Kulshan Campground

We stayed here two nights with our friends who have a camper van. We stayed at the site 43 and they at site 42, right in the middle of the main campground. We paid $20 per night with senior discount (55 and over). Active military personnel and veterans get the same discount. Regular price is $30. When we arrived here Monday, 7/17 around 12:30 the campground was almost full but we managed to find two campsites next to each other. We were told most people were here for sockeye salmon fishing in Baker Lake.

The main campground has water and sewer for each site, but the overflow campground east of the main campground is dry camp. There is no electricity hookup even though the campground is managed by an electric company (Puget Sound Energy) and It's next to a hydroelectric dam. It's a shame because we heard hum of generator almost all day. I even woke up to the sound of a generator at 5 in the morning. Mercifully it ran only 10 minutes. 10 pm to 8 am is supposed to be quiet hours. Our site was partially shaded. Mosquitoes were not too bad. There is a dump station at the south end of the main campgorund. $5 fee is charged.

We enjoyed kayaking on Baker Lake and we hiked to Anderson Point via Baker Lake Trail.

The good: 108 1st come 1st serve sights to choose from. All sites in the main camp ground have water. Most sites are big enough to park a boat. Camp ground is close to Baker Lake and free boat launch.

Our site was private, there are a lot of generators being used since no power here, but all have respected quiet hours.

Park is not closing for good, they do close at the end of Sept for all but a few all year round camping

The less than good: most of the sites are clustered together in the middle. Zero privacy unless camped along the outside (where all the mosquitoes live). $30 a night is a bit on the high side but still worth it

We like this place and were excited to come back since it’s quiet and close to the lake but we heard it was closing at the end of the month- permanently. Another camper spoke to the host I guess. Verify before you head up.
It’s a great place, one dude has water hook ups for in season, but we were there outside of the season so if was all dry camping only- but free!
Apparently the closure may be due to the homeless community making their way up, although we only saw two possible homeless campers, but they didn’t bother anyone

We found free camping at Kulshan Campground on Baker Lake in Washington State. Kulshan Campground offers free dry camping between Labor Day and Memorial Day. Free camping at this public utility operated campground was free during the time of our visit. Campground amenities include flush toilets, a fresh water fill, and trash receptacles. Each campsite has a fire ring. The remainder of the season campsites are reasonably priced at $22 per night. A senior or military discount brings the nightly rate down to $11. Age 55 and up qualifies for the senior rate. Water and sewer (non-electric) sites are available in season. Verizon cellular service clocked in at 10.4 Mbps download speed and 1.21 Mbps upload speed. There was no AT&T or T-Mobile cellular service at this location.

Currently $22/ night. Water and sewer at each spot. Plenty of trash cans on site. Close enough to your neighbor to throw a paper airplane in their window. People getting up as early as 3 to get on the lake. Generators running all day. It was nice during the week when it wasn’t as crowded but by Thursday night the place was full. Beautiful views driving in and the lake is gorgeous.

There is water and sewer but no power. which meant the people in for the weekend were running their loud portable generators with little concern for the neighbors. We moved to another space to get further from the generators. There was a group playing music loud enough that anyone in the park could have heard it. We told the park host why we changed sites. He told us he already had another complaint about the generators and the loud music. After talking with us; he went to talk with the people. He was reluctant to deal with the problems. The park is covered by a large pine forest which made the higher than normal temperature bearable. You will need to go to the sites on the edge of the park for solar. There are a couple of port-a-johns on the property. The is only one small bathroom for the whole property. The property is not well maintained. It's 11.00 a night for Seniors over 55. There were numerous spaces available, This park has lot of weekenders from the city. There are other parks further up the lake.

Last year I tried to camp here on July 4th, but it was closed due to quarantine. I kept it in mind for another time while we enjoyed a day at Baker Lake, which is right down the road.

This year we were going to go to Sun Lakes Dry Falls, but the heat wave made that a very bad idea. We looked for sites at elevation and I remembered this one. The only danger is that these are first come, first serve and we were in the week before July 4th. We took a chance and decided it would just be a day trip if it didn't work out. However, there were maybe 5 other campers in the campground when we arrived; I basically had my pick of the sites.

There is a standard restroom but a bit of a walk compared to most campgrounds we frequent. However, there are port-a-potties surrounding the site, making the trip a little shorter at night. With street lighting on the perimeter too, it makes it a safe-feeling walk at night. We must have lucked out because they were all brand new (or at least newly cleaned and placed) before our visit.

Each site has its own water access, which was great for drowning campfires before bed, and refilling the trailer tank.

Each site also seems to have a picnic table, but you'll want to bring a brush to clean it off of fallen pine needles, and cover it with a table cloth.

The site parking area is ample for several cars and a small trailer. In the back of the site you can find room for tents, but most sites don't have ideal ground cover for tents IMO. I prefer grass or needles, and we found 2 in the middle that matched that criteria, but most have gravel.

Most of the other campers were in RVs and ran generators all day long. We were far enough away from the nearest that we didn't hear it much, and they did observe the 10pm quiet hours.

The perimeter road is gravel and worked well for the kids to ride bikes. We could see them all the time, and that gave them a lot of freedom to roam within the campground.

The fire rings vary per site. Some are larger and some are smaller. Ours was 2 sides joined at a 90 degree angle, with a grate on top. Another next to us was an acute triangle that wouldn't have served a group as large as ours as well.

The camp host is nearby but didn't get in our business. He sells firewood if you need it. I talked with him last year when the campground was closed; he was friendly enough.

The best part about this campground is it is walking distance to Baker Lake. You can also visit the dam (mainly drive over) nearby, and use it as a basecamp to day trip the North Cascade National Park.

The worst part about this campground was the mosquitos. So many mosquitos! We got by but the early evening was a struggle. Even with bug spray, which would mostly keep them at bay, and a smoky campfire to discourage them from hanging around, almost all of us got several sore sites from bites. It wasn't intolerable, but one had better come prepared.

From Labor Day to Memorial Day all campsites are free. While we stayed here the first weekend in May, half the campground was closed with the only available sites in the outside loop. A popular local hangout, the campground was almost full before noon. While the large sites fairly close together with little privacy (and hit or miss on levelness), the overall campground is well maintained and monitored by Puget Sound Electric. It offers some beautiful views of Mt. Baker. A dump station is available at first entrance to campground, but there isn’t any water. Wifi and cell signal were good. Solar opportunities in side loop were excellent; large camp area more forested with less solar opportunity.