Iowa's Best State Parks
Backbone State Park
This park, dedicated in 1920, is known as Iowa’s first
state park. Located near Dundee in
Eastern Iowa, Backbone was named for its narrow and steep ridge of bedrock
“Devil’s Backbone” carved by a loop of the Maquoketa River. Backbone is also the site of the Iowa Civilian Conservation Corps Museum,
which provides visitors with a look at the work performed in Iowa state parks by
the CCC from 1933 to 1941.
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Ledges State Park
Sandstone “Ledges” that rise nearly 100 feet above the Des Moines River
Valley are one of the main attractions at this state park that was dedicated in
1924. Millions of visitors have
explored the trails that lead up and down steep slopes to scenic overlooks and
access to spectacular views of Pea’s Creek “canyon.” Located four miles south of Boone in Central Iowa, Ledges provides
opportunities for camping, hiking, picnicking, fishing and canoeing.
It is located in the unique “Loess Hills,” a landform found only along the Missouri River in Iowa and Missouri and in China. Named for Chief Waubonsie of the Native American Pottawattamie tribe, the park is much the same today as it was when purchased in 1926. From scenic overlooks, visitors can see hills 50 miles away and view Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and the Missouri River. Waubonsie, located near Hamburg in Southwest Iowa, is also a site on the historic Lewis and Clark Historical Trail.
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