Peaceful hike in the rain! The bridge over Andersen creek is washed out at 1.3 miles. Stream was easily crossed but at higher water levels the sign notes may not be passable.
USFS toilets on Baker Lake road right before the turnoff to the dam are clean and stocked. At the trailhead, a large box of extra TP was at the toilet with a note about limited staffing due to the shutdown. We were the 4th car at 9:30. Was a very quiet hike out. Trail in good condition. We went about 20 minutes past the Maple Grove camp sites. Saw about 10 groups overall during the day and some interesting fungi

This meandering trail along Baker Lake is a great one for when the leaves start changing in the fall. We arrived at 8:30 am and there were 4-5 spots left in the main lot by the trailhead.

Our plan was to camp at Maple Grove. We arrived at 10:30-ish and only one other site was occupied. We had brought a bear can but the campground also has metal food storage cabinets.

We had about three hours of quiet and solitude before the campground was suddenly descended upon by a large scout group and then a deluge of other groups, many with more than one tent.

There are SIX established sites at this campground, each one having one spot for one two- or three- person tent. Once the scout group arrived they were pitching tents wherever they found a flat spot, which gave the other groups arriving the sense that they could just pitch theirs anywhere, including within our own established site.

Most if not all of the sites have picnic tables which is nice. We had already had our tent up for hours and were hanging at our picnic table when a family of three arrived and tried to set up right next to us and were upset when we declined their request to share our picnic table.

Call us curmudgeons if you want, but we did not hike out to share our space that closely with complete strangers and unnecessary noise.

We packed up and left as the sun was setting because the noise and cramped feeling was too much. Good luck to the other groups we still saw coming in trying to find a camp spot!

This is why permits and quotas are a good thing even if they are sometimes hard to obtain. We will consider this a requirement for trips in the future and will avoid choosing such a popular area.

I’d encourage anyone who wants to camp out there to consider that there are only six sites and if the camp is full when you arrive, etiquette would suggest that you keep going along Baker Lake to find a spot that’s not right next to other people, or go back to Anderson Point to find an established spot. Bummed that this is the way our trip turned out.

Great backpacking trip. totally would do it again. We did not get to see Mt Baker in all her beauty. Some smoke and fog (clouds). There is a nice toilet at the trailhead. This needs to be updated on the information page for this hike. It must be fairly new. Great trail leading to Maple Grove. Bridge out at small river. We changed our shoes to cross the river (see picture). Hiking in we got bit several times by mosquitoes. We must have missed a few spots with repellent. Trail shaded. Some really cool fungi along the way (see photo). Huge amount of tent caterpillars everywhere. Caterpillars were dropping from trees onto our tents, picnic table, heads. Two different kinds of toilets at camping area. One was a conveyor belt looking thing with a pedal for your foot that moves things along. We saw a couple mice, frogs, vole, river otters, loons, gardener snake. We wish we would have brought a floaty. The water was warm and very inviting. We only saw a couple of boats. 

My goal today was to find a nice spot along the lake to stop and paint for a few hours, and I found that right at Anderson Creek, just about a mile and a half in. The trail was very lovely and easy going. There were a few mushrooms starting to pop up. Bugs were super annoying at the trailhead but that was basically it. Crossing the creek was only slightly tricky without poles. 

Despite the hike's page stating there is no toilet at the trailhead, there is indeed a pit toilet at the south trailhead, and it was very well stocked with toilet paper.

Hiked in Saturday morning with a friend and found a great tent site at Maple Grove. We were worried all the spots would be taken given the finite amount, but there were at least 2 available when we arrived around 11am. Plus I think there are a couple flat spots further back from the water where unofficial tent sites have been created. There are 2 toilets at Maple Grove - one just off the main trail on the path toward the water with an outhouse and one pit toilet in the middle-back of the camp that is completely open, though tucked away enough for privacy. All of the official sites had those bear-proof cabinets which was awesome! Bugs weren't bad for us, but that might have been our treated clothing, the deet or the fact that we had a windy site next to the water. MAJOR DOWNSIDE: the super loud and never ending parade of motorboats including some _____ who road stupidly close along the shoreline. Sunday morning, the first boat motor cranked up at 3:30am and was followed by boat after boat for the rest of the morning. Most were fishing.