Best camp for north ridge of baker.

looking to do mount baker in a week. Plan the Coleman deeming  with some friends then want to hit the north ridge.

Any camping beta for that?  We will be at heliotrope ridge with friends for the Coleman demming. Is it practical to traverse to the hogs back camp to be in a better position for then north ridge?

If you want to do a carry over you can camp at the flat spot around 8200 ft below the ice cliffs that require a carry over. Our party camped at Gargoyle rocks which is about 300 ft higher and saved liked 10 minutes on the approach. It was less crowded than heliotrope as well. Honestly I don't think it's worth the effort. 

We made camp somewhere on the Coleman. I want to say around 6600-6800 feet on huge flat area of the glacier. Not much higher or further from the usual Heliotrope Ridge camp but no one else was around and we could figure out the route in the morning. We left our camp there and after descending C-D we dropped right down to our camp as it was maybe 200-300 feet down from the normal C-D route. One could use this camp for both without much problem. That said most people just camp at the Heliotrope Ridge camp.

Ok so sounds like it’s not worth moving camp between summit pushes then. 

My recommendation would be to camp at Gargoyle rocks, that will position you well for both routes, and you are very likely to find running water there and not have to sleep in the snow. Usually less crowded as well. You can basically head straight south (uphill) from there to join the CD. That camp will also set you up well for a lower travers of the coleman glacier to get to the base of the north ridge, which is the way to go in my opinion.

The biggest benefit to gargoyle rocks is that you can scope a good route across the glacier to get to the NR from camp during the daylight, if you camp at the hogsback you cant see nearly as much, so I definitely think its worth the extra 10min walk

Gargoyle Rocks is a good camp location for the NR.  Nice flat rocks, and there is running water at the moment (boil or treat it, I did not and got sick a few days ago!). It's just a few minutes off of Heliotrope.  You can also just camp on Heliotrope, it's only a few minutes away. The hike from the trailhead is also fairly short to begin with, so after climbing it a few times now, I personally think this is more comfortable as a C2C climb.

Chris C wrote:

Gargoyle Rocks is a good camp location for the NR.  Nice flat rocks, and there is running water at the moment (boil or treat it, I did not and got sick a few days ago!). It's just a few minutes off of Heliotrope.  You can also just camp on Heliotrope, it's only a few minutes away. The hike from the trailhead is also fairly short to begin with, so after climbing it a few times now, I personally think this is more comfortable as a C2C climb.

Wow im shocked you got sick from that water, comes right out from the glacier onto the rocks there, i can’t imagine how it got contaminated. 

ryan Smith wrote:

Wow im shocked you got sick from that water, comes right out from the glacier onto the rocks there, i can’t imagine how it got contaminated. 

That’s what I thought too! Haha

We did have a little mouse wage an attack our tent though. So there is enough wildlife up there to get a bit of contamination it seems. 

Chris C wrote:

That’s what I thought too! Haha

We did have a little mouse wage an attack our tent though. So there is enough wildlife up there to get a bit of contamination it seems. 

Little guys must have been shitting in the water! Haha, hope your feeling better! 

ryan Smith wrote:

Little guys must have been shitting in the water! Haha, hope your feeling better! 

Haha it was explosive but short lived

Ohhh rough, hopefully it clears up completely for you! I have had some long lasting stomach issues that i think are from bad water, or possibly food.