East Bank Baker Lake

This was the first overnight trip for my friend and I and with rain threatening we went ahead and did it anyway figuring we would just hope and deal with the forecast. We left the trail head about 5:30pm Sunday after driving up from central Snohomish County. The road up had no problems what so ever, any car can drive the last few miles of gravel up on the north end of Baker Lake. We found one truck at the parking area when we arrived and ran into 2 men coming down from the Baker River Trail shortly after starting up the trail ourselves. With our 30+ lbs backs slung on we made our way to Noisy Creek Camp.

Once on the trail there were no major problems to report. No blowdowns what so ever and a recent work party has repaired some of the plank walkways. There were some bugs but nothing major to worry about right now. There were many spots of mud but not bad and 3 creek crossings on the second half of our journey to Noisy Creek Camp. The creek crossings were made easier with my trekking poles and my partner made it across without them but thought she might try a walking stick next time out so be prepared if you plan on carrying a large pack for an overnight until the runoff clams down. Day hikers should have no trouble clearing the creeks. The whole way this trail screaming of Western Washington forest. Beyond green, with plants, moss and ferns. There were plenty of creeks, waterfalls and massive old growth trees to keep us in awe the whole way to camp. As we approached camp the lake came into view and was mostly flat with sunbreaks making for a truly tranquil scene for the last leg of our hike.

Noisy Creek camp was not empty when we arrived, some boaters had set up on the other end of camp. Right after we arrived the clouds cleared off of Mt. Baker across the lake and we had wonderful views just a few feet over from our fire until the sun went down. Once we set up we had dinner by the fire and had a night cap forgetting we needed to hang our food bag. Lesson learned, do this before dark! LOL! After struggling for a hour and getting the line caught in a tree we finally got the bags up. After that we returned to the fire for a bit as the moon was nearly full and bright even behind the broken clouds. Once the moon went behind the ridge it was bedtime. In the morning we woke to sprinkles that stopped so we packed up and headed back quick after a short stop at the mouth of Noisy Creek. We had showers off and on on the way back and were just starting to get damp when we made it back to the Baker River Bridge. Overall, a great first overnight backpack trip and we look forward to doing more in the near future.