The Bear Lake Loop

Overview

There's one ride in this state where the payoff never leaves your peripheral vision. You're not climbing toward a view of Bear Lake — you're circling it, for nearly fifty miles, with that impossible turquoise water sitting off your shoulder almost the entire way. Locals call it the Caribbean of the Rockies for a reason, and the color isn't a filter or a good camera angle. It's just what the water does here, mile after mile, whether you're grinding into a headwind on the west shore or coasting the quiet backroads on the east.

The loop starts and ends in Garden City, right at the junction of Highway 89 and State Route 30, and it straddles the Utah–Idaho line for most of its length — you'll cross into Idaho before you're even warmed up, and you won't come back south until you're most of the way through the ride. Riding clockwise, you go up the developed, higher-traffic west shore first, wrap the north end past the wildlife refuge, then drop into the long, sparse quiet of the east side before the final stretch pulls you back through Laketown to the start.

The numbers tell you this isn't a climbing day: 49.5 miles with only about 1,087 feet of gain, spread out so evenly across the loop that you'd be hard-pressed to call any single section a real hill. What that gain estimate hides is a set of small, repeated rollers on the east side that add up in your legs even though none of them will show up as a moment worth remembering. This is a saddle-time ride, not a suffer-fest — the kind of day where your fitness gets tested by hours and wind exposure rather than pitch. Plan on two to three and a half hours depending on how much you're fighting the west-side traffic and how strong the crosswind is coming off the water. It's a good fit for a rider who wants a long, steady day outside more than a rider chasing a hard effort — bring a partner who talks too much, because you'll have the road for it.

The Route

Start at the Garden City junction and head north on Highway 89, riding the loop clockwise.

Miles 0–18: Garden City to St. Charles This is the busy side. Highway 89 runs mostly level along the west shore through Garden City, Fish Haven, and up into St. Charles, Idaho, with a shoulder that narrows in a few spots and a steady stream of weekend boat traffic to contend with. It's not technical riding — just a false-flat grind with real cars to manage, so single-file discipline matters here more than anywhere else on the loop. Around Cisco Beach you can see the lake's underwater shelf drop off into deep water if the light's right, which is worth a glance even at pace. If you're riding this on a Saturday in July, start early. The road doesn't get interesting until the traffic thins out, and it thins out fastest before 9 a.m.

Miles 18–21: The North End The highway makes a short climb and bends east, then south, as you round the top of the lake. This is the transition — Idaho North Beach State Park on your right, the Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Mud Lake on your left. It's the busiest intersection of scenery on the whole route: marsh, refuge, and open water all within a mile or two of each other. Take the bend easy. It's also the last town-adjacent stretch before things go quiet for a while.

Miles 21–33: The East Shore This is where the ride changes character entirely. The road becomes North Cisco Drive, then East Cisco Drive — quieter pavement, a wider shoulder, and none of the west side's traffic pressure. It's also where the elevation profile's small rollers live: nothing that requires a shift into the easy ring, but a repeated rhythm of short rises and dips that never lets your legs fully settle. There are no towns along this stretch, just scattered subdivisions, lakeside campsites, and long views across the water toward where you started. It's the best riding on the loop and the emptiest — plan your food and water accordingly, because there's nowhere to buy either.

Miles 33–42: Toward Laketown The road bends away from the lake as you approach the south end, and the character shifts one more time — from lakeside scenery to a quieter valley approach into Laketown, population small enough that you'll notice every building. This is also where Rendezvous Beach State Park sits, if you want an excuse to stop and put your feet in the water before the final push.

Miles 42–49.5: Laketown to Garden City Turn onto State Route 30 in Laketown for the return leg. This section is flat, direct, and mentally easy after the rollers on the east side — a chance to sit in and spin out the last few miles before the road turns back into the Garden City bike path and delivers you to the finish. No real descent to manage here; the whole loop stays low and level enough that the return is more about legs than brakes.

What to Bring

• Water for the east shore stretch — there are no services between St. Charles and Laketown, roughly 15 miles of open road, so top off before you leave the north end.
• Sun protection — you're exposed to full sun for almost the entire loop, with water on one side reflecting even more of it back at you.
• A spare tube and basic tool kit — the east side is quiet in the best way, but that also means a mechanical there means a long walk, not a quick bail to a gas station.
• A wide-angle mindset about traffic — this isn't gear, but treat the west-side shoulder like it's narrower than it looks, especially on summer weekends with boats in tow.

Local Tips

• Best window: Ride it April through October, and if you're going in peak summer, start before 8 a.m. to beat both the heat and the west-side weekend traffic — the road is a genuinely different experience empty versus full.
• Combine it: If you want more climbing than the loop offers, tack on the out-and-back up Minnetonka Cave Road from St. Charles — a steady 2 to 4 percent grade for most of it, kicking up to around 6 percent near the top.
• Hazards: Watch for RVs and boat trailers on both shores, and expect the west-side shoulder to pinch down in places — single file, always, on that stretch.
• Post-ride: Get a raspberry shake at LaBeau's on Bear Lake Boulevard in Garden City. It's been the local standard since 1981, there's usually a line, and it's worth standing in it after 49 miles.