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Thread: Backbone State Park

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Ogden, Utah
    Posts
    784

    Default Backbone State Park

    The wife and I are heading to Northeast Iowa on Saturday just for lolz and were wondering if anyone has ridden the trails at Backbone State Park near Manchester, IA. Supposedly there is around 8 miles of legit single track there circling the lake.

    We are also planning a quick trip through Decorah and Yellow River State Forest.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Ogden, Utah
    Posts
    784

    Default

    Edit: Found some pics on this hiker website. It doesn't look like anything too technical, aside from some steep climbs, rocks, and roots. I'll report back if it was worth the 2 hour drive.




  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Davenport
    Posts
    40

    Default Volga River Recreation Area

    It appears there are some trails there to ride. Does anybody know about them/

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Ogden, Utah
    Posts
    784

    Default Volga River...

    Quote Originally Posted by Kranz33 View Post
    It appears there are some trails there to ride. Does anybody know about them/
    It's probably your typical shared equestrian/mtb doubletrack. Maybe we'll swing by and check it out

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Ogden, Utah
    Posts
    784

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by dgw2jr View Post
    It's probably your typical shared equestrian/mtb doubletrack. Maybe we'll swing by and check it out
    Gonna skip Volga River, according to the reviews at MTBR, its all double track horse trail.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Cedar Rapids
    Posts
    83

    Default

    Backbone... great scenery, not much mileage, trails meh.
    Volga... great terrain, high mileage, trails meh.
    Yellow River... amazing terrain, high mileage, trails are old school.
    Decorah... great terrain, mileage and trails that'll leave you worked.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Bettendorf
    Posts
    59

    Default

    I grew up in that area and still ride the east lake and west lake trails a few times every year. East lake and west lake trails are hike/bike only, not very technical. Around 7-8 mile loop. Some good climbs.


    Not the best single track, but great camping and very rideable. Enjoy!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Ogden, Utah
    Posts
    784

    Default Backbone State Park Review

    Ok so we made it up to Backbone today and covered 7.3 miles of trail. The trails are mostly doubletrack with about 100 foot sections of singletrack here and there. The inclines are rather steep and the trail is made up of 3-4 inch wide loose rocks. We pushed a lot of rocks down the hill during the climbs and ski'd the bikes back down the other side, slip sliding the whole way. If you can't make the climb and need to hike-a-bike, you'll be taking 4 steps for every actual 1 step forward due to the loose nature of the trail. There is also sand in some places here that can catch you off guard if you're not paying attention, but it's a nice change of pace from all the loose rocks.



    What you don't see in the picture are the lovely new pet names Kyla is making up for me. ^_^

    We ran in to about 5 other people on bikes and they seemed to be having as much fun as we were. One guy looked me right in the eye as he stalled on a climb and I could swear by the look on his face that he was doing this as part of his sentence for some crime he may have committed.

    "I'll wait here, you go get the car"


    My recommendation is skip it, unless you are absolutely hard up for something new and love sketchy loose rocky climbs or really want to work on your cardio and climbing technique.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Davenport
    Posts
    40

    Default

    Thanks for the info

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