Gooseberry Falls State Park Campground

The campsite was clean and well taken care of. My daughter and I tented it. It was so much fun! Just enough privacy to get a “real” camping experience, but not so private that we felt unsafe. It was so nice to not worry about bears!

We found this amazing picnic and hiking trail super close to the campgrounds in Gooseberry.

We will be back soon!

Camped here on Oct 23-24, 2023. Attempted to camp here 2 years before, in Sept 2021, but the campground was crowded and booked. But there were plenty of sites available during our stay this past October. Camped at site #59 which is very close to the lake and along the Gitchi-Gami State Trail. The campsite was small; included a table and fire ring. Wooded, but close to other sites. Short path in front of the site leads to the lake. Clean vault toilet was a short walk down the campground road. The campground was nice but nothing special. The state park, however, is fantastic. Hiking trails and walking paths lead to great views of the lake and Gooseberry River. There were a few park benches along lake, which provided a great view of the lake during my morning coffee break. Water and restrooms/showers in the campground were shut down for the winter season (flush toilets were available if you drive up to the visitor center). Firewood was not for sale during our visit. I would love to camp here again but during the off-season when it is less crowded.

Good well kept campsites. Some are absolutely beautiful while others are a little close to trash or sewer lines. But over all amazing place to visit

We had campsites 33 & 34. We had a tent at both sites, and three hammocks set up on site 33. Site 34 didn’t have any good trees for a hammock setup. All sites were very very close to each other. This wasn’t a problem for us but just keep that in mind if you’re looking for something private

nice campground, pretty quiet with lots of trees. bathrooms were clean. site wasn’t very level but wasn’t a huge deal. would come back but stay in the other loop as it seemed a little less muddy. but overall, very close to superior with great views

Camped here for a few nights, was busy but still felt like true wilderness. Lots of great hikes nearby.

This is a state park with lots of amenities. We loved the hiking and visitor center. Our campsite had nice play areas too

General: Located on Lake Superior (with access to the lake from the campground). The main draw to this campground is the five waterfalls that are accessible via a paved bike path, riverfront trail, or you can drive to the Visitor Center parking lot and explore from there. During the summer of 2021, drought conditions made the falls less spectacular but still worth seeing.

Site Quality/Facilities: The sites are all heavily wooded which provides more than sufficient privacy; although you can hear your neighbors, you won’t see them (at least during months with full foliage). The sites all have gravel drives and are very generous in size. Site 54 is just slightly sloped sideways, a small challenge for sleeping in our van. Each site has a very generous-sized picnic table and fire grate (although there was a strict fire ban due to severe drought in Minnesota in the summer of 2021). There is a large Visitor Center and store, and you can park here for two hours without a pass which is required for all other activities (including camping) in the park. The pass is $7 daily or $35 for an annual pass. Good cell service throughout the park. 

Bathhouse: The bathhouse closest to our site is a CCC marvel. Very clean with three stalls, two sinks, and two showers. There was a bench by the sinks which was very handy for holding toiletries. The shower had good water pressure (almost too hard) and although it took a few minutes to warm up, the water was warm. You have to repeatedly push the button (every three minutes or so) but there is no extra charge for the shower. Although the campground was full our entire stay, I often had the bathhouse to myself.

Activities: Hiking and biking! The Gitchi Gami paved bike path winds through the park and if you want to go further, it continues all along MN 61. You can hike to the falls from the campground (approximately a three-mile roundtrip to see the Upper and Middle Falls (the Lower Falls were completely dry due to the drought conditions when we were there). Access to the lake for water activities.

This is a nice state park on the North Shore. We drove two hours north to Grand Portage State Park and back with a stop at another state park for a full-day trip, making Gooseberry Falls a good jumping-off point. Make reservations as soon as you can as this is a popular park!

Site 34 - medium size, not a lot of tree cover, parking for 2 cars. Normal state camping fees. Ranger office has permitted firewood and full service bathrooms. Great access to the rest of the park!

I have camped at Gooseberry many times. There are some nice sites near Lake Superior. All the facilities are kept up. There is a great visitor center and gift shop.

