Bear Lake

We were home a whole day and a half from our Wyoming camping trip before leaving for our Bear Lake Trip.  Just enough time to do a ton of laundry, grocery shop, and unload and reload everything in the van.

Bear Lake was beautiful.  The water is turquoise blue so its known as the "Caribbean of the Rockies."  But....  its surrounded by desert!   I had reserved a campsite in the Idaho State Park on the East Beach and when we pulled up (in 90+ degree weather) I wanted to cry, or just swim and go back home!  It took some convincing to set up the tent!  There was not a real shade tree in sight, just a small gravel pad for a tent, a table, and fire pit surrounded by sagebrush and one lonely aspen.  We set up the tent and headed for the North Beach to swim.  We made dinner at the beach and didn't head back to camp till 9ish, after it started to cool off.   The tent was warm, but not miserably hot until the moment the sun came over the mountain in the morning and then we were scrambling to get out before we baked!  After breakfast, we drove around the entire lake, and still made it to the North Beach by 8:30 and spent the rest of the day in the lake.  We applied sunscreen often but were still getting a little burnt by sundown; there was just no place to get out of the sun!  We made it through one more night, then packed up in the morning, ending our trip 2 nights early; we just couldn't take anymore sun.  We took the scenic drive home through Logan Canyon and found the place to camp next time-- Sunshine Campground which is a Utah State Park about 10-15 min into the canyon, but beautiful and shady forest!

The sand at North Beach is perfect for sand castles!  The water is shallow F-O-R-E-V-E-R, and I mean F-O-R-E-V-E-R.  I was amazed every time how far I went out to get waist deep.  Scott went out to his shoulders and I could barely see his head that far away.

Sunset on the Lake

Day 2 at the Lake

The Idaho State Park East Beach did have a grassy commons area with shade, but it's wasn't near the camping sites.  After we had had all the sun, water, and sand we could take for the day (over 11 hours worth), we hung out here for awhile before bed.  The second night I got up with Landon to go to the bathroom and saw the most awesome FULL moon just about to sink behind the mountain across the lake, shining bright in sky and reflecting across the water.

When we got to the lake, this area was full of pelicans to greet us.  On the way home, only one came out to say good bye.