Bear Lake is a natural

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

on the

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

–

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

border in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

. About in size, it is split about equally between the two states; its Utah portion comprises the second-largest natural freshwater lake in Utah, after

Utah Lake Utah Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in the center of Utah County, Utah, United States. It lies in Utah Valley, surrounded by the Provo- Orem metropolitan area. The lake's only river outlet, the Jordan River, is a tributary of the Great Sa ...

.Bear Lake history & facts
'' Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.'' The lake has been called the "

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

of the Rockies" for its unique turquoise-blue color, which is due to the refraction of calcium carbonate (

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

) deposits suspended in the lake. Its water properties have led to the evolution of several unique species of fauna that occur only within the lake.Bear Lake Geological Background: Endemism
. United States Geological Survey. Bear Lake is over 250,000 years old. It was formed by fault subsidence that continues today, slowly deepening the lake along the eastern side. In 1911 the majority of the flow of the Bear River was diverted into Bear Lake via Mud Lake and a canal from Stewart Dam, ending 11,000 years of separation between the lake and that river system. Today the lake is a popular destination for tourists and sports enthusiasts, and the surrounding valley has gained a reputation for having high-quality raspberries.Bear Lake Raspberry Days
''Utah Outdoor Activities''.

History

The first known inhabitants of the Bear Lake Valley were

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...

tribes, but the area was known to many Native Americans. The first record of Europeans seeing the lake is from 1818 when French-Canadian trappers working for the North West Company followed the Bear River upstream to the valley. Originally named "Black Bear Lake" by Donald McKenzie, an explorer for the North West Fur Company who explored the lake in 1819, the name was later shortened to Bear Lake.Bear Lake State Park: In Depth
. ''Utah State Parks and Recreation.'' Following his exploration of the lake, Mckenzie held what is known to be the largest rendezvous of Native Americans to take place in the Rocky Mountains. Nearly 10,000 American Indians from various tribes camped along 7 miles of Bear Lake's north shore, trading with Mckenzie and his trapping company. The south end of the lake, in the area of modern-day Laketown, was also the location of two of the annual Rocky Mountain Rendezvous in the summers of 1827 and 1828. Mountain men, including

Jedediah Smith Jedediah Strong Smith (January 6, 1799 – May 27, 1831) was an American clerk, transcontinental pioneer, frontiersman, hunter, trapper, author, cartography, cartographer, mountain man and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the Western Unit ...

and

Jim Bridger James Felix Bridger (March 17, 1804 – July 17, 1881) was an American mountain man, Animal trapping, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was ...

, gathered at this location, along with trade goods suppliers and American Indians from several different tribes. The mountain men and Indians sold their furs in exchange for various store goods and supplies, and several weeks were spent reveling in assorted amusements and liquor. Smith's arrival in June 1827 was especially historic, as it marked the completion of the first ever overland round-trip to California from the United States. He wrote in his journal: "My arrival caused a considerable bustle in camp for myself and party had been given up as lost." Although the lake lies relatively near the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what ...

, which runs north and east of the lake, and was traveled by many pioneers between 1836 and the 1850s, it seems none of them went south enough to view the lake. It was not until 1863 that

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

pioneers led by Charles C. Rich settled in the Bear Lake Valley, but they made an agreement with Native Americans, which left most of the Utah portion of the valley in Indian possession. Members of

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

gradually moved south and established the villages of Garden City, Pickelville, and Laketown, each along the lake's shore. In 1911 a diversion was constructed at Wardboro, Idaho that redirected the majority of the flow of the Bear River into Bear Lake via Mud Lake. Water then exits Bear Lake via an outlet canal to rejoin the Bear River. This allows the upper 6.5 meters of Bear Lake to act as a

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

for the Bear River, storing spring runoff for irrigation later in the year. Before the construction of this connection, Bear Lake had been isolated from the Bear River for 11,000 years, though Bear River has connected to Bear Lake naturally several times over the 250,000-year existence of the Lake. In later years, Bear Lake became a resort and recreation area, with many developers selling lake shore and mountain view lots. The beaches of Lakota and Ideal were given to private development in the 1970s, including the Blue Water and Sweetwater developments. The State of Utah bought the far southeast beach for use as a

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

, and the state also operates a

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

on the lake's west side.

