Baldwin Lake (San Bernardino County, California)

Baldwin Lake is a natural, intermittent, alkali lake in the Big Bear Valley of the San Bernardino Mountains, in San Bernardino County, California. It is located east of Big Bear Lake reservoir and Big Bear City.

The lake is at a surface elevation of 6,752 feet (2,058 m). Its deepest point it can be approximately 25 feet (7.6 m). At its widest, the lake is more than 1 mile (1.6 km) across. It is in the headwaters watershed of the Santa Ana River. The terrain surrounding the lakebed supports montane chaparral and pinyon-juniper woodland habitats.

Baldwin Lake is within the 156-acre Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve. It is at the intersection of California State Route 18 and Holcomb Valley Road on the north side of the lake. Hwy 18 wraps around the northeastern and northern shores of Baldwin Lake.

The Baldwin Lake linanthus (Linanthus killipii) is a rare plant at lake's pebble plain and adjacent meadows, that is endemic to the locale and an endangered species.

Benjamin Davis Wilson encountered the lake in 1845, while tracking horse thieves in the San Bernardino Mountains. When Wilson saw that the region was populated by many grizzly bears, he divided his 22 men into hunting partners. The men slaughtered 11 bears for the fur pelts. While returning to Jurupa (Riverside), they slaughtered another 11 bears for the fur. Wilson named the region Big Bear Valley, and the lake he called Lake Big Bear.

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