Is Bear Lake a natural lake or man made?

Bear Lake is a natural freshwater lake on the Idaho-Utah border in the Western United States. About 109 square miles (280 km2) in size, it is split about equally between the two states.



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Bear Lake is a natural freshwater lake straddling the Idaho-Utah border in the Bear Lake Valley.

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In addition to groundwater discharge, Bear Lake received water and sediment from its own small drainage basin and sometimes from the Bear River and its glaciated headwaters.

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Bear Lake contains abundant suspended microscopic particles of white-colored calcium carbonate (lime) that reflect the water's natural blue color back to the surface, giving the lake its intense turquoise-blue color.

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Bear Lake is stratified in summer-spring where lighter water overlies denser water. During the winter months the mixing processes of winds and surface cooling break down the layers and the lake freezes over. Bear Lake does not completely freeze over every year but typically three out of five years.

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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.

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Bear Lake contains abundant suspended microscopic particles of white-colored calcium carbonate (lime) that reflect the water's natural blue color back to the surface, giving the lake its intense turquoise-blue color.

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Bear Lake is a natural freshwater lake on the Idaho–Utah border in the Western United States. About 109 square miles 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.



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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.

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Bear Lake is a natural freshwater lake covering more than 112 square miles of land that straddles the Utah-Idaho border. It is often called the “Caribbean of the Rockies” for its unique turquoise-blue color, which is due to the reflection of limestone deposits suspended in the lake.

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The volume is 187,800 cubic meters (153 acre-feet). The penetration of solar radiation into a lake is of fun- damental importance to the organisms dwelling there. Solar radiation is the overwhelming source of heat to warm the waters of Bear Lake.

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Blue-Green Algae is in fact not an algae at all, it is a bacteria (cyanobacteria). This type of bacteria is found in many lakes, ponds, and reservoirs across the world. They are usually present in low numbers, but can become very abundant in warm, shallow, undisturbed surface water that receives a lot of sunlight.

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Big Bear Lake has been listed as a “mercury impaired” reservoir by state health and water authorities. Mercury is absorbed by bacteria and transformed into an organic form known as methylmercury.

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People will see trumpeter swans escorting their broods through the emerald-green marsh and feel gratified that mule deer, moose, badger, beaver, trout, garter snakes, and leopard frogs will have homes for a long time to come here at Bear Lake NWR.

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If you plan to camp overnight, please use one of the many public and private camping areas around the lake (see map). No camping after 10 p.m. on the public beaches or exposed bed of Bear Lake.

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Standing Bear Lake is being drawn down in preparation for a much-anticipated Aquatic Habitat and Boating Access project. The water level will be lowered about 20 feet in the 135-acre northwest Omaha lake so work can start in early spring of 2023.

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The shells have lasted this long because of the calcium chemistry in Bear Lake water. Some that do get crushed become part of our sand. According to a U.S. Geological Survey study, the shells were in great abundance in the shallows of Bear Lake when the lake was around 50 feet higher and filled the whole valley.

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