Backbone State Park, near Strawberry Point, Iowa, is a good place to go if you enjoy hiking.  We have hiked this park in the past from the Six Pines Campground, but this time we took East Lake Trail, which starts just north of the beach and runs north along the east side of the Maquoketa River.  There are some interesting rock formations to see, there is a good view of the river, and the trail is an easy one to hike.  We did not go all the way to the end of the trail, but it does run about a mile to a mile and a half, nearly to the center of the park.  We are hoping to do a bit more hiking the next time we visit.

This was the last camping trip of the season.  The leaves were nearly all gone from the trees and the weather was a bit cooler at night.  Fall can be a wonderful time to explore when the canopy of nature is pulled back and you get a better view of normally heavily forested areas.