Long before Euro-American settlers found Bear Lake, the Bannock, Shoshone, and Ute tribes frequented the surrounding landscape for hunting. U.S. military officers John Fremont and Benjamin Bonneville surveyed this area in 1842. Their findings paved the way for Oregon Trail travelers, who later traversed around the lake en route to Oregon. During the late 19th century, Bear Lake was an informal outdoor recreation site, attracting tourists from across the American West to enjoy boating, camping, fishing, hunting, and swimming at the lake’s bright blue waters. Multiple ambitious locals recognized the site’s popularity and chose to open resorts with lodging and dining. By 1926, several private resorts operated on Bear Lake’s shores, including Bear Lake Hot Springs, Fish Haven, Ideal Beach, Lakota, and Logan Canyon. In the following decades, some of these facilities expanded to offer indoor entertainment, such as rollerskating at Lakota Resort and dancing at Fish Haven Resort. Alongside outdoor recreation, Bear Lake’s various resorts became popular sites for large gatherings like family reunions and school field trips. During the early-mid 20th century, the Bear Lake resorts received higher volumes of tourists between June and August, leaving their lodging facilities with no vacancies. The Bear Lake resorts would experience increased patronage following the extension of Highway 89 from St. Charles, Utah, to Paris, Idaho, in 1956. These businesses advertised the lake’s accessibility to Salt Lake City residents who could reach their summer getaway via the highway without being too far from home. Recognizing the site’s popularity, the Utah Bureau of Land Management declared Utah’s portion of Bear Lake a state park in 1962 with plans to expand the marina and harbor that year. In 1963, the Idaho State Land Board designated the lake’s northern shore as a state park. It was not uncommon for travelers en route to Yellowstone National Park to stop and behold the unexpected beauty of Bear Lake. The site grew to such popularity in the 1970s that the two state parks closed temporarily and considered ways to control the expanding crowds. Members of the Bear Lake County Commission and the State Parks Commission in each state considered charging overnight campers additional fees, enforcing a maximum capacity, and enforcing boat speed limits. While the state park directors strove to allow the maximum number of visitors to enjoy the beaches, they agreed that certain regulations were necessary to promote a quality experience for all. Bear Lake continues to be a popular outdoor tourist destination along Highway 89 throughout the year. Spring and summer visitors can enjoy biking, bird-watching, boating, camping, swimming, and water skiing, while winter visitors enjoy ice fishing for the native Bonneville Cisco whitefish. This unique fishing opportunity has made the lake a popular attraction for such an activity, especially when the fish spawn near the lake’s icy shores in late January each year. Even if highway travelers do not plan to stop at Bear Lake, its vibrant blue waters offer a uniquely scenic view as they cruise by on Highway 89.

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The sandy shores of North Beach at Bear Lake meet the turquoise waters that inspired the nickname “Caribbean of the Rockies” and have made the beach a main tourist attraction at the Utah-Idaho border. North Beach sits on Idaho territory and provides activities such as boating, fishing, jet skiing, kayaking, picnicking, sunbathing, and swimming. Paired with these activities are the amenities, which include a boat launch ramp, grills, campgrounds, and picnic tables. In 2022 alone North Beach had over 300,000 visitors as it is a great place for families to come and wade in the shallow, warm waters.

Bear Lake has 12,000 years of Indigenous history as Native Americans would settle on the beach’s shores and use the waters for fishing and the surrounding areas for plant gathering and hunting. The native tribes that live near North Beach today are the Shoshone and Bannock tribes of southern Idaho. Following the Oregon Trail, Mormon settlers were the next prominent group to live in Bear Lake Valley. They negotiated with the Shoshone tribe for part of the land and established the community of Paris in 1863. Joseph C. Rich was an early pioneer at Bear Lake and married Ann Eliza Hunter. Together they developed the make-shift hot springs at North Beach in 1888 that used an underground pipeline to bring the hot water from the springs to the bathing pools.

Decades later in 1911, Ethel Bates became the owner of the Grand Hotel built next to the hot springs bath. The hotel became a well-known place to enjoy the scenic views of Bear Lake and allowed visitors to have multiple days at the beach. In 1939, the hotel burned down, leaving only a few pillars and stairs people can visit today. Ruth and Lorenzo Hemmert bought the property in 1950 to rebuild the lodging amenities and renovate the hot spring pools. They owned the property until 2018 when it sold to a land developer who plans to tear down the existing buildings to make room for a subdivision called Lakeview.

After years of rising popularity, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was much conversation about expanding the facilities because of overcrowding. In 1969 the Idaho State Journal noted that about 3,500 persons visited North Beach daily during peak summer days. Construction occurred during the early 1970s and included new campgrounds, restrooms, picnic facilities, and access to running water to mitigate overcrowding and improve sanitation.

The popularity of North Beach still reigns true and visitors must reserve a spot on the beach, up to one day in advance. Bear Lake and especially North Beach have also been the victim of drought over the past years. Bear Lake Idaho’s brochure notes the “low water levels” and how public use and the exposed lake bed have “created a concern for the lake’s environment and safe recreation use.” Respecting the beach is crucial for a future of sunbathing, swimming, and other beach activities at the “Caribbean of the Rockies.”

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Bear Lake is a freshwater body on the Utah–Idaho border that is situated within a small valley, at an elevation of 5,923 feet. Eight miles long and twenty miles wide, calcium carbonates suspended in the lake water give it a unique green-blue hue, earning Bear Lake the nickname “Caribbean of the Rockies.” Fur trappers and traders from the 1827 rendezvous also referred to the area as “Sweet Lake.” The newly formed Smith, Jackson, and Sublette firm chose Bear Lake’s south shore for both the 1827 and 1828 Rocky Mountain rendezvous, making the site the new trade system’s first lakeside location. The site would have been a part of Mexico’s territory during that time. Today, the site is located near the city of Laketown, Utah. William Henry Ashley was not in attendance at the 1827 rendezvous, as he had sold his share in the fur company to Smith, Jackson, and Sublette the previous year. However, he was still contracted to supply merchandise for the rendezvous. Fur trappers in attendance that year complained about “exorbitant” prices of supplies that year, as described by explorer Daniel Trotter Potts in a letter to a friend. He explained the difficulty of making profits in the fur trade due to these high prices, which were inflated and known as “mountain prices.” For trappers, this was one downside of the centralized rendezvous system. In a lighter moment, when Jedediah Smith arrived at the rendezvous late, traders already present celebrated his arrival by firing a cannon. Some worried he had become lost while making the trip from California. Before he could miss the rendezvous, though, Smith met a Snake Tribe encampment north of the Salt Lake who informed him of the Bear Lake rendezvous twenty-five miles away, and he made it in time for the traders to welcome him. The Bear Lake rendezvous of 1827 was significant due to a violent skirmish with members of the Blackfeet Nation. Allegedly, the conflict began when Blackeet individuals entered camp to murder a man and woman from the Snake tribe. The white traders already had ongoing conflicts with the Blackfeet, so they allied with Snake tribe trappers in what became a violent battle. A small number of whites were injured in the skirmish, though none died, but multiple Native Americans died. The exact number of fatalities remains unknown, however. Bear Lake was opened as a Utah State Park in 1862. Rendezvous Beach on the south shore is named in honor of the 1827 and 1828 rendezvous held there. The lake has since become a popular attraction for tourists and sports enthusiasts with many recreational activities available such as fishing, hiking, waterskiing, and swimming. The area is also notable for its raspberries, which thrive in the Bear Lake valley’s climate. During the summer Raspberry Days festival, there are sometimes rendezvous events included where attendees can learn about frontier history and recreate the mountain man lifestyle.

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