Bear Lake State Park stretches along Bear Lake on Utah’s border with Idaho in three separate recreation areas: Rendezvous Beach, Bear Lake Marina, and the East Side. Its strongest historic association is at Rendezvous Beach, where fur-trade gatherings in the summers of 1827 and 1828 drew a thousand or more Native Americans and mountain men, including Jedediah Smith, creating a shoreline once likened to a lighted city. Today the park is best known for water recreation, with boating, swimming, sailing, scuba diving, and year-round fishing. Modern events such as a Mountain Man Rendezvous and Bear Lake Raspberry Days continue its long role as a gathering place.