Bring lawn games to Bear Lake this year

GARDEN CITY, Utah — The water is up and the beaches are down, way down, so much so that trees formerly on the shoreline are now trying in vain to continue to grow out in the lake water.

What was formerly beach sand out to the water's edge is now grassy and swampy.

Homes on the beachfront have water lapping at the porches.

It means families headed to the popular Bear Lake resort area need to come armed with lawn toys, board games and a list of side trips to take. There simply won't be enough beach to go around.

"We're telling everyone to plan on going to North Beach," said a manager at Bear Lake Properties. "The lake is too high everywhere else."

Claudia Cottle, co-executive director of the local Bear Lake Watch committee, said people need to understand that Bear Lake is a very different lake than it has been.

"This is reality," Cottle said. "We need to get the word out. It will be very interesting."

The lake broke the record for the largest single-year water level increase on June 17, with 7.74 feet over last year's level, and the peak isn't expected until the end of July.

That means beaches are submerged and boaters and watercraft drivers are in danger of tangling with hidden vegetation and trees. People planning to camp in the upper canyon areas may not be able to get there. Parking and congestion on the still accessible beaches will be a problem.

"This just happened so fast. It is just amazing," Cottle said. "People need to be extra careful because the lake is so different. People shouldn't come expecting what they've been used to."

On the Bear Lake Fun website (http://www.bearlakefun.com/lakelevelinfo.html), officials are advising motorists (including those with ATVs) that driving on most of the exposed beach areas will not be possible this year.

"To access the lake, you will have to find parking above the high-water mark. The lake will still be on the rise through most of July, making for an 11-foot-plus vertical rise since the low of last fall. This will most likely fill the lake to 'full' or very close, and will cover most of the exposed sandy beaches people have become accustomed to the last 10 years while the lake has been low. There will be very few sandy beaches left where the sand extends above the high-water mark of the lake, with the North Beach being notably the largest and arguably the finest," according to the website.