Backbone State Park, Dundee IA

The creek and trails are great; however, the beach is disgusting. They really need to get it cleaned up. I wish I would have stayed at the south gate camping grounds as the six pines had no showers or modern bathrooms, just porta potties

Rented the South Flats shelter for a large family (26) picnic on the way to Dubuque. So beautiful. Kids had fun creek stomping and playing on the playground.

This is such a beautiful park, so much todo but to camp and have a curfew of 1030p. They are strict too a dnr came up to us at 1040p to tell us to turn down the music that was at a 2 and for us to be quit. Sorry but when I camp I like to stay up around a fire at night and talk with my family. I think a later time for quit hours would be great. Also for all the money they make the bathroom by 10,11 and 12 is gross with no light. You guys probably make hundreds of thousands a year.

The campgrounds are always well maintained. The bathrooms and showers at the campground are very nice. There are a variety of trails of varying skill levels. Great place to take the family camping.

The water was exactly what I would expect from a river and so warm. My family had a lot of fun.

This is a gorgeous state park with beautiful trails, lots of fun recreational areas, and great activities at all times of year. I would definitely recommend - just pack for the weather!

It’s a beautiful place to go camping with great trails and the kids have fun. Some spots are a little harder to find than others and the pamphlets don’t help much. The shower house is kept clean. There are several mature trees throughout the campsites so plenty of shade, however, during the warmer months the trees become overrun with stick caterpillars that dangle from the trees from their silk webs.

If you’re coming to swim, I don’t recommend driving out of the way to visit. It’s not dog friendly, if you’re coming to swim. I thought we’d be able to swim anywhere (like most lakes) but got there and they have a sign saying to only swim in this small and shallow/warm designated “beach” area with a gross mushy bottom. By noon the shore was thick with algae. There are no bathrooms or concessions for 2023 because of some road construction which I didn’t understand. And if you book a campsite the confirmation says that you can rent boats, buy ice, etc.which you actually can’t.

A great park with lots of trails to run walk or hike. Saw 3 deer oit on the trails.as.we where run west lake, six pines, backbone and east lake loop

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.

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.

The best state park in the state of Iowa, hands down. Trout fishing, well maintained campgrounds, cliffs and caves for scenic viewing. Could go without the lake pollution in the summer, but otherwise a perfect state park.

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.

Everything was closed. Need store was closed, you could not rent canoes or kayaks or anything. There's nothing to do