Sudden Valley Falls

Depart Interstate 5 in Bellingham onto eastbound Lakeway Drive and proceed 3.3 miles east on Lakeway, then turn right onto Austin Street, which turns into Lake Louise Road after one third of a mile. Continue 3.3 miles to the parking area for the Lookout Mountain Forest Preserve on the right side of the road. From the parking area, find the stairs that climb up to the gated gravel road heading up hill and continue up the road for one-quarter of a mile to where the road intersects the Lookout Loop Trail. Head right, then immediately go left on the signed Waterfall Trail (literally just a few feet from the road). The Waterfall Traill climbs more moderately up to a fenced viewpoint looking down on the falls through the trees in another fifth of a mile.Sudden Valley Falls is a low volume waterfall found along an unnamed stream which flows north off of Lookout Mountain near Bellingham, draining into Lake Whatcom via Austin Creek. The falls drop 93 feet total in two distinct steps; first a 33 foot horsetail type fall, which drops almost vertically when the creek is running full, followed by a very eye-catching 60 foot veiling fall which steps down a cliff fractured with dozens of micro-steps in a way that almost resembles a fountain. The creek feeding the falls is quite small, draining an area of only about 0.4 square mile. Though the Chuckanut Mountains do receive a considerable amount of precipitation, very little of it comes as snow, so unless it's been raining for prolonged periods the volume of water running in this creek should not be expected to be significant.Despite being a developed attraction within the Lookout Mountain Forest Preserve, this waterfall is not known to have an officially recognized name. We've chosen to call it Sudden Valley Falls after the nearby area. It's also been unofficially referred to as Lookout Falls.