open and well heated. There was a shop inside the building from where we bought a souvenir. Elevator was also operational, but we took stairs. Park looked very beautiful from the top. I took various shots from there. There were also restrooms inside the building, which was a big relief.

Once we came outside, we took few more pictures and decided to leave for Omaha. There were many statues outside the building, I found below one quiet interesting, a statue of a man appreciating the beauty of the place.

We reached Omaha on time, overall it was a great trip in which we did hiking, camping and visited the waterfall which was in our bucket list for so long.

Hope to visit the place in summer again  :)

 - Harpiytravel

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