Whatcom County
New to Bellingham?
Here is the shape of the place: what is within reach of Bellingham, who to check before you drive, and what changes with the season. We track all of it daily so you do not have to learn it the hard way.
What is within reach
We currently list 439 places in Bellingham — 155 campgrounds, 150 parks, 59 nature reserves, 37 trailheads, 29 viewpoints and 9 boat launches.
- campgrounds 155
- parks 150
- nature reserves 59
- trailheads 37
- viewpoints 29
- boat launches 9
The public land
- North Cascades National Park — 10 current notices
- San Juan Island National Historical Park — 2 current notices
- 28 federal recreation facilities campgrounds, day-use areas and trailheads on Recreation.gov
- 16 Washington DNR recreation sites
Before you drive
- Road closures and cameras come from WSDOT .
- Mountain passes on your routes: Mt. Baker Hwy SR 542. WSDOT reports pass conditions from 1 November to 1 April and stops the rest of the year, so an empty pass report in July means the season ended, not that the road is clear.
- Wildfire smoke and heat advisories arrive as National Weather Service alerts, and in this region they are a summer fact rather than an emergency. We show them at the top of the Bellingham page whenever any are live.
The water
- Ferry terminals you will use: Anacortes. Drive-up car deck space is the thing that catches newcomers out on a summer weekend, so we show live sailings and remaining spaces rather than just a timetable.
- Tides are read from Bellingham. Heights are above MLLW, and a minus tide is the difference between a beach and a mudflat worth walking.
What we check for you, daily
The forecast and the hour-by-hour wind, active advisories and closures, road conditions, tide tables, live ferry sailings, and what is actually happening this week. It is rebuilt every morning, and if the data goes stale we stop showing it rather than let you plan around last week's weather.
Never miss a new destination