North Fork Sauk River — Saturday, Apr. 18, 2015

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

Overall 12mi RT 850m ascent (estimated). New hiking buddy chose this location. Very hilly, so the overall ascent far exceeds the actual gain in elevation. The weather was acceptable, the trail suitably dry, but it took a bit of driving to get here. There were still 'car prowl' signs at the TH despite this being so far off the road. There were only a few people on the trail, though we passed quite a few on our return journey. Our plan was to turn around at the lower shelter (Makinaw) but we were going strong and did not notice it when we passed. Fortunately, after having made it 100m up the hill, we decided to break for food and a checking of the map, and decided we were done for the day. On the return, the shelter appeared. There is sufficient tree cover near the TH, at lower elevations, to block GPS signals.