Hidden Falls
Minnesota · height not recorded · Nerstrand Big Woods State Park · Last verified 2026-05-15
Flow at Hidden Falls is 290 cfs today, around its seasonal average.
Expect dry conditions today — don't drive out for this one. Flow is at 310 cfs (bottom 7% of the last 30 days, vs. 767.5 cfs average). The 7-day NOAA forecast shows no significant rain.
Right now
Streamflow
290 cfs
CANNON RIVER AT CO. · 50m ago
Overnight
66°F
Mostly Cloudy
Tuesday
86°F
Mostly Sunny
Today's daylight
Sunrise 5:54 AM · Sunset 8:42 PM · 14h 48m
Snapshot built 10m ago. Sources: USGS · NWS MPX.
Hidden Falls is a waterfall in Minnesota. Height has not been officially recorded. Access details and conditions have not yet been verified in person by Fallspots — the data on this page comes from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.
Hidden Falls is in Minnesota. It drops along Cannon River. The falls are inside Nerstrand Big Woods State Park. The base sits at roughly 1,122 feet of elevation. Drive time is about 3 minutes from Nerstrand. OpenStreetMap shows a trail within 20 meters of the marked location, though the name isn't recorded. This is one of the more frequently visited falls in the state by our popularity model. Source records come from OpenStreetMap.
Entry is free. Dogs on leash are welcome on the access trail.
Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park is a state park of Minnesota, US, northeast of Faribault just outside the small town of Nerstrand. The park derives its name from the Big Woods, a large, contiguous forested area covering much of southeast Minnesota prior to the 1840s, when European settlers began to establish farms in the territory, and from Nedstrand in Tysvær Municipality, Norway, of which Nerstrand is a namesake. The park and its forest were an outlying 'woods' typical of and similar to the Big Woods proper, which were historically found on the more recent glacier deposits located west of the Cannon River 10 miles (16 km) to the west. Aside from a small waterfall, the outstanding natural feature of the park is the forest itself.
Is the water flowing right now?
Most waterfall sites don't tell you this. The waterfall itself is almost never gauged, but a USGS streamgage in the same watershed can tell you whether snowmelt has started, peaked, or run dry.
USGS gage 05354500 · 7.6 mi away
CANNON RIVER AT CO. HWY. 29 BELOW FARIBAULT, MN
View live discharge data →
30-day streamflow
Below 30-day average↻ Same date last year: 890 cfs · 35% of last year — significantly drier
Compare to nearby falls
If this one isn't the right fit, here's how it stacks up against the closest documented falls. Every column is filterable on the site — not buried in 13,000 reviews.
| Waterfall | Distance | Height | Trail | Dogs | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hidden Falls (this page) | — | — | — | Y | Free |
| Caron Park Falls | 3 mi | 5 ft | — | — | — |
| Molly Falls | 3 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Vermillion Falls | 29 mi | 33 ft | — | — | — |
| Hidden Falls | 39 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Minnehaha Falls | 40 mi | 52 ft | — | — | — |
Questions visitors ask about Hidden Falls
Answers built from our structured data. If a question isn't here, the fact is unverified — we'd rather omit than guess.
Is Hidden Falls in a national or state park?
Yes — Hidden Falls is inside Nerstrand Big Woods State Park. We inferred this from OpenStreetMap protected-area polygons; if you find we got the boundary wrong, please report it. See the park page for fees, hours, and current conditions.
Can I bring my dog to Hidden Falls?
Yes — dogs are allowed (Nerstrand Big Woods State Park permits leashed dogs in most areas). Inferred from park type; check the official site for trail-specific restrictions. Always leash and pack out waste.
Is there a fee to visit Hidden Falls?
No entrance fee. Nerstrand Big Woods State Park is free to access. Some trailheads may charge a parking fee separately.
How far is Hidden Falls from a major city?
Hidden Falls is 2 miles from Nerstrand (about 3 minutes' drive).
More waterfalls in Minnesota
Where it is
44.3480, -93.1028
Sources and live status
Where we got the data, and where to check current conditions before you drive.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerstrand-Big_Woods_State_Park
Wikidata (Q6996700)
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6996700
GeoNames (5039017)
https://www.geonames.org/5039017/
Last verified by Fallspots: 2026-05-15
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