Birch Campground at Bear Lake State Park is situated near Bear Lake, offering a landscape of open spaces and surrounding hills. Temperatures range from lows in the 30s Fahrenheit during winter to highs in the 80s during summer. Nearby attractions include Bear Lake itself, known for its water activities, and the Minnetonka Cave, which provides an interesting exploration opportunity.

The Birch campground offers the utility hookups of power, water, and sewer. A wide, long, gradually sloping, sandy beach makes this a very popular place.

Birch Campground — Bear Lake State Park

Garden City, UT is a great camping destination for adventurers of all types. Garden City is filled with the activities, sights, and experiences to make everyone in your crew a happy camper. At The Dyrt, campers like you share their favorite spots, plus tips and photos. No matter where you're headed in Garden City, you'll find the best spot for you and your camping crew.

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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,&amp; 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.

Not What We Were Expecting

Location is out about 7 miles out of town but has beach access which is great for families with kids.   
It gets really windy from one moment to the next. 
The water is absolutely beautiful! Can’t wait to come back again. 
Don’t use address provided on their website.  It’ll take you to Marina. 


Don’t use their address

I will start with the pros.  Birch campground at Rendezvous Beach has nice paved (mostly level) spots.  Each site has a covered picnic table in a concrete pad.  The public restrooms are in good clean condition.  You can access the beach easily.  The water is really low and therefore much further away than expected.  You can also drive your car into the marked areas of the beach.  
Now for the cons and the reason for the 3 stars.  I know once upon a time this was a well cared for campground.  Unfortunately 2022 proved otherwise.  The picnic table at my site and concrete pad were covered in dirt/sand and useless because I don’t have a broom.  The common areas between sites are overgrown with weeds.  No real grass just rocks and weeds.  This all gets tracked into your RV especially if you have dogs.  

Bring a broom

We really liked that this site was close to the beach where we could tube and kayak as well as is only a couple miles from various trailhead or walking running and biking. The camp hosts are very active here so be aware and try to follow rules. They are very strict about dogs on leash.

Photos of Birch Campground — Bear Lake State Park

Real photos from real campers