Baker Lake Trail May 31, 2026

Euri and I went up to Mount Vernon to meet up with my daughter, Caitlin, and the three of us headed out to Baker Lake for a hike on the Baker Lake Trail. It was a lovely day, and we pretty much had the trail to ourselves.

Baker Lake is a reservoir north of Concrete, and the trail follows its east shore for about 14 miles. Most of that stretch is old-growth forest, so you spend a lot of time under big trees and thick moss, with the lake and Mount Baker showing up through the gaps. You don't have to hike all 14 miles to make the drive worth it.

For another Cascades lake with a payoff at the end, see Blanca Lake, or browse the rest of my Washington hikes.

Trail details

Distance: about 14.5 miles one way for the whole east shore, or 9 miles round trip from the north trailhead and 8 miles round trip from the south trailhead to Maple Grove
Elevation gain: about 500 feet, with a high point around 1,000 feet
North trailhead: from SR 20 east of Sedro-Woolley, take Baker Lake Road (FS 11) 26.5 miles to its end; the last 6 miles are gravel
South trailhead: Baker Lake Road 14 miles to Baker Dam Road, cross the dam, then left on FR 1107 for about a mile
Passes: Northwest Forest Pass or America the Beautiful Pass
Difficulty: easy and mostly flat; the hard part is deciding where to turn around
Source: WTA (checked October 2026)

Blue water of Baker Lake below a forested hill, with bare branches in the foreground and mountains behind Euri and Jereme smiling arm in arm on the Baker Lake Trail, surrounded by green forest A small creek tumbling between mossy boulders under a fallen log A hiker in a green tank top and backpack walking a sunlit dirt trail cut into the hillside under ferns and tall trees Jereme in a green tank top smiling beside his daughter Caitlin in a blue top under evergreen branches A clear creek running over rocks into Baker Lake, with mossy trees and driftwood along the shore Snow-covered Mount Baker rising above a forested ridge and Baker Lake, framed by leafy branches Euri and Jereme's daughter Caitlin smiling together under backlit evergreen branches Jereme's daughter Caitlin and Euri taking photos of the turquoise lake from the trail, seen from behind Jereme's daughter Caitlin standing on a stump to photograph the lake through tall old-growth trunks Mount Baker's snowy summit seen through a gap between two tree trunks, behind a thin conifer Close view of feathery green moss covering the forest floor Snow-covered Mount Baker above dark forested ridges under a clear blue sky Jereme sitting cross-legged at the end of a weathered wooden dock on Baker Lake A hiker with a backpack crossing a creek on a fallen log above a bed of boulders Moss-covered trunks and driftwood along a rocky creek, with a glimpse of the blue lake behind

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