From the trailhead at 2537 Lake Louise Road, the Rufus Creek Trail climbs roughly 1,000 feet over 4.3 miles and passes the Lake Whatcom Overlook at about mile 3.5. Where Rufus Creek ends, it meets the top of Cougar Ridge, a trail open only to downhill mountain bikes. Riders drop in there. Hikers who make it to the end of Rufus Creek have to turn around.
Whatcom County Parks has a plan for that gap, and the plan is specific. The Bellingham Herald reported on September 25 that three new trails are being planned in the 4,430-acre Lookout Mountain Forest Preserve. All three are in the upper preserve, and the first one starts right at that turnaround point. For anyone hiking from Sudden Valley, the biggest change is that the top of the climb becomes part of a loop. Before any of that gets built, the County still has to vote on the budget in November and hire a contractor over the winter.
Who Can Use What on Today's Trails
Lookout Mountain sorts its trails by who can use them, and that sorting is why the top of the climb is a dead end for hikers. The County's preserve map marks trails as shared hiking and biking, hiking and uphill bikes only, hiking only, or downhill bikes only. Here's the current network, with distances from the Washington Trails Association's guide to the preserve:
| Trail | Length | Elevation | Who it's open to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rufus Creek | 4.3 miles | about 1,000 feet of gain | Hiking and biking |
| Baneberry | 1.2 miles | about 600 feet of gain | Hiking and uphill biking only |
| Leila June | about 0.9 mile | about 500 feet of gain | Hiking only |
| Waterfall Loop | 0.4 mile | about 150 feet up, 200 feet down | Hiking only |
| Cougar Ridge | about 1.3 miles | about 600 feet of descent | Downhill mountain bikes only |
| Backside | 0.3 mile | under 100 feet of gain | Hiking and biking |
| Bottoms Up | 0.5 mile | about 200 feet of gain | Hiking and biking, toward Galbraith |
Other sources measure some of these differently. The Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition lists Rufus Creek as a 3.6-mile loop and Cougar Ridge as 1.5 miles. Your watch may land somewhere in between.
The lower and middle parts of the hill already have loops. Baneberry leaves Rufus Creek around the 0.8-mile mark and rejoins it near 1,200 feet, just short of the overlook. Leila June connects Rufus Creek to Baneberry, so a hiker can head back toward the parking area on Baneberry. The gap is at the very top. Rufus Creek ends at Cougar Ridge, which is for downhill bikes only. WTA rates Cougar Ridge difficult, with some very difficult sections, and says it drops 600 feet over 1.3 miles before rejoining Rufus Creek about 2 miles from the parking area.
What the Three New Trails Actually Connect
The new trails fill in that upper section. As described in the Herald's report:
- WMU 2 is a 0.75-mile multi-use trail for hiking and biking. It runs from the top of the Rufus Creek and Cougar Ridge trails to the LM 2400 road, completing a loop back to the parking lot.
- WBD 4 is a 1.8-mile downhill bike trail. It starts a short jog off WMU 2 and ends at the LM 2000 road, which ends at the parking lot. A permit application filed under the State Environmental Policy Act says it will use parts of existing unsanctioned trails and close others.
- WH 2 is a 0.6-mile hiking-only trail that extends the current Waterfall Trail toward the LM 2400 and LM 2000 roads.
Taken together, the three do different jobs. WMU 2 is the loop-closer, the first shared-use route out of the end of Rufus Creek that doesn't require going back the way you came. WBD 4 gives downhill riders a second sanctioned descent, and it replaces some of the informal lines already cut into the hillside with one built trail. WH 2 takes the Waterfall Loop, now one of the shortest hikes in the preserve, and links it to the road system the new loop depends on.
The County is open about one route that isn't in this round. Land Management Supervisor Melissa Daniels told the Herald the County hopes to eventually build a hike and uphill-bike trail alongside the downhill trail and the LM 2400 road:
"Because the terrain in that area is quite steep, the hike/uphill bike trail would be highly expensive and time-consuming to build. In the meantime and in place of the hike/uphill bike trail, visitors will be encouraged to use the LM 2400 road, which does not receive any vehicle traffic."
