Where to camp? (Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Coralville: rent, campers, live in)

[kylamaria]

Anyone have any suggestions on where to go campin in IA? I love to go where there is nice scenery and fun activites... Need some reviews..

So far I've been to Beeds Lake in Hampton IA... This ones prob been my favorite.. Has a pretty lake, where you can rent peddalboats or canoes.. also has a spillway and alot of grassy areas to picnic at...
Also been to Pine Lake by Eldora.. This place also has canoes/peddalboats... Has nice bike trails, nice golf course nearby, Beach is okay...
Then there's Saylorville Lake... That was fun, too.. very busy around there... Many things to do and see.. Trails, butterfly garden, Playscape, Big Creek State Park goes along with it.. has a very nice beach area...
There's Ledges, close to Boone... Right now it's not that great... the flood covered the road which used to be nice... driving down by the "ledges" and through water...

I was thinking about Backbone State Park next.. anyone been there...?

[thePR]

I don't live in Iowa but I have been to Maquoketa Caves State Park twice and I really enjoyed it. It's close to Backbone State Park so it may be similar, but I've never been to that park. There are obviously caves there and you can go caving in a lot of them. If you enjoy that sort of thing I would look into it because it is a really nice place to camp.

[neanerbean]

Sugar Bottom near Iowa City/Cedar Rapids, and maybe Kent state park. Look up in really north east iowa by Decorah, thee are some really nice hills with camp siotes there.

[TVJon]

Where ever you go - check ahead. The Floods forced some parks in the state to close for a while - some are still closed. Here's a link to the state DNR parks site, which includes flood information: IA DNR: DNR announces reservation changes starting

[Luke9686]

The first thing that comes to mind is Northeastern Iowa.

[SharpHawkeye]

Originally Posted by neanerbean

Sugar Bottom near Iowa City/Cedar Rapids, and maybe Kent state park. Look up in really north east iowa by Decorah, thee are some really nice hills with camp siotes there.

I agree. IMO, Coralville Lake/Lake MacBride is seriously underrated. It has a good trail network, the Fossil Gorge, boat rental, two big beaches, and it's about 5 miles to either North Liberty or Solon depending on what side of the lake you're on.

[kylamaria]

Thanks guys, I'll have to do some more exploring in NE IA. I would like to say I did end up going to Backbone state park, and enjoyed it. It had lots of nice trails to go on. It did have a cave.. The only thing I didn't like about that place is that the beachwater grossed me out! We ended up playing in the river and not the lake.

[patmc]

There's quite a few campers on heyiowa.com that would be able to give you some recommendations.