Only Waterfall in North Dakota

Saturday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and then made the drive to Sheyenne River State Forest.  After getting off the highway, it was a bit of a maze on gravel roads through corn fields to find the forest.  Parking after the Martinson Bridge, we started hiking down the Mineral Springs Trail.

The trail led through forests and open areas and was very scenic.  Summer wildflowers like goldenrod were blooming.

We also spotted a northern leopard frog.

There was a lot of milkweed in the open fields but we didn't see any monarchs.

The trail alternated between forest and fields for about 2 miles.

The trail ended at a camping spot near Mineral Springs Waterfall.

It's claimed to be North Dakota's only waterfall but a couple of locals we met said there are other similar waterfalls in the Sheyenne River Valley, but on private property.

We had a snack here then started heading back.  Some shelf fungi were growing on a tree.

We took our time hiking back to enjoy the views as this was our first time in North Dakota.

A grasshopper was jumping through the tall grass along the trail.

We spotted a painted lady, but no monarchs.

There was also some aster blooming.

We enjoyed some last views of North Dakota before finishing our hike.

Back at the car, we got going as we had quite a drive ahead of us.

We drove to I-29 and went south into South Dakota.  At I-90, we got off the highway for a break in Sioux Falls.  We parked at Falls Park to get a waterfall in South Dakota - Sioux Falls, the city's namesake.

It was a really impressive waterfall right in the middle of the city, though the lighting was very poor - not a cloud in the bright Dakota sky.

A network of paved trail led up and down the river to view the waterfall from different angles.

We also saw some little ground squirrels running about.

We strolled around for a while to stretch our legs and enjoy the views.

But we still had quite a bit of driving so didn't linger too long.

From Sioux Falls, we headed east back into Minnesota and had dinner at Howling Dog Saloon.  Then we continued to Clear Lake, Iowa and checked into the Best Western for the night.