Miles of trails to explore. The waterfalls are fabulous, especially in spring when the snow melt makes them roar. One year beavers were colonizing the river so you could watch them gnawing at trees! Visiting in winter, there are ski trails and ice on the rocks creating lovely sculptures.

it is a very popular park, so reservations are recommended.

You need to get reservations ahead of time! We stayed Sunday through Tuesday. Space and vegetation between sites. A short walk to Lake Superior to star watch or have morning coffee. CCC building bathhouse. Awesome hiking to falls. Worth planning ahead.

Probably the best state park on the north shore. Lots of hiking trails. Very well maintained and close to the lake. natural lake effect air-conditioning . One complaint is these prime state parks sites are very hard to get. The new 120 day reservation system sucks. While all these camp grounds were booked, camp ground full,  half of the sites were open and that was with nice weather.

This was a nice campground near the Gooseberry Falls, with easy access to the trails and waterfalls right from camp (also, Lake Superior!).

No electricity or water for filling RVs, but fresh water is available and there is an RV dump station. Nice bathroom facilities overall but be ready for water-conserving showers that turn off quite quickly. At least the water stayed hot.

Mix of sites in terms of size, shape and layout so we saw a lot of different tent and RV combos. Dirt roads and dirt campsites did make for a dusty time during dry conditions.

Be sure to ask for the CCC map at the visitors center and then go find all the remaining structures. It's a fun hunt to go on.

Sites here can be pretty close so your neighbors are hopefully quiet or people you know. We had to change sites because of some snow and water and the park staff was great at accommodating. We ended up at site 17 and it was perfect. Had a faucet hear us and the bathroom was close. We were out on the perimeter so it was a little bigger site and we had a hill behind us with a creek/bog area. This campground has some good tree coverage. The hiking was pretty amazing. Got up early so we avoided the big lines, but as we were finishing our hiking we ran into more people. It was very peaceful. I was able to get into a site that was pretty quiet and we were able to hear wolves or coyotes come through about 1 am. It was pretty awesome! We did have some great hikes while we stayed! I would highly encourage people to stay here bc it is a little less crowded.

Sites are close, but the falls hike is beautiful. Fresh water, nice bathrooms with showers. Great place to enjoy a night or two, get some awesome hiking in, and refill water etc. Very busy, and unfortunately city people who played loud music when we were there.

Go farther up the arrowhead to find less busy or drive out into state forest campgrounds.

Gooseberry was very quiet on the camping front but maybe that’s due to the high temp being 35°. Though it was cold, we enjoyed the campsite and used a lot of state park approved firewood!

Gooseberry is a beautiful park with some great hikes and even better views. The great thing about camping at Gooseberry is that you have easy access to Split Rock State Park and Tettegouche State Park just to name a few. These are so accessible if you’re camping at Gooseberry.

The site included:

• Long parking spot for a truck w/ a trailer, Winnebago, or sprinter van.

• Large mulch tent pad

• Wooden picnic table

• Tall fire ring (probably 18" tall) with a swiveling grill for cooking

Note: Bathrooms did have toilet paper and were cleaned daily but our’s did not have hand sanitizer.

The campsite itself is like most. Quiet. Clean and well maintained. What sets this apart from others I’ve been to is what is outside of the campground. The falls are amazing. The lake is amazing. Views that will blow your mind. We went in October with the leaves changing. The rocky shores along the lake are very cool.

We spent an afternoon at the falls it was warm out so the falls were busy. People having a great time in the water and walking over the falls. The parking lot to walk to the falls & gift store can be full we had to wait for a spot. It's a very busy park and the campground had a lot of campers mostly tents the day we were there. No hook ups yet some nice sites. The trail to the falls is mostly paved and level. There's a store/gift shop it looked nice but was closed due to Covid-19.

My favorites were #57, 17, 36, 44, 47, 51 (no shade), 52, 62 (private site) and 64. Site 6 is a pull thru. There is drinking water and a dump station.

We stayed at Tettegouche State Park yet all these parks are close & along the shore.

Gooseberry Falls State Park is gorgeous! There are 3 main waterfalls with many places to wade in the water and go swimming along with numerous hiking trails and many other activities.

From my observations the majority of people that come to Gooseberry Falls State Park only visit the falls so they were crowded when was there.

