The Nooksack Valley refers the collection of mountain valleys within the North Cascades centered around Mount Shuksan, Mount Baker and the Twin Sisters, formed by the catchments of the upper Nooksack River and its alpine tributaries (primarily the North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork). Roughly covering the western half of Washington state's Whatcom County and a small northern fringe of Skagit County, the Nooksack valleys expands between the Sumas Mountain and Stewart Mountain (between which the valley ''proper'' is located) to the west; the Red Mountain, Church Mountain and Goat Mountain in the north; the

Ruth Mountain Ruth Mountain is a Skagit Range summit located two miles south of Hannegan Pass in the North Cascades of Washington (state), Washington state. The name honors Ruth Cleveland, daughter of President Grover Cleveland. This mountain's name was offi ...

Icy Peak Icy Peak is a Skagit Range mountain summit located in the North Cascades of Washington (state), Washington state. It is situated in North Cascades National Park at the head of Nooksack Cirque. High ridges connect it to Seahpo Peak and Mount Shu ...

and

Nooksack Cirque Nooksack Cirque is in North Cascades National Park in the U.S. state of Washington, on the eastern slopes of Mount Shuksan. Nooksack Cirque was formed by glaciers and the East Nooksack Glacier is located in the cirque below the headwall known as '' ...

in the east; and the Lyman Hill and Mount Josephine in the south. Out of the three main tributary valleys, the North Fork Valley communicates with the Columbia Valley in the north via a decently wide mountain pass between the Sumas and Red Mountain, where the Washington State Route 547 goes through from Kendall to Peaceful Valley; and the South Fork Valley communicates with the Skagit Valley in the south via a narrow pass between Stewart/Anderson Mountain and Lyman Hill, where the State Route 9 goes through from Saxon to Prairie. The Nooksack Valley ''proper'' beings at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

of the North and South Forks east of Deming about south of the T-junction

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

between State Route 9 and

542 __NOTOC__ Year 542 ( DXLII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. From this year forward, the appointment of particular Roman consuls was abandoned and the office was merged with t ...

, and finishes at the western end of the Sumas-Stewart gap (where the State Route 9 and 542 split apart again) around Cedarville and Lawrence, after which the Nooksack River enters the American side of the Fraser Lowland (known as the "Nooksack Lowland") and courses northwest towards Everson and Lynden, then turns southwest towards Ferndale before bending south to empty into the Bellingham Bay between the city of Bellingham and the

Lummi Indian Reservation The Lummi ( ; Lummi: ''Xwlemi'' ; also known as Lhaq'temish (), or ''People of the Sea''), governed by the Lummi Nation, are a Native American tribe of the Coast Salish ethnolinguistic group. They are based in the coastal area of the Pacific No ...

See also