Bear Lake State Park - East Beach — Hotel in St. Charles

I've been here twice, and the first time was a few years ago and was great for the most part. This past time left a lot to be desired and pretty much ruined my desire to ever go back.

Despite posted signs presenting policies like limitations on where dogs were allowed, it felt like a massive free-for-all where people were just doing whatever they wanted with no consideration for other groups. And we were not seeing any enforcement of the posted rules.

We were in the day use area near the boat ramp, and someone had setup their trailer right next to the public outhouses, had a hose hooked up to the only water spigot in the area, had power cords running into the bathroom, and it looked like they had a hose emptying their trailer toilet straight into one of the stalls. These folks had ATVs and were speeding through the park somewhat recklessly. They had all their laundry hanging out right next to the restroom, so I felt like I was intruding in someone's campsite when I went to use the public restroom.

Regarding the restrooms, two of the three outhouses closest to us had no toilet paper. And having some hand sanitizer would have been nice.

They kept letting people in towing huge boats that couldn't be launched at the boat ramp as the water is only a few feet deep there. A ranger finally came over and told some of folks their boats were too big to be launched. You would think the person at the booth would have pointed that out, but apparently they really wanted everyone's five bucks.

We're pretty easy going people, but eventually reached a point where the chaos was too much and we complained at the booth regarding people ignoring posted policies. We got a very nonchalant "we'll have a ranger check it out" response. We didn't see any enforcement while we were there.

I think in the future we're going to look for another...

We drove here from the north and the directions took us down through a small town and then down a dirt road for at least 15min. Thank God there was a truck a bit a head of us because it was kind of scary like we weren't sure we were headed to the right place....finally we began to see the beautiful Bear Lake State Park that was described online by other reviewers which caused us to drive here... The view was gorgeous and the water looked like blue clear island water. The lake is huge. Along our ride to the park entrance, we passed by some beautiful lakefront homes/private estates or vacation homes. Something to investigate! Once we got into the park and paid the small fee, maybe $10 for the day, we set up a picnic blanket on the green grass under a tree. There were several other families there enjoying the day together. So nice to see. The water was so clear and blue and it made me happy. We just walked right in. It wasn't even cold. (First week of August) We walked in through some pretty rocks and then walked very far and it was all sand for a long ways...amazing, again like and island. There were boats in the distance and other watercraft. After a walk and swim we went back to the picnic to snack. There were restrooms walking distance. A very beautiful and enjoyable day visit...

Look, you are going to go to bear lake no matter what because it is such a beautiful lake and so fun to play in. I've been going to the east side for forty years and loved it. However, the park ranger and camp host went out of their way this year to cast a negative shadow on our experience. We rented the south pavilion and they had a conniption because we pulled a small trailer into the parking area to unload our gear. They wanted to charge us double to unhook our trailers into another spot. Jsyk, I have never seen their two new post-covid 100 car parking lots filled to capacity. Wait until they actually fill up, then worry about charging double. Their unwarranted harassment was lame, but the lake provided good memories. Also, see the pic of the pile of bird ship on our pavilion table. Really added to a yummy lunch. Could you not clean them...