Backbone State Park

Elizabeth King

2023-12

Weather turned cold the end of camping season but it didn't change our minds. Beautiful spot and we ended up with almost the whole park to ourselves. A lot of nice places for walking and hiking. This was our first visit and when spring gets here we are sure to visit again and again so much to explore!

Helen Mayfield

2023-11

We visited over Veterans Day weekend 2022, so I’m almost a year late posting this. We had the park almost to ourselves, stayed in one of the cabins on site. Very simple, and modest but good enough for a place to warm up and rest for the night.Trails were decent, and definitely easy. Saw eagles, deer, and evidence of beavers. Our mini schnauzer loved exploring, and even caught a mole! Good times!Dog-friendliness: Cabins are accepting of pets, but no pet supplies or accommodations

Scott Hayes

2023-11

Backbone is a beautiful state park. It’s shows off some of the most beautiful hardwood trees in the fall splendor…leaves are just electric in the fall. We love hiking the trails with our dogs. The park is immaculate as visitors respect it and keep in clean. If you camp, the sites are nice with quite a few to chose from. The small beach is also rather nice in the summer. This is a true jewel in northeast Iowa

Kae Salyers

2023-12

We did the backbone trail loop and it was cool! You have to do a little self navigating through some of the rocks and trees especially with all the fallen leaves covering the trail. It felt like we were rock climbing at times. The trail is full of tripping hazards. Watch the ground at all time. The rocks stick up like a spine would so the name is fitting. Then once you're past the rock parts, it'd a ton of tree root trippers. Not for elderly or young children. I did help my dog up and down some of the rocks we had to climb that were a big jump. Also it was 3pm and you could hear a lot of owls which made it even better!

Jozsef Gitta

2023-11

Awesome state park. Beautiful lake and multiple spring fed stream. Mile of hiking trails. Great place to camp, fish and just enjoy the views.

Nicole Bolthouse

2024-04

Hiked the Blue Bird and East Lake trails! Absolutely incredible. Easy trails to follow. Beautiful scenery.

Katie A

2023-09

This is a super nice park. Pretty big too. We stayed here in our travel trailer and the site was nice and spacious. Slightly shaded. Electric only but the bathrooms are clean and there's water spouts throughout the park. We went to the spring and the cave. Both super short walks but pretty. We could have spent another day or two here but we were just passing through on our way back to Ohio.Playground: We saw two of them. They looked older but decent.Restrooms: Plenty and the ones in the camping area were clean.

Candace Fagerlind

2023-11

One of my favorite state parks. Great hiking trails, camping, fishing, and the woods are gorgeous. Especially in the fall. Beautiful rolling hills with a river winding through. A great place to explore and just love on some nature.

John Wagner

2023-11

I come here once a year in the fall. Some of the best camping and hiking in Iowa. It's also a nice area for some casual kayaking.

Ryan Kowlessar

2023-05

This has to be my newest favorite campground. It’s so hard to believe this is Iowa! The campsite was quiet and clean with plenty of space for the tent and vehicle. The trails provided great scenery and enough of a challenge to have a good workout. The look out points are worth the time to take in the beauty of nature and creation. At night the stars were spectacular. Only disappointment was no shower house working but that was due to colder weather, not lack of service. Speaking of lack of service, I love that my cellphone doesn’t agree with this it’s. Talk about unplugged from connectivity! I wish I spent time fishing, but there always next time, and there will definitely be a next time.

Majestic Miles Travel

2023-10

Awesome Park with so much to see. This park is so pretty and fun to explore. I would highly recommend this park. RV park in the back. Travel photographer from Galena IL.

David Honts

2023-05

Beautiful park. Very well kept up. Single private showers with locks in the camp grounds, also very clean. 4-1 bedroom cabins, 4-2 bedroom cabins also very nice. Trout stream for fishing that they stock regularly. Miles of trails to walk, lots of picturesque views to take in. Suggest going in the fall when the colors are vibrant.Dog-friendliness: Dogs are welcome but like all state parks, must be kept on a leash.

Brandon Petersen

2022-05

We would recommend visiting Backbone State Park, if you're in the area. Great hiking and scenery. Paddle boat, kayak and canoe rentals to get a different perspective of the park from the water. The park gave us a welcome break during the Labor Day holiday. The camp grounds were also very nice. The whole park is well kept and the staff at the shop was very helpful and kind.

Eric Doll

2023-07

Backbone is the 1st State Park in Iowa and has a great history with the Civilian Conservation Corps. Great swimming beach, tons of trails, and modernized campgrounds. Tons of shade all around. Can get a little buggy, but that is anywhere these days.

Cynthia Gitta

2023-11

Beautiful park. Campgrounds are clean and there are lots of walking opportunities. We found some wildlife as well.

Richard Dullard

2023-11

had the place pretty much to ourselves ... nice trails for hiking, nice walls for climbing and what appeared to be some seriously nice cabins ... nice park!

Marty Hogan

2023-05

Great place to hike, explore, fish, camp etc. We checked out the cave and the springs. The stream running through the park was full of trout, did not fish for them so not sure how hard they are to catch. Took some time to walk along the stream and check out the woods. To see everything you would need way more time than the three hours we were here. Will be back.