I really enjoyed doing and seeing these things while I camped there:

1.) The Falls 

2.) Picnic Table Area 

3.) Hike along Lake Superior 

4.) Fifth Falls Trail

Here is a video highlighting the Falls and my list of suggestions of things to do while camping here.

https://youtu.be/24oKdlAWQNE

This campground is amazing! We had a "hike in" campsite which was a gravel trail about a quarter mile in from the parking lot. Our site overlooked Lake Superior and had a stunning view of the light house. I would very highly recommend this campground. It was clean, had nice bathrooms and easy access to everything

Gooseberry falls is THE spot on the north shore to visit if you don’t want to go too far past Duluth and you or your possible children enjoy splish splashing in waterfalls. This also means that you might have issues finding parking on a nice weekend, so you might as well have your own campsite to stash your car and explore the park from your home base! My reservation was cancelled because of COVID-19. We still swung by the campground to check it out since some of our other reservations were still maintained up north, and an empty campground is actually perfect for assessing campsite quality!

One of the first things that I noticed was that most of the campground was HOT in early June. This is pretty unusual for a north shore campground, only the sites closest to the lake had any sort of cool breeze. A lot of the sites were kind of cramped, but I’m not surprised since they probably tried to cram as many sites in here as possible since it is so popular.

Sites that I liked: 1, 8, 19, 20 and 22 are good sites if you are camping next to another couple, 23, 25, 31, 32, 38, 47, 56, 59, 69 and 70. If you are handicapped then sites 19, 21, and 42 are spacious and flat. See pictures/videos to check out these sites!

Lots of hiking and biking trails. Quiet and spacious sites. Very nice bathrooms. Falls are beautiful.

5/3/19-5/5/19. I’ve hiked Gooseberry Falls MANY times over the years (including trips to the lesser known Fifth Falls, which is a must-see, by the way) but this was my first time camping here.

The snow had melted and the ground was dry. The park was empty for the most part. None of the sites are right on the lake, there is a road in between, but a few had nicer lake views. Those sites were taken so we landed in site 50, in the center of the campground. Our campsite had many pines and was somewhat secluded. A few sites were close by and privacy may be an issue in the busier season, but it worked just fine in early May. The indoor bathrooms were open, which was a plus and a short walk from our site. There were several paths that led to the lake and views were gorgeous, sunrise views with a morning coffee were beautiful. These were trails I had never explored and are only accessible if you park nearby or are camping.

Besides being less crowded, the best part about camping in early May is spring runoff and the waterfalls are massive and flowing with lots of power. We coined it waterfall weekend and took full advantage of many waterfalls up and down 61.

Overall I would recommend camping at Gooseberry - semi-private, quiet and near Lake Superior. Hiking is fabulous here in all seasons . I do wish they maintained a few campsites in the winter.

Beautiful and well maintained park. Super busy in the summer months but worth the trip. Easy hike to the best of the Falls.

Lots of great camp sites available and awesome hiking. Bathrooms were clean so that was a plus. It’s a little annoying that you can only park one vehicle at your site when there was room for 3 or more. The other parking lot isn’t close or safe to walk to in the dark. I really wish you would have just charged us for 2 cars.

We’ve camped multiple times at gooseberry falls at different times of the year and it never disappoints. We also love hiking the park in winter. This is one of my favorite places to camp and spend time outside. The water is fun to walk thru and the hike is easy and enjoyable.

Just beautiful and peaceful.

Gooseberry is a great campground. It's got multiple waterfalls, a lava flow, and great views of Lake Superior. Campground is nice as well and has some great trails as well. Gift shop is pretty cool too. This is the one park my wife and I have to go camping at every year

Gooseberry Falls State Park is absolutely delightful. The campsites are easy to pull in and there are trees though some sites are very close together on the inner track on the inside. The pit toilets are clean, appreciated the dump water station, and the pathways are excellent to go hiking and to go to Lake Superior as well as the falls. The falls were very busy when we visited and there was no room in the parking lot. My son did walk to the falls from our campsite and enjoyed it. There were lots of people there however. My verizon showed two bars while at the site.

We stayed at drive-in 49 and loved it! Private trail directly to the showers, restrooms and water. Would stay there again in a heartbeat. 49 is close to the Gitchi Gami trail so that was also nice considering we were rollerblading. Highly recommended campground and park!