Nestled in the North Cascade Mountains, just west of Concrete Washington, sits two of Washington’s most photographed wonders, Mt. Baker (10,775 ft) and Mount Shuksan (9,127 ft). Rising skyward, nearly side-by-side, these two mountains show off their natural brilliance with flowing glaciers and rocky faces.
But situated at the basis of these two mountains sits another Washington beauty, Baker Lake. Formed by the Upper Baker Dam and thousand year old glacier run off water, Baker Lake provides residents and visitors alike with a variety of camping sites along its shores. Camp sites range from designated parks with spaces for vehicles and boats to remote sites accessible via powerboat or canoe.
If you have access to a boat I highly recommend camping by boat; transporting all gear in for three day weekend mini vacation (remember to take all trash out as well). Following the shoreline campsites are easy to see, have excellent beaches making them perfect for kids as well as anchoring a boat.
Besides fishing, water, wake boarding and swimming there are many hikes and scenic areas to enjoy. Trail hikes can be found at almost every portion of Baker Lake which vary in difficulty (always known current conditions, pack accordingly and take precautions when hiking).
So if you considering camping with family and friends the try Baker Lake in Northern Washington you will be happy you did.
Campground Reservations: 1-877-444-6777 (5 am to 9 pm Pacific time)
Download: Washington State Highway Map
53 Comments
How do you go about boat camping? Where do you go to launch and to store your boat and trailer. How to you get a camping permit?
Hey Lee, this is not the official Baker Lake camping website but when I went camping we parked at the boat launch on the westside of the lake and camped on a small island. Here are the official camp grounds and for more information please the state website. Thanks for visiting our website!
Toby,
Thanks for your response. I had not found any info on this in my search so far, so your info will help me to nail down our plans.
Thanks, again
Lee
Good to hear the info was useful
and have a great time on your vacation!!
I’m interested in taking my family to Baker Lake. My kids are 3, 5, and 7 and this is only our second trip. which campground do you recommend for kids?
thanks!
Hey Scott, I do not have any good recommendations for camp grounds. My friends and I just camped on a small island away from the crowd. One of the State campgrounds would probably be the best.
Hello, Me and my grandparents are looking for where exactly the campgrounds are at baker lake? Could anybody help us? We live in bellingham so we are not farmilliar with the area…
Thanks,
Tyanha
Hey Tyanha, from the state website there are links to the individual campgrounds as well as maps. Have a fun trip!
Anyone know how deap baker lake is and what the boat length reqirments are?
Hi Stacy, that is a difficult question to find answers too. So far the best I cant determine is it is 280ft deep but that doesn’t sound deep enough; I should have paid closer attention to the depth sounder.
this link (below) doesn’t seem to be working and I am thinking thatI’d like to take the family camping here this summer, is there an alternate method to learning of Baker Lake tent sites(dogs permitted)
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/recreation/activities/campgrounds/bakerlake.shtml
Hi Gretchen, they must have moved the page or something. Here is the main Mt Baker park page, http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/.
Is baker lake available for boating and camping currently?
As far as I know you can boat on the lake all year round but camping could be limited. If you weren’t in the camp grounds and just went on your own I don’t see why not.
alright. the reason i ask is because in the past the lake level has been down this time of year, and i wanted to go into a boat in site with my family this next week for a few days. Would the boat launches be available, and if so, which one would be the easiest access?
Hey Shane, the lake is usually lower in the winter and many stumps are exposed but as for early spring use I cannot say. I looked around the Mt. Baker website, http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/recreation/, and didn’t see closures and looking around the web there isn’t much on boat launches.
I am looking to take about 25 High School girls on a camping trip. Baker Lake seems like the perfect distance and is beautiful! We would needs an actual camp ground but I am having trouble finding these on line. We are interested in tenting, camp fires, and water. Any help would be appreciated. THANKS!
Hi Jen, thanks for checking out our site. I looked around the Baker Lake camping section, http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/recreation/camping.shtml, and there is some contact info. Probably the best bet for you would be Baker Lake Resort, Concrete, WA 98237, 1-888-711-3033. From the maps it doesn’t look where the description says it is but you may start there.
Hey Toby, I have been given a mission to try to find a nice place to go camping where we can ride our seadoo. I like the idea of boating out to a secluded area, but does it also have access to the hiking trails or would we have to boat back for that? Would we be better off in one of the public campgrounds? Also are pets allowed we have a dog who we would love to take along. I vaugely remember coming here with my parents has a kid and think it would be a great place to go to again. If you have any other suggestions of places please let me know we live in the Redmond area.
Hi DeNelle, if you boat to a camp ground you may or may not have to boat to the trails. On the NE portion of the lake there are some camping spots near the traisl but where we camped we had to travel to the trails. If you have children and/or pets it may be best to stay at one of the camp ground for access to restrooms and such. The camp grounds have boat lauches so boating would be no problem from them. It has been some time since last being there, well for camping anyhow, that I do not have any new suggestions
can you resrve camp sites at baker lake?
how many tents on one site? and how many people to a site?
Hi Brian, I am assuming you can reserve camp sites but as to how many tents and people I do not know.
this is going to be awesome!!
For families and groups I recommend the the campground at horseshoe cove. There is a resort north of horseshoe cove with cabins (a little expensive for me). My daughter and my grandson spent a week at the Shannon Creek campground which is more primitive, but much quieter, than horseshoe cove.
You may have 2 cars per camping space (7.5 extra for second car), there are both single and double tent sites at all campgrounds. There is no limit, other than tent size, that I kow of for number of persons per campground. Some of the best sites cannot be reserved, so we reserve a decent site and plan to switch if a nice unreserable site is open. There are two campgrounds on the east side of the lake. You can hike in (1 mile or 4 miles) or use the horseshoe cove boat launch to move your gear to the other side of the lake by boat. I don’t think that the east side camping grounds can be reserved.
