Minnehaha Falls
Minnesota · 52-foot drop · Last verified 2026-05-15
Flow at Minnehaha Falls is light today (22 cfs) — visit for the geology, not the volume.
Expect dry conditions today — don't drive out for this one. Flow is at 24.8 cfs (bottom 3% of the last 30 days, vs. 46.2 cfs average). The 7-day NOAA forecast shows no significant rain.
Right now
Streamflow
21.7 cfs
MINNEHAHA CREEK AT HIAWATHA · 43m ago
Overnight
57°F
Mostly Clear
Wednesday
79°F
Sunny
Today's daylight
Sunrise 5:47 AM · Sunset 8:51 PM · 15h 4m
Snapshot built 6m ago. Sources: USGS · NWS MPX.
Minnehaha Falls is a waterfall in Hennepin County, Minnesota. It drops roughly 52 feet. Access details and conditions have not yet been verified in person by Fallspots — the data on this page comes from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.
Minnehaha Falls sits in Hennepin County, Minnesota. It drops along Minnehaha Falls and the lower reaches of Minnehaha Creek. The base sits at roughly 804 feet of elevation. Drive time is about 6 minutes from Lilydale. OpenStreetMap shows a trail within 10 meters of the marked location, though the name isn't recorded. No public parking is recorded within 2 km, so a longer approach is likely. This is one of the more frequently visited falls in the state by our popularity model. Source records come from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.
Minnehaha Park is a city park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, and home to Minnehaha Falls and the lower reaches of Minnehaha Creek. Officially named Minnehaha Regional Park, it is part of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board system and lies within the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, a unit of the National Park Service. The park was designed by landscape architect Horace W.S. Cleveland in 1883 as part of the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway system, and was part of the popular steamboat Upper Mississippi River "Fashionable Tour" in the 1800s.
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 05289800 · 0.1 mi away
MINNEHAHA CREEK AT HIAWATHA AVE. IN MINNEAPOLIS,MN
View live discharge data →
30-day streamflow
Below 30-day average↻ Same date last year: 185 cfs · 13% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minnehaha Falls (this page) | — | 52 ft | — | — | — |
| Hidden Falls | 1 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Shadow Falls | 2 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Saint Anthony Falls | 5 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Hamm’s Memorial Waterfalls | 6 mi | — | — | — | — |
| Phalen Regional Park Waterfall | 9 mi | — | — | — | — |
Related waterfalls
Similar height (~52 ft)
- Annie Falls52 ft
- Laurel Fork Falls52 ft
- Sentinel Rock Falls52 ft
- Tamarack Falls52 ft
- Twin Falls52 ft
Questions visitors ask about Minnehaha Falls
Answers built from our structured data. If a question isn't here, the fact is unverified — we'd rather omit than guess.
How tall is Minnehaha Falls?
Minnehaha Falls is 52 feet (16 m) tall. Height is sourced from OSM.
How far is Minnehaha Falls from a major city?
Minnehaha Falls is 4 miles from Lilydale (about 6 minutes' drive).
More waterfalls in Minnesota
Where it is
44.9153, -93.2110
Sources and live status
Where we got the data, and where to check current conditions before you drive.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnehaha_Park_(Minneapolis)
Wikidata (Q23891460)
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q23891460
GeoNames (5037665)
https://www.geonames.org/5037665/
Last verified by Fallspots: 2026-05-15
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