Bear Valley - Bear Valley Wiki

Bear Valley town is a small, scenic village on

Highway 4 in California. Situated at 7100 feet on the western Sierra slope, the full time population is about 150 (or much less). Getting there is an easy 3-3.5 hr drive from the Bay Area. During the winter season, so

much snow falls here(more than 40 feet in the 04/05 season) that Highway 4 is closed just east of Bear Valley. Furthermore, the residents of Bear Valley become snowbound as plowing would further bury the homes. Therefore, all roads in the residential subdivision are closed in the winter to anything but snowshoes, skis, slogging or snowmobiles.

Bear Valley is located in Alpine County, the least populated county in California—two people per square mile (still waiting for that other guy to leave my mile). The official Alpine County web page is here:

http://www.co.alpine.ca.us/

Life is great here all four seasons. Most of the action is during the ski season, but there is significant traffic in the summer owing to the plethora of outdoor recreation opportunities. Spring and Fall are quiet and peaceful. If you ever wanted to get away to one of the last unspoiled territories in California, you can get the feel right here.

If you're thinking of buying a place here, and are interested in researching what the home owner experience is like, cruise on over to the Bear Valley Residents Inc website at

http://www.bvri.org. I find the

minutes of the BVRI meetings pretty informative.

For a well written and cogent summary of Bear Valley history, see this page:

http://www.bearvalley.com/04_companyinfo/history.html

A brief writeup on Bear Valley history with some unique photo's can be found at the Bear Valley Lodge

website.

For the ultimate resource on Bear Valley area history, there is a quite comprehensive book by local realtor and Cub Reporter publisher Eric Jung titled, "Bulls, Bears and Highway Fares". Copies can be purchased at the Bear Valley Sport Shop and the

Bear Valley Cross Country and Adventure Company.

Speaking of the Cub Reporter, this is THE newspaper of Bear Valley. If you're planning on moving here or visiting often, grab a copy at the General Store. You can use the wealth of ads as a decent local yellow pages, and Eric's column is always entertaining and insightful. You can buy a lifetime subscription for $50 or so... see Eric at the Bear Valley Real Estate company office in the commercial center.

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2006-12-02 12:02:55 More comments would be appreciated. Or you could just put more pics and info,. —IsabellaZuccarino