Can you give some more details on the boat-in camping. Are there vault tiolets at any of the sites? Are fires allowed? How crowded is it in the summer months? What sort of fees do I need to plan for.
the camp ground is called kulshan camp grounds at the west side of baker lake
camping at kulshan camp ground is run by puget sound energy and it was $11 a night to camp there but no electric just water and sewer
Hi Ian, boat camping was just that for us. We launched the boats at Horseshoe Cove Campground and left the tucks and trailers there (though we came back and check on them and everything with a-o-k). We then loaded all our gear and traveled north on the lake to small island in a quite cove near the Panorama Point Campground. There no luxuries when it came to additional services – we were just some college buddies getting away from civilization for a few days. I have never stayed in the other campgrounds but fortunately others have.
Are personal watercraft okay in Baker Lake & Lake Shannon?
Hi David, last time I was at Baker Lake personal watercraft where allowed.
Hi – Is the Baker Lake Resort currently closed? The number is diconnected and I see some press about revamping the property?
Hi Jackie, I do not know the answer.
Hi, I’m looking for a spot for me and a couple of friends just for one night (Sunday). It’s Memorial Day weekend coming up and we’re just looking for a secluded spot to have a fire and camp out. Where around Baker Lake can we post up? I’ve heard something about hot springs as well??
Hi Layla, if you have a boat I recommend the eastside of the lake. There is very little access to the various campsites and your party will go undisturbed. I do not know about hot springs as I’ve never hiked to them; if they are around Baker Lake.
does anyone know of a place near baker lake that rents canoes?
Just got back from Baker Lake.
Didn’t know the resort was closed until I drove past the gated entrance a few times and found a Campground host! It closed last year and they are supposedly remodeling for next year. I’ve been camping almost all of my 31 years. Just not in the past two.
Boat in camping is popular, but just not this past weekend, it was like a ghost town! Launch at Horseshoe, but remember, it’s filled with Stumps and frequently changes water levels. I would not recommend seadoos or other boats of that type, you’d really piss off the fishing folks. There is NO cell phone coverage past Lake TYEE, never has been. Remember your forest service pass, or you’ll have to drive to Marblemount to get one (or risk a ticket. . . )
If you’ve never been, go. Even on a cloudy day, the lake is a wonder.
As for hiking trails, Blue Lake is blocked by snow, Trial 611 was clear, and the water is perfectly cold!
6/21/2010
Hi, a couple friends and I are wanting to park and boat to somewhere to camp away from the crowds. Does the launch by the dike have free overnight parking? Can you have fires if your not in an actual maintained campground? Can you cut wood as long as its already on the ground? Is the point near anderson creek opened for camping? Or the spot straight across from sandy creek? Sorry for all the questions just along way to drive and not be prepared.
Oh one more if the launch by the dike isnt free to park for a couple days is there anywhere we can launch and park free?
can you camp around the lake not in a camp ground without to much of a hike??
Anyone done any SCUBA diving in Lake Baker?
GB
@Clint – I do not know if there is a cost to park overnight by the dike, we made a fire out of rocks and kept all the glass out of it so I think that is safe, no idea about the wood but would assume you can use downed logs, and have no idea about the Anderson Creek camp ground.
@Mike – there are spots along the shoreline but the only ones accessable, witha little hike, are primarily on the westside.
@Greg – I haven’t and I bet it would be seriously cold, bring a dry suit.
Toby,
A few of my dive club members & I are considering doing a dive & picnic trip. I’ve been looking for a topo/depth chart for the Baker Lake. Do you know a website or someplace I might find a map?
BTW: We have dryuits
Greg
I used to go camping at Baker Lake with my family when I was little & now I’m trying to go back but I don’t know how to get there. We would camp right on the lake, can anybody help with directions?
Thanks!
There’s much mention of boat-in camping but does anyone know distances to the nearest camp spots? I’m considering taking my drift boat and would be rowing so can’t really go too far!
Hi Kevin, you’ll would take some effort but doable. If you are in not to big of a hurry then a drift boat fun – I’ve seen people canoe and kayak around the lake.
Hey Toby,
A couple of us did make 2 dives in Baker Lake. The visibilty wasn’t as good as I had hoped. In the shallows it was about 15′,and progressively got worse as we went down. We stopped at 50′ when vis was reduced to 3′. We saw a few fish, lots of huge old growth stumps, found an anchor, and my buddy found a womens bikini bottom
GB
Howdy Greg, too funny and good thing there still wasn’t a body in the bikini – that would earie. I bet the old growth stumps at the bottom of Baker Lake are monsters – I’ve seen huge stumps floating while driving the boat at night and they looked like sea monsters.
Hi Toby,
Some friends have invited us to go camping with them either at Baker Lake or Kulshun campgrounds. I am either not finding what I am looking for or the campsites are equipped with what I need.
I have a special needs son, and I need power hook up. Are their sites with power even if ya want to tent camp?
We are looking to go over Labor Day weekend. Could you help me out here.
Thanks so much.
Do we need permits to camp on the East side. We plan on Parking at Kulshan parking lot and putting the boat in there. Do we need to hang up food in case of bears or would we be good with coolers?
Tx
HI Ginger, there isn’t very good information online for the camp grounds, probably why there are many comments on this post, and with a special needs child there maynot be the required services.
Hi Ann, I do not believe so. Yes, hang up food and trash. I brought a .44 Smith & Wesson with me ‘just-in-case’.
Are there any concrete ramps at the lake?
Hi Troy, not that I am aware of.