Birch Campground — Bear Lake State Park

The address we put into our GPS took us to the Marina so we drove further along the lake to Rendezvous Beach area where we checked in at the gate house with no problems. We then proceeded to the Birch campground(CG) FHU site 55, which was a pull through. The CG map shows there are 4 CGs(Willow, Birch, Cottonwood,& Big Creek). Big Creek is the oldest with a lot more shade trees than the other listed CGs. The CGs run in sequence along the south end of the lake. The sites are well spaced with a nice little covered patio with the picnic table. The beach is about 100 yards away and we had a sliver of lake view. We were surprised that dogs are not allowed on the park beaches. There was a fire ban that included charcoal grills(propane okay). We had great water pressure, used 15’ sewer hose, and received about 30 OTA channels. We had a clear shot to the southern sky, but didn’t need/use our satellite. We got 4 bars on Verizon. We where not sure what to expect when we decided to come to Bear Lake SP but we sure were not expecting it to be dog restrictive. Dogs are not allowed by the lake/beach or in day use areas so we were limited to walking them around the campground. We also were not expecting a tourist trap, sunning beach, and crowded with families during the week(Mon- Thur) late in August. There were plenty of CG workers but they did not keep up with the trash laying about. Our fire pit, which we couldn’t use, had trash in it to include a pair of kids underwear. We did enjoy going to Montpelier and visiting the Oregon/California Trail Center and Butch Cassidy Museum. One and done for us.