Banning State Park
July 22nd
Banning State Park is about a hour and half drive from the Twin Cities, just off of 35W and north of Hinckley. Banning offers some beautiful waterfalls on the Kettle River. The best set of waterfalls are located at the Big Spring Falls.
Campground has only 11 electric sites and only 4 sites over 46ft.
Park does have a dump stations on site which is very handy.
When we made our reservations there was only one electrical site open. In the spring the state parks made all of their site reservable from same day sites. This was the only way we could even get into Banning.
There are 17 miles of trails through the woods and along the river. We really enjoyed hiking alone the High Bluff, which had big boulders to climb around. This took us to a 10-15ft falls flowing into wolf creek.
Big Spring Falls was the highlight of the trip and the best kept secret. The Big Spring Falls is hard to find and the road is very rustic road to drive down, keeps most visitors away. One has to drive into Sandstone and rely on google map to find Pine Ave S because this state park location is not marked. But it is so worth the stop.
Careful where you hang over the edge looking down at the river. We found places to cross over to the island and looked back at areas we had been standing. You could see not much under supporting the top. So areas you could see sink holes. In area connecting the island was sink hole pounds which looked pretty deep. You could see where in high waters these areas were covered in water.
Big Spring Falls was the highlight of the trip and the best kept secret. The Big Spring Falls is hard to find and the road is very rustic road to drive down, keeps most visitors away. One has to drive into Sandstone and rely on google map to find Pine Ave S because this state park location is not marked. But it is so worth the stop.
Careful where you hang over the edge looking down at the river. We found places to cross over to the island and looked back at areas we had been standing. You could see not much under supporting the top. So areas you could see sink holes. In area connecting the island was sink hole pounds which looked pretty deep. You could see where in high waters these areas were covered in water.
