Lighthouses of the United States: Utah

The United States of America is a federal union of 50 states and a capital district. The landlocked state of Utah is in the center of the mountainous western part of the country, so navigation is limited to lakes. The Great Salt Lake is by far the largest lake in the state, but it has limited navigation and, so far as is known, no lighthouses.

Note: To be listed in the Directory, a lighthouse must actually serve as an aid to navigation. This means it must be located on a navigable lake or river and must be lit as a navigational aid at least during the local boating season.

General Source
Bear Lake Lighthouses
Photos by Ross Walker.

Bear Lake Lighthouse
Bear Lake is a natural freshwater lake straddling the border between Utah and Idaho. The lake has an elevation of 5924 ft (1806 m) and lies in the valley between the Wasatch and Bear River mountain ranges. It is about 18 mi (30 km) long and 7 mi (11 km) wide.

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Bear Lake Aquatics Base
Date unknown. Active; focal plane unknown; continuous white light. Approx. 25 ft (7.5 m) octagonal wood tower with lantern, painted white with blue trim; lantern painted blue. A photo is at right, Walker's photo is on the left on his page, Chandler Newby has a street view, and Google has a satellite view. Walker describes the lighthouse as non-functional; other sources say it is active, but probably it is lit only occasionally and in season. The Bear Lake Aquatics Base is a Boy Scout camp located near the southeastern corner of the lake. The camp is located on Cisco Road, about 10 mi (16 km) north of the UT 30 highway at Laketown. Site open by arrangement with the owner, tower closed. Owner/site manager: Boy Scouts of America (Crossroads of the West Council).

Notable faux lighthouses:

  • Harbor Village lighthouse in Garden City, Bear Lake, is not functional. Chad Shaw has a closeup photo, Walker's photo is second from the left, and Google has a street view and a satellite view. The lantern was replaced by an observation room sometime between 2013 and 2015.
  • Pickleville lighthouse, at the Lighthouse Pointe development beside UT 30 on the southwest side of Bear Lake, is not known to be active as an aid to navigation. Google has a street view and a satellite view.
  • Providence lighthouse stands beside exit 57 of the I-15 expressway in Cedar City. The 88 ft (27 m) tower carries a working light but it is not near navigable water. Google has a street view and a satellite view.
  • Spanish Fork lighthouse, in Spanish Fork, is a monument to the country's first Icelandic settlement. Geocaching also has a photo and Google has a street view and a satellite view.
Bear Lake Light
Bear Lake Aquatics Base Light, Rich County
Waymarking photo copyright ChasingBlueSky
used by permission

Adjoining pages: East: Colorado | South: Arizona

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Posted October 25, 2011. Checked and revised December 15, 2023. Lighthouses: 1. Site copyright 2023 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.