Bear Lake Holds Steady Near 5,911.6 Feet as Winter Nears

Bear Lake has barely moved in the past week. It sits at about 5,911.56 feet, roughly 12 feet below full and lower than usual for early November.

Darren Eastman

Darren Eastman

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Bear Lake Holds Steady Near 5,911.6 Feet as Winter Nears
A double rainbow over Bear Lake from the shore road. Photo: Darren Eastman / Bear Lake TV

Bear Lake has barely budged this past week. The USGS gauge at the State Park Marina read about 5,911.56 feet on Nov. 8 (on the PacifiCorp datum the marina and state park use). That's flat over seven days and up about a tenth of a foot over the past month.

For context, Utah State Parks lists full elevation at 5,923.65 feet, so the lake is a little more than 12 feet below full. Bear Lake Data Watch puts it about 3.1 feet below the normal operating range, and LakeLevel.app says it's lower than it was on this date in 9 of the last 10 years, and about 3.5 feet lower than a year ago.

What that means if you're heading out: the State Park Marina, First Point and Cisco Beach stay open year-round, and the Cisco ramp is 4WD-recommended. State Parks has said launching at Rendezvous Beach isn't recommended at this low level, and North and South Eden were winterized on Nov. 1.

Sources: USGS gauge 10055000 (Bear Lake at State Park Marina), via Bear Lake Data Watch (bearlake.hydromap.com) and LakeLevel.app; Utah State Parks, Bear Lake current conditions (stateparks.utah.gov/parks/bear-lake/current-conditions/).

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