Family Adventures · Outdoors All Year · Southwest Iowa

Iowa State Parks-A Quick Dip at Lake of Three Fires

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A hot road trip through Southwest Iowa was cooled off when we hit Taylor County. Thanks in part to Iowa’s State Parks!

Lake of Three Fires State Park-Bedford, IA: Taylor County (Our 33rd County!)

You’ve see those brown signs on the side of the road as you’re road tripping through Iowa, pointing to public areas. How many times have you passed them and wondered what was just a few miles down the road. “Maybe some other time” you say to yourself. Well, lets start making “some other time” to “Hell, yea! Turn now!” Iowa’s public areas are in full swing right now and they are EVERYWHERE! Whether it’s one of our state parks or a quaint pond managed by the county you’re in. From dense forests to swimming holes between pastures, Iowa is there for your own personal expedition. Team Goodvin stumble upon Lake of Three Fires State Park in between our destinations of Shenandoah and Corning while exploring SW-Iowa. The temp was in the upper 90’s and the cool water was calling, so was splashing, raft flipping, and all around aquatic horseplay. We like to play follow the trail of sunscreen, an alternative to Marco Polo.

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Hitting the beach in Iowa is quite easy to do. And we weren’t the only ones that had this idea. Lake of Three Fires’ beach was packed with locals and and travelers beating the heat.

We played for a couple hours on the beach and Gigi swam more miles than you’re average triathlon athlete. Me? A little swimming and one much needed adventure into daydream land with the Iowa map by my side. A shadow crept into my personal space and there she was. Gigi had the goal of covering me in sand. Well…Can’t let her down. Going from sitting to laying was quite the ask though.

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Don’t let that smile fool you. There’s always something with this little one. And she has a plastic shovel. No time for questions.

We gathered our belongings and hit up one of the nearby trails for a little while. Lake of Three Fires has a lot to offer. We were officially sun soaked and said job well done to this State Park and marked it off our list.

We hope to make it to all of Iowa’s state parks someday and we were glad to get to one that was so far from our Hills, IA headquarters. Team Goodvin can come up with a lot of reasons to travel. A state park checklist is just one of many we have. The public lands of Iowa are spectacular and we hope to see you all enjoying them too.

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Be sure to read about our travels to other Iowa State Parks like Mines of Spain, Little River Lake, Pleasant Creek, Geode, Lake Macbride, Wildcat Den, Lake Darling, and Maquoketa Caves!

Thanks for reading! -Team Goodvin

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