State Park / State Forest · Iowa campground guide
The numbers
Fee range
$16–$30/night
Season open
April through October
RV size limit
Up to 50 ft
Reservation window
3 months ahead via IA DNR portal
The insider read
Iowa's first state park (1920). The Devil's Backbone ridge is the photo geology. Trout-stream stocking weekly April-Oct on the Maquoketa River — fly anglers cluster the campground.
Original analysis from PickRV — synthesised from public sources you can verify, pulling the operational details competitor guides typically skip.
Verify at iowadnr.govOn site
Book it right
PickRV doesn't handle campground bookings — reserve direct through the official channel so policies and cancellations flow through one record.
Opens iowastateparks.reserveamerica.com
Every fact above is sourced from the managing agency's canonical page. Cross-check fee, season, and size limit before you depend on them.
Match the campground's size limit and hookup level to a vehicle category, then plan the rest of the trip.
Keep exploring
Near Madrid
StateInsider tip · Sandstone canyon walls 100 ft above Des Moines River. The 'Crow's Nest' overlook is the photo spot. Floods close the valley road periodically — call ahead in spring.
Near North Liberty
COEInsider tip · USACE camp 15 min from Iowa City (University of Iowa). The 1993 Devonian fossil gorge exposed by the flood — walking trail along the spillway shows 375-million-year-old fish fossils.
Near Anita
StateInsider tip · Quiet 171-acre lake — bans wakes/skis so paddleboarders + kayakers own the water. Sites in the modern loop have full pavilion + bath access; primitive loop has the dawn fishing.
Near Solon
StateInsider tip · Largest state-park lake in Iowa (812 acres). Pet beach is the rare amenity — most state parks ban dogs from swim beaches. Iowa City 20 min south for groceries.
Your next step
Backbone State Park Campground takes rigs up to 50 ft, so what you arrive in decides whether the loop works at all. If you don't own one, the same trip runs on a motorhome rented in Iowa.
Nothing in Iowa is bookable today. Dated requests are what we take to owners, so give us the window you actually want — you get one email the day a rig covers it, and nothing else.
Nearby & related
Sourced costs, campground directories, and the places worth a detour — the next layer of Iowa trip planning.
Before you go
Iowa rules
Verified 2026-05-10
