Nerstrand Big Woods State Park Campground

My partner and the pup and I hopped down to Nerstrand for the weekend and had a lovely time! 

Campsite: We reserved WI2... and it was no different than a car camping site- not sure what the deal is there, but we didn’t mind. There are four “walk in” sites, and you can see one another from all of them. Sites 1 and 3 require a walk about three car lengths to the tent pad, and 4 is not much farther. We would call all of it car camping. It was a nice site, but after a rain, some of the neighbors pads were totally flooded. Eek! One more positive and remarkable thing was the birdsong at dawn and dusk... so beautiful and unique - sounded like a jungle. Expect to see fireflies at night too!! Ps: The regular campground is so tightly packed and everyone’s out in the open... definitely not ideal for us. The showers are private and way nicer than I expected though! 

Hiking: due to weather we just took one small trail to the waterfall- a winding stream makes an appearance through the trees and ferns, then you get to the waterfall!! I wish we could have gone on the other trails- there’s always next time! 

Waterfall: this is so amazing to have right close to the cities. It’s shallow enough to (carefully) walk in from the top of the falls for a while- and then down at the bottom too! The most approachable falls ever. A few deep pockets so you can really swim, and a gorgeous, totally tree surrounded area. Just a lovely playground. Cute and weird all black winged dragonflies fluttered all around the falls, and they have shiny turquoise bodies. It was unbelievably beautiful. 

Town of Faribault: Bernie’s has so so food and super slow service - last resort kind of place. The Faribault Woolen Mill is there and I’d suggest a tour there if you’re interested in that kind of thing! 



Super fun waterfall; “walk in” sites not much of a walk  

We went there last July just go hiking for the dat. The trails were great and at the end of the trails there were beautiful falls. The falls weren't huge but there were pretty. A lot of things to photograph. May have to camp here sometime.

The Hidden Falls

A friend and I stayed here over Jesse James Day (Northfield; 20 minute drive; $30 cab ride). The trails near and around the campground itself were great! We had gotten a ton of rain the week before, so the big woods trails were too swampy to hike unfortunately. The facilities were nice and the campground wasn’t overly crowded; larger sites, but not much privacy. The falls are pretty and that trail is really beautiful.

Jesse James Days

This state park has pretty secluded campsites. The bathroomd and showers are very clean and nice. They have a little park for kids as well. The hiking was my favorite park. They had great trails through the woods as well as down to the river with a pretty waterfall. The trails were a decent length and pretty! Dogs are welcome on a leash. The only bummer (like several other state parks) is no hammocks allowed due to destruction of tree bark. Other than that it was a nice park! 

Great camping and hiking

Nerstrand is a good state park located outside of Fairbault, MN. Nerstrand is wet accommodating to camper with large, slightly wooded sites and nice bathroom facilities. Nertrand is lacking good secluded walking trails. Majority of trails come together into the main trail. The main trail doesn’t have much support especially when it is muddy. They do have a nice waterfall to visit but that is the main attraction. 

Not too shabby

This is a Nice campground middle of Minnesota. Surprising place in the middle of farm country. Very nice campground and lots of walking trails. Great for leaf peeping.

Nice campground middle of Minnesota

Nerstrand is nestled just outside Faribault MN. The town has a great downtown area on the river with places to eat and little shops. Our kids especially loved the little ice cream and sub shop in downtown. And let’s be honest the adults loved it to. 

The campground is kind of open to each site. Our site looked directly into two other sites and the site was tore up due to a larger truck parking there before us. Which the park could not control. 

The walk from the campground to hidden falls if you take the back way down is very steep going down and coming back up. There is a separate trail that leads from the main parking area down to the falls which has stairs and is a much easier walk. 

Once you get to the falls your greeted by a waterfall that is approximately 14 feet high that you can easily walk across the creek and go under the falls. 

Flowers at the park are very beautiful with a kind that I can’t remember that only blooms within the park area and a few select areas outside. 


There is also an obstacle course made from tree logs that the kids loved. They built a plastic slide into the side of a hill and used logs as the steps to climb up. 

Bathrooms were very well maintained and they had several private showers with locking doors. 

Overall the camping experience was a great one at Nerstrand and we would love to go back with it’s close proximity to the twin cities.  

The big woods secret 

The winter was a long one last year and we were itching to take our new 30foot Jayco Eagle bunkhouse travel trailer out for its maiden voyage! We decided that my birthday weekend was the perfect opportunity to do just that. To be on the safe side, incase we had issues, we decided to stay close to home so we decided to hit up a new park, Nerstrand Big Woods State Park just outside Northfield, Minnesota. This park is only an hour from the twin cities and very convenient for a weekend getaway after work on friday. 

