East Beach Campground

For a campground, the sites are incredibly close together, more like an RV park. And with this being the high desert, no separation with vegetation.

On the plus side, easy access to the lake this time of year as the water is nice and high and there is a dump site and freshwater fill on site. Vault toilets are spotless.

Decent Verizon coverage.

But I have stayed on the Utah side previously and would recommend camping there as the sites were better developed and some with more privacy.

I am an Idaho resident so my park fees are about half of a non-resident.

Paved road all the way in although many potholes so go slowly.

The beach is wonderful - shallow, gorgeous cobalt blue and nice clean, white, sand. Lots of ATVs, Jet Ski's and boats (so a bit noisy, especially if you are sunbathing - you hear the constant beep, beep, beep of jet ski's reminding owners their key is still engaged - very annoying). - and since the water level is very low - it is a LONG walk from the campsite to the beach. Most people drive on the beach - although some trucks did get stuck in the soft sand. The rules say no dogs on the beach - but pretty much everyone had very well behaved dogs (on leashes) at the beach (not an issue for me).

The campground sites are nicely built in stair step fashion up the hill, so pretty much everyone has a lake view. Shopping, gas, restaurants are within 20-25 minutes. The vault toilets are dirty, smelly and have lots of flies (fortunately I had my own and didn't have to use them, but just walking past could gag you). There are no showers, but many folks had rigged up outdoor showers to rinse off.

My rating is low, due to the very high prices for sites with electric only (water is available from faucets next to the road that are quite a distance from most sites). Idaho State has recently increased the DAILY motor vehicle charge (as though you are coming and going each and every day from the campground) to $14/DAY. There is also a $10 fee to reserve online (which is the ONLY way to reserve a site).

While the beach is nice, it is NOT worth paying nearly $50/DAY.

The lake is absolutely lovely. Shallow, very clear water for a long way, and the beach is sandy (although water was quite down when we were there). You can drive your car out onto the beach. You can also walk from the campground, it's fairly close but noticeable if you're carrying a bunch of stuff.

There are a ton of ATVs and jetskis at the beach by the campground. We moved further down to the day use area and it was quieter. Still, fairly noisy as a campground goes with all those engines. Gravel sites but not terribly unlevel. Gas, ice etc are down the road about 15 minutes. Idaho ends at the south border of this state park and Utah begins there are beaches there but looked rockier and Utah state parks day use/passes are not cheap so we didn't go.

Hoses run through every campsite. Super annoying. Vault toilets. No showers. Most everyone there was a part of a group.

Cell signal was good at the campsite and decent at the beach.

This park has two sections a day use and camping. Much more attention is given the day use as it is all grassy, beautifully taken care of, the highlight of the park.
The camping side is neglected. Their is no campground host, so that might be it. But every campsite is overrun with weeds. Most need additional gravel to level. The weekends were packed but emptied out during the week. The dump and fresh water fill area is top notch.

Of all the campgrounds we saw on Bear Lake, this seemed to be the nicest. Nonetheless, it was fairly lawless (people didn't pay attention to the rules, anyway), and therefore fairly noisy.

Our campsite was an electric one, but closer to the beach they were without electricity. We've learned that means that folks use their generators a lot, which means a lot of noise. Also, families and teenagers alike were having a blast, which also means a lot of noise. Other campers ignored the rules about no fireworks (this was 4th of July weekend), which meant ... you guessed it, lots of noise. We actually had to turn the radio up in our camper to try to keep the dogs comfortable when the neighboring campsite decided on some serious fireworks. There was a fair amount of drunken noise at night, as well.

All that said, there was more room between campsites here than at any of the other campgrounds, and great views of the lake. WOW, what a huge lake! Our site (#11) was clean and had a nice grassed area next to it. It's possible to drive on the beach, and we drove our sailboat down there and launched it. The water was incredibly blue -- even a gorgeous turquoise.

It's a great location for families who don't care a lot about quiet but want a lot of beachy things for their kids to do. The rule is "no dogs on the beach," but, as I said, it was pretty lawless there so our dogs may have been the only ones who didn't join their owners on the beach.

If we were headed back to Bear Lake, which wouldn't be a mistake given its great size, we would choose this campground over others available.