Beyond the Corn

Backbone State Park

1347 129th St, Dundee 563-924-2527, backbone@dnr.iowa.gov

Maquoketa Caves State Park

9688 Caves Rd, Maquoketa 563-652-5833, maquoketa@dnr.iowa.gov

From the Devils’ Backbone to

BY KEVIN MASON

Since the onset of Americanization during the early 1800s, Iowa’s environment has changed more than any state in the union. Over 98 percent of Iowa’s lands were altered in service of agriculture. Forever spreading fields of corn and soybeans line highway shoulders, stretching out east to west, north to south.

The state ranks second to last in state and federal lands open to the public per capita. But in those remaining public lands, the natural and historic beauty of the Hawkeye state survives.

During the 19th century, eager pioneers plowed the prairies and cleared ancient oak savannahs to open the lands for the age of Manifest Destiny. As expansion accelerated and the best lands went into production, settlers began planting on marginal lands, like the steep stretches of the Iowa Driftless region around Yellow River State Forest.

In the early 20th century, public attitudes shifted toward preservation and conservation of natural resources. In 1917, Iowa created the Iowa Conservation Commission with the purpose of establishing a series of parks and preserves throughout the state. The commissioners quickly set about identifying potential park sites and rallying local communities to provide funding and lands for park creation.

Jumping from rock to rock high above the Maquoketa River, Backbone State Park’s breathtaking beauty lets your imagination wander back in time. Backbone is Iowa’s first state park, located near Strawberry Point in eastern Iowa. It first welcomed visitors in 1920 and is known for the distinctive quarter mile long “Devils’ Backbone,” a stretch of Silurianage Dolomitic limestone towering above the river. The state purchased 1,200 acres at the site from 44 individual property owners. After extensive development over the ’20s and ’30s, it quickly grew into a beloved destination for generations of Iowans who enjoy the outdoors. Backbone, with its distinctive castle-like boathouse, rare natural springs, mysterious caves and other natural wonders, still draws thousands of visitors each year.

As the Maquoketa River winds southeast, its water has carved out one of Iowa’s most distinctive state parks: Maquoketa Caves. The park has at least 13 distinct cave structures ranging from 30 to over 1,000 feet deep, and evidence of human inhabitation there stretches back at least 6,000 years.

American settlers first happened upon the vast underground labyrinth when two local hunters followed a herd of deer into the entrance of one of the caves during a snowstorm. The location rapidly gained popularity soon after. Young visitors would dance in a small pavilion constructed under the rockface, at the entrance to “Dance Hall Cave.”

With contrasting darkness and light, paired with rough stone and vibrant plant life, Maquoketa Caves makes many visitors believe they’ve stepped out of Iowa and into an alternative reality.

Just down the road from Maquoketa Caves in Anamosa is Wapsipinicon State Park. Visitors started flocking to the park during the early 1920s. Blasting crews uncovered at least nine human skeletons at Horse Thief Cave within the park’s bounds in 1923. The blasting also uncovered pottery and other artifacts tying the location to the distant past, but the park itself dates back to the Archaic period roughly 4,000 years ago.

Wapsipinicon stands as a distinctive early entrant into the state park system, with unique

Wapsipinicon State Park 21301 County Rd E34, Anamosa 319-462-2761, wapsipinicon@dnr.iowa.gov

Pilot Knob State Park 2148 340th St, Forest City 641-581-4835, pilot_knob@dnr.iowa.gov

Pammel State Park 1900 Pammel Park Rd, Winterset 515-462-3536, awarnke@madisoncounty.iowa.gov

Echo Valley State Park 9672 Echo Valley Rd, West Union 563-422-5146, fayetteccb@hawkeyetel.com

Brush Creek Canyon State Preserve E Avenue near Arlington 563-425-4161, state_preserves@dnr.iowa.gov

Fort Atkinson State Preserve 303 2nd St NW, Ft Atkinson 563-425-4161, volga_River@dnr.iowa.gov

Pikes Peak State Park 32264 Pikes Peak Rd, McGregor 563-873-2341, pikes_peak@dnr.iowa.gov

Effigy Mounds National Monument 151 IA-76, Harpers Ferry 563-873-3491, efmo_interpretation@nps.gov

Waubonsie State Park 2585 Waubonsie Park Rd, Hamburg 712-382-2786, waubonsie@dnr.iowa.gov

Gitchie Manitou State Preserve 52141 Adams Ave, Larchwood 515-725-8200, state_preserves@dnr.iowa.gov

Shimek State Forest 33653 Route J56, Farmington 319-878-3811, shimek_forest@dnr.iowa.gov