From Bellingham, Mount Baker Highway is forest for miles. Glacier goes by as a blink of a town, then the trees quit and Mount Shuksan takes the other side of the valley. Artist Point is the lot at the end of the pavement, Chain Lakes and Table Mountain dropping off the shoulder. That view is the trip. Walk the rim, then drive back down the same road before dark.
The Forest Service runs Artist Point as day use only, with camping and sleeping in a vehicle prohibited from mid-May through mid-November. The road is usually open to the lot by July and stays that way until the first heavy snow, often from late September into early November. It is not plowed in winter, so a ski day on this highway and a drive to the summit never overlap.
The overnight is still on the highway, just lower. Silver Fir and Douglas Fir are in the trees past the town of Glacier, well short of the lot. Both mix reservable and first-come sites through a mid-May to mid-September peak. Length limits are per site, some Silver Fir pads as short as 10 feet and Douglas Fir's listed vehicle length at 50 feet, so you match the van to the pad.
In winter Silver Fir is a non-motorized Sno-Park. Mount Baker Ski Area on the same highway is the reason to come up the road then.
Larrabee State Park on Chuckanut Drive
South of Bellingham, Chuckanut Drive follows the seaward bluff of Chuckanut Mountain, with Samish Bay and the San Juans below. The sandstone and the tide pools under the drive are Larrabee State Park. Come down here when you want the bay instead of the highway.
As of September 2026, the campground is closed from mid-September 2026 into mid-2027 for a park-wide water-line replacement. Day use stays open, so the bluff and the tide pools are still the day. Sleep at Birch Bay.
Lummi Island sits in that same water. The San Juans and the North Cascades are a Mount Vernon campervan trip.
Birch Bay State Park
North of Bellingham the shoreline turns into a tideflat beach between forested points. Birch Bay State Park's campground sits on that bay, warm water at the right tide and forest behind the pads. Vancouver is across the border from this shoreline, a day trip if you want the city.
The park takes RVs and combinations 60 feet or less. If you need more sleeping space than a campervan, start with Washington RV rentals. Reservations cover mid-May through mid-September arrivals, and the rest of the year is first-come.
Horseshoe Cove on Baker Lake
On Baker Lake, Horseshoe Cove puts a sandy swim beach and a boat ramp on the western shore, with the van in the forest behind the sand. Sites mix reservable and first-come through a mid-May to mid-September peak. It is a swim night on a different corridor from Mount Baker Highway.