This is a great trail with inter connecting trails all around the area. My two school age sons made the trip with us. Lost lake is a treasure hidden away in the quiet of the woods for being January there really wasn't much mud on the trails until we got very close to the lake which was expected. Took about 4 1/2 hours out and back. Well worth it!

Having worked on the new connector trail(aka Rock Trail) in Larrabee State Park with the WTA for some time, my gal and I had been plotting a new year- round low land loop hike out of Bellingham. The beautiful sunny weather on Saturday gave us our chance. We started in Arroyo Park in South Bellingham by parking along Old Samish Rd. just east of Chuckanut Drive. We followed the interurban trail toward Larrabee across the bridge up the hill and onto the trail pointing to North Lost Lake on the left. We stayed on the North Lost Lake trail(old steep road) until we reached the Chuckanut Ridge trail in approximately 1.5 miles on the right. The trail follows the ridge with great views of Baker in the east and the lower B.C. mountains to the north all the way to Cyrus Gates overlook in Larrabee state park (approx. 5 miles). We went beyond the parking area and picked up the trail at the far end descending for about 200 yards until reaching the soon to be open "Rock Trail" or whatever the park officially names it to the left. The next 1.2 miles are worth the journey and the true labor of love by countless volunteers can be seen throughout. The descent started by climbing down numerous stairs through mature regrowth past amazing Chuckanut sandstone cliffs that arched over us for the majority of the journey.... amazing. Rumor has it that local geology types at WWU are drooling over these features. We continued descending down the trail until reaching the junction with the south Lost Lake Trail. We followed the trail down to the lake junction (a nice albeit muddy side trip to the lake provides some amazing falls on the east outflow) and continued onto the North Lost Lake Trail back to Bellingham and the intersection of the Chuckanut Ridge trail. The total length of the trip came out at 12.15 miles... not bad for a loop hike in the lowlands in January! The hike was great for keeping in shape as we dream of those 2014 alpine wanderings to come.

I decided at the last moment to do a hike today and decided to finish off the last lake I had not hiked to in The Chuckanut Mountain Range south of Bellingham, Washington which was Lost Lake. This was hike 30 of 50 I planned at age 50 this year. The Lost Lake Trail is 9 miles round trip with and elevation gain of about 1100 feet from the parking lot. There are numerous ways to get there but I hiked from The Chuckanut Mountain Trail Head which is 1 1/2 miles south of Bellingham, Washington along Chuckanut Drive (11). This trail is well maintained and 3/4 of it looks like and old dirt road. Easy to navigate both hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding which are all allowed with some limitations. There are very nice signs to direct you through all the trails in the Chuckanut Mountains. On the first 2 miles of the trail you are reminded that you are not too far from civilization because you can hear the sound of the cars on Interstate 5 but they quickly become muffled out from the mountains and the rest of the way is peaceful and quiet. The whole system of trails created in the Chuckanut Mountains are very nice and worth exploring. These are trails you can do early in the season while you wait for the snow to melt in the higher elevations of the North Cacades. All the trails are around or under the 2000 feet range. Checkout a small video of this hike and almost 100 other trails I have hiked in Washington State on my youtube channel at lmm3181 or click on this direct link to the video if this hike. It is safe. Follow along with me on the WTA and my youtube channel as I try to complete my 50 hikes at age 50 this year. I work full time so I can only do these on the weekends or holidays. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwKzOZfB3FE Get out of your house and enjoy the beautiful outdoors of Washington State but please keep your dog on a lease (which is the law in most areas) if you take them to prevent confrontations on the trail. This is happening more and more and there is no one to mediate or help you if you get into a confrontation over your dog. Enjoy your hiking!! Mike

Parked on Cleator Road and hiked down Chuckanut Ridge to the North Lost Lake trail. From this intersection, the trail sign said it was 2.4 miles to Lost Lake. The trail is very muddy as you get close to the north end of Lost Lake. After ducking under downed trees and trying to skirt deep mud holes, we reached the north shore of Lost Lake. We saw others heading around the east side of the lake, but it was muddy and hard to follow so we headed back to the junction that lead around the west side of Lost Lake and towards Fragrance Lake. After about another 2.5 miles and just before the gate at the intersection with the logging road from Clayton Beach Parking Area, we found the narrow trail that heads up to Chuckanut Ridge. This is a very steep trail, but at least it wasn’t muddy. Except for a few deep mud holes, the trail to/from Lost Lake is in good condition and very interesting. We passed a couple waterfalls, spotted and heard many birds, bleeding hearts lined the trails as well as other flowers, and there were great views along the ridge trail. We estimate the loop we took was about 10 miles total.

Having made the trip to Lost Lake via the Fragrance Lake trail from Larabee State Park and fighting the roots and mud holes on that route, I decided to hike to the lake from the North Chuckanut trailhead. This is a longer (5 miles), but much better way to the lake. It was a nice morning. The trail is level and in great condition. The sun was shining and ducks were on the water. The outlet waterfall is small, but beautiful. There were no other hikers today. That's the way I like it! Oh, I used a new Garmin GPS unit and like it. Does anyone know a website where one may obtain waypoints for local trails?

I tried out the Lost Lake trail today that leaves from Arroyo Park at the base of Chuckanut Mountain. Total round trip distance was about 9 miles. I wandered a bit on the trail network so I believe the shortest path there is about 8 miles round trip or so. Trip took me about 2.5 hours with a few short stops; difficulty is set at ""moderate"" which seems relatively accurate. Trail was fairly wet most of the way, but became one giant mudhole for the last mile or so to the lake. Right before the lake there appears to be the remnants of an old foot bridge, but the bridge is no more. Simply find your way through all the fallen trees and head towards the lake. The lake was beautiful; completely surrounded by trees and promotes great echos!