Family Reunions at Bear Lake

Can you look back on your life and see one event that you really looked forward to year after year? Most people hear the words "FAMILY REUNION" and cringe. They look for excuses not to go to the family reunion. You're going to see people you only see once a year, maybe, and hear about all of their old stories. And if you're a kid your bound to hear these words, "My how you've grown!"

Maybe that's how it was in your family, but in mine we actually looked forward to the annual Lane Family Reunion at Bear Lake, Utah (or Idaho). Starting in the early 60's, my father and his brothers and sisters, and their children, and their children's children, would gather at a little rocky outcrop on the southeast side of Bear Lake, just south of the Boy Scout Camp. We were at the base of a high mountain that was relatively easy to climb and right on the shores of the lake. I think we camped there because it didn't cost us anything. Nobody else wanted to camp there and we could have it for a whole week. It started out as very rustic camping with just about everyone setting up a tent, but over time people brought trailers, campers, RV's and motor homes.

What made this reunion so special was not the location. The shore was rocky, there were no trees to speak of, no grass, no facilities, and no store close by. It was the company. You see, our extended family was very close. It started with my father and his brothers and sisters and their families. As time went on and their kids got married and had familes the group had grown by leaps and bounds. By the time I was in my teens we must have had well over a hundred and fifty people camping there during the week. And it wasn't just family. Some of them brought friends because they heard about what a great time we had there and had to check it out for themselves.

One of the favorite things we did was to build our own diving tower that we towed out into the water and anchored with stones to hold it down. We would all go out to the tower several times a day for some fun. Nobody else on the lake had something like this and we enjoyed it to the max. The tradition continues even today.

We had our own Teen Club with its own activities. I looked forward to the day when I could be in "the club". I had to wait until I was 13 and was the youngest one there. It wasn't until I was 18 that I was able to take the lead in some of the activities. There's lots of stories there. There was a pre-teen club, a kids club, and of course the adults were always getting together and talking about whatever came to mind.

There were no showers or latrines, so we built our own latrine. We dug a couple of holes, put in some toilet seats and put a tent around it. It wasn't pretty. It didn't smell good, but it got the job done. Later on when more people got trailers motor homes we used those instead.

Now they go to another part of the lake, one with an actual campground. Some people wonder why we used to love going to Bear Lake so much. It wasn't the camping spot, it was the people. We may be a little wierd, but we're family. Someday I'll go back, but I don't know very many people there anymore. Maybe I'll just have to start my own tradition. Wait until the next blog when I talk about "Fairhaven".