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 varry 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
25 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.