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Old 01-29-2016, 11:23 AM
 
16 posts, read 29,905 times
Reputation: 26

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So originally I was considering moving to Northern Idaho, but then I came across Bear Lake which looks very gorgeous to me. I know it's very remote but strangely the Internet options seemed better out there. According to what I read, Direct Communications can even install Fiber to homes around Bear Lake. Honestly, I just want to move somewhere beautiful and my biggest requirement is Internet, as I work from home and utilize a VPN (so I need broadband.)

I love lake living, and the lakes in Idaho seem very clean and beautiful. Bear Lake seems a little barren in the tree department (With its high elevation it makes sense.) but that water....it really is so pretty. And from what I have seen on Trulia, the property prices are not bad at all. I intend to build a home, wherever I decide to move.

Obviously In an area so remote , I am going to want to spend some time there before I move to see if I can handle a lifestyle like that. I am going for the last week in April, then again in September.

Some things make me nervous though. It seems like a lot of cities are having pretty significant population decreased in that era. Is that due to the younger folks wanting to live somewhere with more modern conveniences...or something else I wonder. Maybe a dwindling job market? I mean that's not an issue for me personally since I can work anywhere in the US that had broadband internet, but I am wondering if that's the issue, or something else going on that is causing people to want to leave.

Also I read about a lot of accidents in Logan Canyon (highway 89 in Utah) I expect I will be making quite a few trips to Logan, so I am wondering if that stretch of highway is known to be particularly dangerous....

And finall, is bear lake as beautiful as it looks in pictures? And is the lake swimmable in the summer months or is a wetsuit required?

Thanks all!!
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Old 01-29-2016, 04:12 PM
 
Location: Old Mother Idaho
29,175 posts, read 22,142,986 times
Reputation: 23792
Hi, Suzi…
Yup. The water is a vibrant turquoise color that comes from the limestone that is suspended in it. It's perfectly potable, and looks clear until the water is deep. Its not polluted at all. Folks say it's like the Riviera, but it's actually more intense than the Riviera; I was there in the Navy, and Bear Lake beat it by a mile.

The only other place in the west I've seen the same color is up at the Havasu Creek falls on the Havasu rez in Arizona, in the Grand Canyon. That water is brackish, and is actually more colorful, but isn't nearly as clear.

Bear Lake is older than all the lakes in the panhandle, and it's shallower, so I'm pretty sure you wouldn't need a wet suit for swimming in the summer. It freezes over in the winters.

It's not as remote as you might think; about half the lake is in Utah, and it's close to Wyoming as well. It's quite close to Monteplier, a nice small town just to the north, and to Soda Springs and Preston to the west. All are the largest towns in that area of Idaho, but none are very large. Pocatello is the closest city, Malad is closer but smaller. Logan and Ogden/Salt Lake aren't much farther away in Utah.

That's partly why the internet is so good. Bear Lake has lots of optical cable lines around. Most were laid in the mid-90s, because Salt Lake City is the largest communication hub of the intermountain west. The lines branch off in all directions north of the Bear lake valley.

While it may not look mountainous, like a lot of S.E. Idaho, it's deceiving; there are lots of mountains close by that aren't easily seen because of the foothills. Down here, it's common to go from sagebrush plains to complete alpine timber in less than 40 miles. The geology here is complex and interesting, and is unique to Idaho alone.

Bear Lake a very popular fishing and bird hunting lake that has a lot of rare aquatic species that are found nowhere else. The Utah end is more popular due to a state beach park, and more crowded, but the whole lake gets a lot of tourists 3 seasons of the year.

I know nothing of the property prices. It's probable that most of the homes around the lakeshore are vacation homes, and I don't know how many permanent residents live there year-round. The Idaho end is less crowded than the Utah end, for sure, and much less developed.

You're right about the population loss. The area has always relied on agriculture and mining- there are a lot of phosphate deposits there- so the number and variety of jobs is limited, and with so many nearby cities, a lot of the kids move. Pocatello and idaho Falls gets a lot of them, as does Utah.

Preston, the largest town, is beginning to gain a reputation as a pretty good retirement community, as the housing is pretty cheap and there's a lot of small-parcel land available. This is also true with Soda Springs, Lava Hot Springs, and to a lesser extent, Monpelier.

The Logan Canyon is icy in the winter. It's typical of all of the canyon roads out here; none get a lot of sun, so the ice doesn't have much sun to melt it. As far as danger, it's not as bad as the Gallatin Canyon by far. That one is both longer and much more treacherous.
Driving any of them, though, shouldn't give a person the shivering fits. Good winter tires are needed (4 season tires don't cut it out here nearly as well), and a common sense slower speed, with a little practice, does fine. Most of the winter hazards come from other drivers very oftentimes; but if a driver is alert, driving at a safe speed, and with some extra distance between them and the car ahead, accidents can be avoided. The problem with the Logan Canyon is it's narrow and steep, so when trouble happens, sometimes there's no place to go but the river. That's true with lots of others.