So the LM 2400 road, a stretch most people barely notice today, becomes the spine of the new loop. Daniels also told the Herald the new trails pass through forest that looks different from what the current trails show. She said visitors can expect "new habitats, beautiful scenery, some remnant evidence of old logging days, and maybe wildlife they haven't seen before."
Why Nothing Changes on the Hill Until June
If you hike Lookout this fall and see no flagging or fresh tread, that isn't a delay. It's how the watershed works. Because of erosion concerns, trail-building in the Lake Whatcom watershed is allowed only from June 1 to September 30 each year, according to the Herald. Construction is expected to start in June 2027 and continue into 2028 or 2029. With only four months of building time a year, a project that would take one season elsewhere takes two or three here.
The groundwork behind the dig has been underway for a while. The County's second-quarter 2026 project report on its Lake Whatcom trail development says that in the first quarter of 2026, Parks started critical areas and cultural resources assessments and finished the fieldwork to define trail routes. That same project carries out the Lookout Mountain Forest Preserve and Lake Whatcom Park Recreational Trail Plan. Its scope also covers design and engineering for trailhead improvements, listed as expanded parking, restrooms, better pedestrian circulation and signage.
A second document now applies to the forest itself. Bellingham City Council adopted the joint Lake Whatcom Forest Management Plan on May 11, 2026, and the Whatcom County Council followed on September 15. The plan covers more than 13,000 acres of City and County forest in the watershed, and Lookout Mountain Forest Preserve is one of the County parklands named. The County's adopted version favors variable-density thinning and road upgrades while protecting sensitive areas. It treats putting the plan into practice as a separate City and County work-planning process. The County staff memo says the resolution adopted the plan only and didn't ask for any added funding. In other words, the plan guides how this forest will be managed, but adopting it doesn't schedule any work.
The Decisions Come Before the Digging
The trail funding hasn't been approved yet. The Herald reported that the 2027-2028 Whatcom County budget includes $530,000 for the trail-building project, paid from the Economic Development Investment Program, and that the budget still needs County Council approval. Here's the order things happen in from here:
- Already done. The County Executive sent the recommended 2027-2028 biennial budget to the Council on September 1, 2026. The County's announcement two days later said adoption was expected in late November.
- November. The Council's August newsletter said department budget presentations would lead to a public hearing and then a final vote in November. Council meetings remain on November 10 and November 24.
- Winter. Daniels told the Herald a construction contractor is expected to be hired next winter.
- June 1, 2027. The watershed work window opens and construction is expected to begin.
The County also plans to keep trail groups involved. Daniels said the Whatcom Mountain Bike Coalition, the Washington Trails Association, volunteers from both, and other community partners will stay part of the work during construction. If you'd rather help build these trails than just wait for them, those two groups are the most direct way in.
The Preserve as It Stands This Fall
Until June, the preserve is the one in the table, and it works well for short fall days. WTA lists it as non-motorized and open sunrise to sunset, with dogs allowed on leash. Camping, fires and overnight parking are not allowed. Sunset comes earlier each week now, so the full Rufus Creek climb to the overlook takes more planning than it did in August. The Waterfall Loop and the Leila June and Baneberry pair both make shorter outings that finish well before dark. WTA also says service vehicles use the eight-mile graveled service road toward Lookout Mountain on weekdays. If you're heading for Galbraith, Bottoms Up is the connector.
The Herald describes the preserve as being in the hills above Sudden Valley, on the west side of Lake Whatcom. It joined the Whatcom County parks system in 2014, when the state Department of Natural Resources reconveyed State Forest Trust lands.
At Julian & Company, we follow projects like Lookout Mountain because the trails above Sudden Valley are part of what owners here talk about when they talk about home. If you'd like to know how access to the preserve figures into what your Sudden Valley home is worth, ask for your free home valuation and start the conversation.
