Big Bear Lake in the Lakes Basin Recreation Area

Big Bear Lake is one of many lakes in the Lakes Basin Recreation Area. Big Bear Lake gets its water from Little Bear Lake nearby. Rainbow trout has been planted in the lake. On hot summer days, people like to jump in and swim in the lake. The Lakes Basin has its ice age history. Big Bear Lake and its surroundings still display signs of ice age activities, as an information board at the lake along the trail from the Gold Lake Lodge to Little Bear Lake and Cub Lake (you are in bear country after all) is pointing out:

The rocks in the background of the lake [in the picture] show striated surfaces caused by glacier movement. Fragments of rocks enclosed in the ice grind away at the bedrock and leave smoothed, grooved, or scratched surfaces.

Getting there and more about Big Bear Lake
Big Bear Lake can easily be reached from the Gold Lake Lodge or the Elwell Lakes Lodge, just off Gold Lake Highway in the Plumas National Forest, connecting Bassetts Station and Blairsden in the Northern Sierra Nevada in California. The lake is located at an elevation of 6475 feet and has a surface area of 24 acres and a maximum deepth of 50 feet, according to an information board at the lake shore. During and after a hot and dry summer, the latter two parameters can be expected to decrease.