I haven't been to Bear Lake for quite a long time, but I go down to the area once in a while to see friends who live in several of the towns. The winters are colder than in Pocatello or Idaho Falls, but the summers are really great. Clear air, low humidity, and lots of peace and quiet.
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Old 01-29-2016, 04:24 PM
 
719 posts, read 1,556,670 times
Reputation: 618
Are you LDS? Just about everybody there is LDS, so it's a consideration if you're not.

I've been to Bear Lake a bunch of times. My wife grew up not too far from there and still has family in the area. Part of the reason I brought up the LDS thing is her family is not and it wasn't the easiest on her growing up.

There's really nothing going on in the towns right around Bear Lake so I wouldn't be surprised if they were dwindling. Logan is booming, though. I don't think 89 is too bad although it has Utah driver's on it so I'm sure it can get dicey for that reason alone. 91 between Preston and Logan has a bad reputation but it has a lot more traffic on it.

You can swim in Bear Lake in the summer but it isn't very warm. You have to remember that the lake is at 6000 feet. The other thing you ought to think some about along those lines is that Bear Lake would have a lot colder winters than someplace like Coeur d'Alene, with some potentially snowy mountain roads between you and the services in Logan.

As far as clean goes, I suppose Bear Lake is pretty clean. It wouldn't have all the mining pollution you get in many of the lakes up in North Idaho.

Payette Lake (McCall) may be another option to consider. It would have significant winters too but it has more services and its a growing area. I think it's a lot prettier than Bear Lake and it wouldn't have the religion issue.
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Old 01-29-2016, 04:29 PM
 
8,440 posts, read 13,371,576 times
Reputation: 6289
Quote:
Originally Posted by suzii View Post
So originally I was considering moving to Northern Idaho, but then I came across Bear Lake which looks very gorgeous to me. I know it's very remote but strangely the Internet options seemed better out there. According to what I read, Direct Communications can even install Fiber to homes around Bear Lake. Honestly, I just want to move somewhere beautiful and my biggest requirement is Internet, as I work from home and utilize a VPN (so I need broadband.)

I love lake living, and the lakes in Idaho seem very clean and beautiful. Bear Lake seems a little barren in the tree department (With its high elevation it makes sense.) but that water....it really is so pretty. And from what I have seen on Trulia, the property prices are not bad at all. I intend to build a home, wherever I decide to move.

Obviously In an area so remote , I am going to want to spend some time there before I move to see if I can handle a lifestyle like that. I am going for the last week in April, then again in September.

Some things make me nervous though. It seems like a lot of cities are having pretty significant population decreased in that era. Is that due to the younger folks wanting to live somewhere with more modern conveniences...or something else I wonder. Maybe a dwindling job market? I mean that's not an issue for me personally since I can work anywhere in the US that had broadband internet, but I am wondering if that's the issue, or something else going on that is causing people to want to leave.

Also I read about a lot of accidents in Logan Canyon (highway 89 in Utah) I expect I will be making quite a few trips to Logan, so I am wondering if that stretch of highway is known to be particularly dangerous....

And finall, is bear lake as beautiful as it looks in pictures? And is the lake swimmable in the summer months or is a wetsuit required?

Thanks all!!
Suzii,

I second what BanjoMike wrote, with perhaps one exception. I don't know what you read, but usually the significant accidents traveling are from Logan south to what exits the Mtns. at Brigham City. It's called Sardine Canyon.

Common sense goes a long way. If it's storming and you don't need to go to Ogden of SLC, don't go.

I think there has been a shift in the major employers in Bear Lake County, but will leave that with what BanjoMike wrote.

The Lake is a beautiful shade of Aqua. People swim, wster ski, float in the sun and probably JetSki on the lake. It depends how many others are there. The Raspberries from Bear Lake are famous as a regional draw. I know many who vacation there each year from SLC and get their fix of Raspberry shakes.

Good luck making your decisions.

MSR
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Old 02-15-2016, 11:36 AM
 
Location: Surprise
17 posts, read 19,094 times
Reputation: 45
I owned a Cabin in Bear Lake west a stones throw from the Utah line and near Garden City. The lake is beautiful, it's why we bought there in '89. We could view the entire lake from our view windows and deck. There are deer and elk all over and we even looked out our kitchen window only to see a moose staring at us. If you have small pets you must protect them from coyotes which are abundant also. Montpelier is 28 miles away and it's the closest large grocery store, also medical, etc. It's an easy drive in summer and accessible year round. Now WINTER! Winter is why I no longer live there. We had four wheel drive so we could make it up to our cabin with chains but we had to pay to clear our driveway of snow. The county used a huge caterpillar to keep our county road open MOST of the year but you can expect a lot of snow.
LDS is very prominent in the area and if you belong the locals are friendly, if you are not, they treat you with disdain or indifference. We were not Mormon. In summer you will get many visitors to the area, in winter none. Hwy 89 from Logan, Utah to Garden City is dangerous, I had one minor wreck there one winter. We used to go to Logan for major shopping. If you go there, have fun and good luck.
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