Little Salmon La Sac

The above stats and the following description reflect a hike starting a few miles below the trailhead — the road becomes rocky and potentially problematic for lower-clearance vehicles, but all vehicles should be able to start at the small parking area behind the first gate along the forest road. If you have a higher-clearance vehicle and wish to drive all the way to the trailhead, the trail is a short 1.5-mile roundtrip hike with 730 feet of elevation gain to the junction with the Sasse Mountain trail. 

If hiking from the forest road’s first gate, you’ll hike on a very nice and scenic graded forest road for quite some time. Start your hike in the forest along the wide gravel road. In about 0.7 mile, the trees open up and you’ll be able to start getting great open views to the south as you wind your way upward. 

Continuing your climb, the trail will sometimes get steeper and rockier, so poles can be helpful, especially on the way down. In the summertime, you’ll pass by a small creek a few times, which may dry up later in the season. 

After taking a few hairpin turns over 1.6 miles from when the views start for you on your hike, you’ll come across another turn that has a pullout for a few cars. This may be another option for starting your hike, if you’re hoping to cut down your hike a little. 

Along this next stretch of forest road, be sure to look to the west to see the Cle Elum River Valley. As you take the next hairpin turn, catch glimpses of Rainier behind you and the remnants of a large burn ahead of you. Continue climbing for another 0.3 mile, and the forest road goes from gravelly to rocky — this is one of the parts of the forest road that may be difficult for lower-clearance vehicles that aren’t meant for any off-roading. 

With just a little more ascending, you’ll reach the actual trailhead of the trail in 0.3 mile, which has a parking lot big enough to hold half a dozen cars. 

From here, the trail starts on the southeast side of the parking area, and you’ll head right into a burn area. If it’s the right season, huckleberries will also greet you right out of the gate (if you’re hiking up the forest road, you’ll encounter them along the side of the road too!). 

Shortly, come to a large talus field, which you’ll follow the edge of for a short quarter-mile — and thank goodness, because the trail gets very steep for this little segment! You’ll then head back into the forest, and keep climbing to the signed junction with the Sasse Mountain trail. Along the way, make sure to turn around to catch glimpses of the top of Rainier again.

Take a right at the junction to summit Sasse Mountain, or take a left to eventually connect with the Jolly Mountain trail.