Backbone State Park

So I said I would blog about my trip to Backbone state park with Dan and Vicky, and late is better than never...so here goes!

So the other day was one of those very few and far between beautiful days in Iowa. None of us wanted to sit around here all day and waste the pretty weather, so we decided that we should head to Backbone and do some hiking and general outdoorsy stuff.

The park is like an hour from here (the middle of nowhere) and when we got there, although we were disappointed at the large number of people there, we were excited. I had never been and Dan hadn't been since he was young, so Vicky was acting as our guide. I hate it here so much, but I will say that being there reminded me that there is beauty in all things if you are willing to look for it.

The first thing we did was head to Backbone Cave. Vicky had been there before and said it was pretty cool. For those of you who don't know I suffer from a slight case of claustrophobia, so before I saw the thing I was not even sure that I was going to head in...but I figured I would give it a shot.


*note* I have been trying for three days to get pics of all this to come up with no luck....so you may have to use your imagination on how things looked.

So we get into the cave and I actually did really well, heading about halfway back before I had to turn around and find the light again. I think if I wasn't so scared of the small space it would have been pretty cool to be in there longer and enjoy the cool things there were to see. Either way the cave was cool and we spent about an hour going in and out and talking to people there.

After the cave we went on the "cave trail" that goes up over the cave and around again. It was pretty cool...more like actual hiking then just walking on a trail (my muscles hurt BAD the next day). Dan got some pretty cool pictured of wildlife and plants and when we got back to the car we were pretty filthy so we headed to the stream to wash off.

The streams at this park are super cool. All the bridges are underwater bridges so its like tons of little waterfalls everywhere you go. We hung out on the bridge and did some wading around for awhile and then headed to the springs.

Richmond Springs were SUPER COOL! Its this spring that shoots out 2000 gallons of water every minute and send the water to all these streams that the cool bridges are over. The water is a constant 48 degrees and there are trout EVERYWHERE. You can see all the fish cause the water was crystal clear. Apparently the water used to be piped to the hatchery in the park but they have since closed it...so no baby fishies for Sara...although Vicky and I did crawl around in the holes that were left.

After the springs we went to the "beach" where the stream was calm and sandy and did some wading. There is a series of pictures of me where it looks for sure like I am falling and almost did....but I caught myself every time. I got pretty wet and tired and despite Vicky wanting to go on the other trails we called it a day after that...I was pooped and in some pain.

I was pretty stoked that I made it was far as I did, even though at the end I felt bad for having to cut everyone elses day short because I was in pain. I guess I have to take what I can get, and the other day I got a fun day with my handsome husband and his silly sister. I will try to post those pics again, although with the internet here I am not going to guarantee anything. Till next time! Peace!