Geographic features

Formed in a half graben valley straddling the Idaho-Utah border, the lake has an approximate area of and sits at an elevation of along the northeast side of the

Wasatch Range The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Gr ...

and the east side of the Bear River Mountains. The lake and surrounding areas are popular summer tourist destinations. The lake has many marinas, beaches, and two tourist towns in Utah: Garden City and Laketown. It also has two

s, each named Bear Lake State Park: one in Idaho and one in Utah. The Utah state park includes a one-half-mile-long Rendezvous Beach at the south end of the lake, the location of the 1827 and 1828 rendezvous, and a three-mile-long Cisco Beach on the east side, plus the additional campground, marina, and boat ramp areas. The Idaho state park includes north and an east unit, each with a one-mile-long beach. Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge extends up from the north end of the lake.

Climate

Native and naturalized animals

Bear Lake has a high rate of

endemism Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

(native species not naturally found anywhere else). Several species evolved in the lake's waters, but many went

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

after the diversion of the Bear River into the lake. Surviving known endemic species of fish include the Bear Lake strain of the Bonneville cutthroat trout, Bonneville cisco, Bonneville whitefish, Bear Lake whitefish, and Bear Lake sculpin. There have been attempts to transplant these species to other areas without success, with the exception of the Bear Lake Cutthroat Trout strain. This trout has flourished in other large bodies of cool water, including the

Strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown Hybrid (biology), hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit ...

and Scofield reservoirs. "The Bonneville cisco eat only small aquatic invertebrates or zooplankton. They are eaten by larger fish in the lake including whitefish, Bonneville Cutthroat Trout, and introduced

lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater Salvelinus, char living mainly in lakes in Northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, laker, and grey trout. In Lake Sup ...

." Although several fish species have been introduced into the lake, those native species which survived the Bear River diversion have continued to thrive under careful management. Water from the lake is used for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

in the nearby Bear Valley in southeast Idaho and for

recreational fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is occupational fishing activities done for profit; or subsistence fishing, ...

. The lake drains via the Bear River Outlet, completed in 1915, into the Bear River which eventually flows into the northeast portion of

Great Salt Lake The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, partic ...

Raspberry cultivation

Bear Lake has become famous for the surrounding valley's crops of raspberries and for the annual Raspberry Days festival held in Garden City to celebrate the harvest of raspberries, generally during the first week of August. This event is said to bring thousands of people from all over the world and features

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaqu ...

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...

fireworks Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

s, a craft

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Fairs showcase a wide range of go ...

, "Miss Berry Princess contest", raspberry recipe cookoff, a

talent show A talent show or talent contest is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are p ...

, fun run and

concert A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

s. A majority of the originally introduced Bear Lake Raspberry plants were infected with a fungal virus during 2001 called the " raspberry bushy dwarf virus". Fewer than five acres survived. The epidemic resulted in most of the large berry businesses in Garden City being wiped out. Some crop acreage was replaced by newly introduced virus-resistant plants. Although some varieties of raspberries are resistant to the virus, none produce fruit as succulent and sweet as the previously cultivated plants. The raspberry business has since been redeveloped, and raspberries are again thriving, mostly in the southern end of the valley.

Recreation

One of the main reasons Bear Lake has become a popular vacation destination is due to the high amount of recreational activities and attractions that are available throughout the year. In the summertime, swimming, water-skiing, jet-skiing, boating, and sailing draw people to the water. Tourists also pass the time exploring the local caves or golf courses or taking mountain trails on foot, bike, ATV, or horseback. In the cooler months, hunting, snow skiing, snowmobiling, or ice fishing are common attractions. Many people try a "famous raspberry shake" at one of the local restaurants, or see a play at the Pickleville Playhouse.

References

External links

Official Bear Lake State Park websiteOUTDOOR IDAHO: Bear Lake, Caribbean of the Rockies
(2016) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bear Lake (Idaho-Utah) Bear River (Great Salt Lake) Great Salt Lake watershed Lakes of Idaho Lakes of Utah Lakes of the Great Basin Lakes of the Rocky Mountains Lakes of Bear Lake County, Idaho Lakes of Rich County, Utah Tourist attractions in Rich County, Utah American folklore