Waterfalls in Minnesota

Minnesota's waterfalls, from the North Shore to the prairie rivers

Ten thousand lakes get the postcards, but Minnesota's 43 named waterfalls collect on the state's oldest rock: the billion-year-old basalt shelf along Lake Superior's North Shore, and the far older granite of the Canadian Shield toward the Boundary Waters. A smaller cluster drops off limestone, quartzite and sandstone on prairie rivers well to the south and west.

Where the waterfalls are

Lake County and Cook County hold the densest cluster, where rivers crossing ancient lava rock drop toward Lake Superior at state parks such as Gooseberry Falls and Temperance River; Cook County reaches the Canadian border at Grand Portage State Park, jointly run by Minnesota and the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe, where High Falls on the Pigeon River drops 120 feet on the border with Ontario. High Falls on the Baptism River in Tettegouche State Park, 70 feet, is the tallest waterfall entirely within the state. Inland, St. Louis County and Koochiching County cover the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Voyageurs National Park backcountry on older Canadian Shield rock, where falls like Curtain Falls, on the Ontario border, are reached only by canoe and portage.

Hennepin County, in the Twin Cities, holds Saint Anthony Falls downtown and Minnehaha Falls on a tributary creek. Farther south and west, smaller falls drop off prairie rivers: Redwood County and Nicollet County near Redwood Falls and North Mankato, Pipestone County cuts one into Sioux quartzite at Pipestone National Monument, and Chippewa County has a falls on the Minnesota River at Granite Falls. East of the Twin Cities, Pine County's Kettle River carries Big Spring Falls, a 5-foot drop beside Class IV rapids, through sandstone at Banning State Park.

Waterfalls worth the trip

• Gooseberry Falls, 65 feet over two drops on ancient lava rock, has a short, accessible path to the Middle and Upper falls, or a longer loop to the Lower Falls; swimming is banned at the Upper Falls.
• Caribou Falls, 105 feet in three tiers — though the wayside's sign gives 35 feet — ends a 1.3-mile, 203-foot climb down stairs to the river.
• Hidden Falls, 40 feet in two tiers on the Temperance River, is seen from a deck at a paved path's end, with a rougher trail beyond over rock, dirt and stairs.
• Minnehaha Falls, drops 53 feet in one plunge inside a Minneapolis park; the ground behind and at the base is closed because of moving water, boulders and slippery slopes.
• Saint Anthony Falls, the Mississippi's only natural falls, has been stabilized by dams and a concrete apron for over a century; the Stone Arch Bridge, reopened in 2025, gives the closest view.
• Winnewissa Falls, 12 feet on Pipestone Creek, sits 3/8 mile down a paved loop trail in Pipestone National Monument.
• Ramsey Falls, 25 feet on Ramsey Creek, drops inside a city park at Redwood Falls, reached by a suspension bridge on one of several trails.

When to go

North Shore falls run heaviest with spring snowmelt and thin by late summer. Gooseberry Falls State Park keeps only the path to its Upper Falls open in winter, and the Caribou Falls wayside's May-through-mid-November season isn't plowed the rest of the year. Minnehaha Creek runs small enough to dry up completely in a hard drought, as it did in August 2022. Boundary Waters canoe permits for Curtain Falls and other paddle-in falls run May through September.

Fees, permits and closures

Minnesota State Parks — Gooseberry Falls, the Caribou Falls wayside, Temperance River and Banning among them — charge $7 a day per vehicle or $35 a year in 2026. Pipestone National Monument and the Minneapolis park system charge no entrance fee for Winnewissa, Minnehaha or Saint Anthony falls. Reaching Curtain Falls and other Boundary Waters paddle-in falls needs a permit too: free and self-issued for a day trip, or $16 per adult and $8 per child through age 17 plus a $6 reservation fee for an overnight trip, May through September 2026. Snowmelt and rain flooded North Shore trails at Gooseberry Falls in April 2026, and wildfires closed some Boundary Waters entry points that August, with fire restrictions kept through October 1.

Safety

Two canoeists drowned after their canoes went over Curtain Falls in May 2024. An 88-year-old hiker fell about 30 feet toward the river at Caribou Falls in 2026 and was rescued. Gooseberry Falls State Park bans swimming at the Upper Falls for its strong current, and warns that slippery rocks and cliffs make the falls area dangerous for children.