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A thread, for those who are new to #hiking around #SiouxFalls. Please feel free to retweet, and to add your own notes and favorite places.
For a short hike, the Outdoor Campus at Sertoma Park in Sioux Falls is a nice spot. Level trails and a pleasant walk along an oxbow in the river. Good for XC skiing after a snowfall, or a 1-2 mi run in the woods. Easy walking for all ages. Great wildlife.
If you have time, stop in at the @bflyaquarium. Same parking lot as the park. Tropical fish, and a *warm* butterfly house. I often combine my coldest skiing days with a post-ski warmup with the butterflies and fish.
Just a few miles south and east of town on the Iowa border is Good Earth State Park. It has 7-8 miles of beautiful trails. Varied terrain, hilly and wooded, along the river. Beautiful and rarely busy on weekdays. Bluffs over the river give great views.
I often see eagles and other raptors while I walk the various floodplain loops. Two tips: walk quietly, and look up. They’ll see you long before you see them, so don’t frighten them away if you want to get a good view.
Good Earth is hilly, but the trails that lead east from the visitor center are all-ages accessible to two viewing platforms over the river. Gravel paths, and they do accumulate snow, so not always wheelchair accessible, but manageable in warm, dry periods. (Photo from this week.)
There are a lot of other places worth exploring right nearby, though. A quick list of some favorites: Dewey Gevik, just west of Wall Lake. All-ages trails, wonderful interpretive signs, and great lessons about clean water.
For both day hikes and overnight camping, check out these three: (1) Big Sioux Recreation Area in Brandon;
Split Rock Creek in Garretson (an excellent place for quiet canoeing and kayaking);
and Newton Hills Park in Canton. All three have great trails, wildlife. Newton Hills has trails specifically designated for horses and mountain bikes, in addition to footpaths.
Of course, I’m leaving out most of the parks in town! The bike path has 25+ miles of great 
, with multiple spurs, and there is a nice set of mountain bike trails at Tuthill Park. (Just please keep to the right if you walk on bike trails, so we can share the space!)
, with multiple spurs, and there is a nice set of mountain bike trails at Tuthill Park. (Just please keep to the right if you walk on bike trails, so we can share the space!)
And if you are just checking out Sioux Falls, you should of course check out the falls at any time of year. If you do so in the summer, look for the Shakespeare in the park put on by @BareBodkins in the ruins of the Queen Bee Mill. They’re amazing!
Got more suggestions? Please add to this thread. It has been a long year, but we’re fortunate to live in a place where we can get outside and still have some social distance. Get outside if you can; it can be good for body, mind, and soul.
(H/T to @storyforager for inspiring this thread by offering a similar one for people who live in the Chicago area.)
