Just north of Kendall, the company town of Balfour was established around 1901 to house limestone quarry workers, complete with homes, a cookhouse with a schoolroom, and a rail spur; at its peak during World War I, it had about 200 residents, but after the quarry closed around 1928, the town faded, leaving only moss-covered ruins that now serve as a quiet “ghost town” for hikers and history enthusiasts.

Nooksack Falls, the site of an early 20th-century hydroelectric plant, is an 88-foot waterfall on the North Fork Nooksack River in Mount Baker National Forest. It is one of Whatcom County’s most iconic and photographed natural sites.

The Mt. Baker Ski Area stands out worldwide: in the winter of 1998–1999 it recorded 1,140 inches of snowfall — the most ever recorded in a single season anywhere on earth. 

At 10,781 feet, Mount Baker, known to the Lummi as Kulshan (“broken-off”) is the highest peak in the North Cascades and the northernmost volcano in the contiguous United States. Among Cascade volcanoes, it is second only to Mount Rainier in ice and snow volume.