Debbie Splean

2022-05

This was our first visit, and honestly, we didn't allow enough time in the afternoon to see everything this park has to offer. We hiked the Lake Trail, but no one was sure after looking at the park's trail map what length it was or time it would take before we lost sunlight. Poor map.The trail was not an easy hike due to lots of rocks and tree roots to watch for under foot. I think looking down at our feet took away from the beautiful scenery we had hoped to enjoy. Adding to the stress was wondering where the trail finally turned to head back toward the parking lot. We never seemed to reach the end of the lake, but the sun was just above the tree tops, and we had to turn back. It's definitely not a trail we would want to hike in the dark, not being familiar with it and much of it being right at the edge of the lake embankment, only about a foot wide. Once home, I added a Trail App to my phone and realized we would have never been able to hike the full distance around the lake in the time we had. But apparently there were other easier and shorter trails we could have taken if we had known about them.Signage getting to the park was non existent, oddly. Even the last turn had no sign visible until you're right at the entrance further up the road.No available restrooms near the lake open in November. No water fountains working either. Not surprising for November, but it was a warm day. We didn't think we'd be sweating on the trail, and hadn't brought water bottles along. Better next time?!

Lydia Robertson

2023-05

I adore this beautiful park. Spring fed water hikes, backbone hike, camping, you can't go wrong! Restrooms aren't great, but if you're camping those are good. Lots of dogs and hikers and people enjoying the sites.

M R

2019-05

Absolutely beautiful park! So many lovely trails to enjoy! I really liked how they had little hidden places off the beaten path! Only wished they had the trail information more readily available. Or posted at the beginning of the trail. I definitely I want to go back and see the other ones I didn't have time to walk. The host was really nice. He had more information than the actual park did! Helped my boyfriend find me when I walked the west lake trail and ended up at six pines! I'll definitely come back

Taylor Van Kley

2023-07

I would have given this place more stars if we had known that the Park Store was closed and the lake was full of E. Coli and blue algae toxins. We camped there June 5 and 6. We had never been there before, but we were expecting to be able to get firewood and concessions at the Park Store. That's also where you can rent canoes, kayaks, etc. No such luck - everything was closed. The only thing we saw was one small sign in front of the beach warning about excessive E. Coli and blue algae. It discouraged people from swimming, fishing, etc. Very disappointing. Other than that, the campground was spread out and spacious. It was quiet and secluded. It was very buggy when we were there, and silk worms were hanging from the trees - more than I've ever seen anywhere else. The kids had a great time at least. I hope to go back sometime when the lake is back to normal and everything is open. Didn't get to do any hiking this time around, but hopefully next time.Playground: The kids enjoyed the nice little playgrounds.Restrooms: They had unisex bathrooms in the campground. Those started out clean and free of bugs when we got there. They seemed to have enough soap and toilet paper.Dog-friendliness: Seems to be a dog -friendly campground - several campers had dogs with them.

Angela King

2023-07

We camped here for three nights. The campground is very laid back. Showers were ok. Campground was quiet. Backbone trail was awesome! Great views and neat rock formations. We also saw the cave and did the Barred Owl hike and East Lake hike.

Payten Curry-DuBree

2022-05

One of our All Time Favorite Spots In Iowa, Backbone State Park is a MUST SEE/MUST HIKE park!!!We hiked here in late October and I highly recommend visiting during that time! The weather was gorgeous, the colors were beautiful and it was just busy enough that we weren't alone, but we still felt like we were!There are plenty of hiking trails with different difficulty. At one point we somehow ended up on what I'm pretty positive was a deer path instead of a trail, but it's hard to beat the views no matter where you're hiking!

Andy Geiger

2023-05

Backbone is one of the best parks in iowa. Cliffs, rivers, caves, hiking, dog friendly, and scenic. Camping is available. This is one of the few places I DO NOT go kayaking in, yet many do.Plenty of picnic areas.Trailheads are easy to find if you go to the east/west entrance.The east lake trail is very loose gravel that is a bit tricky to get down in the first 5 min, but smooth sailing after that.Backbone trail is very beautiful and the heart of the park.West Lake is a great trail scenic and not overly crowded.The cave isn't that big of a deal..but always gotta investigate.Trails can be tight so remember to be considerate. If your dog isn't well behaved, this won't be the best park to go too.

Jess C

2022-05

Beautiful day spot! We stopped by on our way home. Some trout streams and pretty trails.We didn't see any shower houses and the outhouse we stopped at was super dark inside. Doesn't seem like camping would be great for those with little kids in my personal opinion.

Alissa Doocy

2023-05

Beautiful park to see the fall colors (Oct 11, 2022) hiking was beautiful. The trail heads are marked well. There is hardly any cell reception.Playground: There is a playground areaRestrooms: basic state park bathroomsDog-friendliness: Dog friendly!

Emily Wolff

2019-05

Had the most AMAZING Time this weekend. This place is beautiful. So much to see and explore! We stayed in our tent and it was super quiet. Staff was friendly and helpful. Only suggestion would be some sort of soap for the bathrooms to wash hands, but other then that it’s the best of the best in Iowa

Jason Clements

2023-05

Backbone state park is my favorite Iowa State Park. It has many cool features and nice trails. A natural spring, old fish hatchery, cave, backbone trail are all fun things to explore. For the campground, I really wish they would add more electric sites. They fill up fast.

todd dexheimer

2024-04

Awesome park. Camping spots are packed in with little privacy, but the trails are amazing. Spend time exploring and you won't be disappointed

Megan Swotek

2021-05

The trails are wonderful! It's great what they range in and the scenery is the best. The days we have been there the parking areas seem full, but we didn't really run into too many people. This is one of our favorite hiking areas.