We stayed In campsite 27 which was an electric campsite that was pretty open to all the other campsites. Most of the campsites there were really open and you could see and other peoples campsites so if that’s not your style of camping I wouldn’t go to Nerstrand big Woods. There is also water hook up at the park in that site and some of the other sites but that wasn’t listed when we booked the site. 

The park office was just a short walk or a bike ride from the campsites and had a very nice gift shop and bathrooms there. There is also a really nice shower and bathroom building right next to the campground host site. Just off the campground was a really nice playground for the kids that utilized tree stumps and tree branches as the playground. There was a really large picnic area and picnic shelter also.

Along with electric sites there’s also just tent sites without electric if that’s your style camping.

Nerstrand Big Woods Is very well known for its beautiful waterfall that you can walk on and the trail leading to the waterfall was also a great hike. 

All in all I think Nerstrand Big Woods was a good choice for a weekend getaway for a little family of four. And it gave us a lot to do because in The little city of Northfield there was a lot of little shops and cute little restaurants to eat at the shop at. Northfield  is also home to the Malt-o-meal Museum and production. My husband and I are big craft brewery fans And we’re pretty stoked to find out that there were three breweries around the park. We visited Tanzenwald and Chapel brewery and tried flights at each one. Out of the two we thought Tanzenwald was the best for staff friendliness and prices. Each flight we got a 4 5ounce pours were only 4$. There was also a restaurant at that brewery with really good cheese curds.

We decided that Nerstrand Isn’t our favorite park but it’s a good option for us to be able to get away in short notice close to home with a lot of activities around for us to do.

Enjoyment for every age!

This campground's sites and  roads seem a little smaller/tighter but plenty of room for smaller rigs to maneuver. 

The outer loop is non-electric and more "in the woods" than the center, which also helps provide a bit more privacy. The sites are still close together but we didn't have much noise to contend with the one night we stayed. Some of the sites are much less level than others, which is typical in a state park. 

Trails that we were able to check out were well-maintained and the Hidden Falls is worth the short trek out there. Be ready for a lot mosquitoes on the trail (after a rain at least), although they weren't as bad at the campsite. 

Bathrooms and showers were modern and clean. 

With this many trees, we'd like to get back in the fall as the color should be impressive. 

Verizon cell service was decent but T-Mobile was nonexistent. 

Smaller sites but nice and woodsy

The hiking trails are so serene and the waterfall is so beautiful. Campground is nice and clean. Other state parks not too far away if you're looking to explore! Firewood is available for purchase on site and each campsite comes equipped with a fire ring and picnic table. 

One of my favorites!

If you enjoy hiking, large old deciduous forests and fresh air; this is the place for you. We stayed here 2 nights in our tent in April (which was a little chilly) so the foliage was still thin but spring was starting to peak out. The waterfall is a sight to see and the trail to get there is fun. We did not get to use the bathroom facilities but the pit toilet houses were kept very clean. This is a popular park with a huge picnic area with shelters and play grounds.

Huge Park with Trails Galore

Not my favorite park but the trails were leisurely and relatively scenic. Campsite had a large tent pad but our site was not very large. Sites are close together and the use of large campers seemed to far outnumber those staying in tents. Office staff very friendly.  Main trail to waterfall is conveniently located right next to the campground which was great for us as we were there for just one night and ended up being in the park for less than 14 hours total.   Bathroom house was clean and relatively new. Not as quiet/secluded as we like, but overall we enjoyed our time here

Overall an enjoyable stay

Absolutely adore this park. This is my second visit and it was just as pleasant as the first! 

Great park for camping and hiking

We enjoy coming to Nerstrand in the spring to “kick the tires” on the RV after getting it out of winter storage, AND to view the beautiful flowers!!!  

We are in site 13E which is disappointing due to its cramped and muddy location.  The outer non-electric sites like 12, 14, 16, etc are much nicer. 

It’s May 18 and I’m amazed there are no bugs yet.  It was a long, hard winter so maybe we got lucky. 

T-Mobile service is one (1) bar of LTE.  We can call, text and email but not much more. The ranger station sign did say they have a public wifi hotspot at the office. 

Only an hour from the Twin Cities so the location is ideal for us. 

We haven’t gone out on the trails yet on this trip but past years haven’t disappointed us. 