My hiking partner and I were unsuccessful in reaching the Sauk Mountain summit, but we did get a little way up.
Access to the old trailhead is via the Skagit Land Trust's Hegg-Benson Trail on Conrad Road. There is space for only two cars, max three with a coordinated parking effort—and no room along the road for overflow.
The trail is easy to follow at first: lovely old growth forest overgrown with ferns that hide the path in some places; and a few narrow, exposed areas that require careful footing. There is also no end to spider webs: whoever goes first will be covered in full webs and mooring threads—and may pick up a few walk-along guests.
A little more than 1.5 miles into the hike, somewhere around 1,800 feet elevation, the trail runs into a thicket of downed trees covered in overgrowth. I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, long pants, and gloves, but they were no protection against stinging nettles, devil's club, and bramble we tried to bushwhack our way through and that often stuck into our clothing and skin, requiring delicate management to extract. Also, due to overgrowth, we couldn't see the ground we were stepping onto as we climbed over many fallen trees, and had to use our poles to judge the depth beneath us.
We did come across pink tape mentioned in other reports, but it had us going in a circle. We considered trying a few directions to find more tape that may lead us out of there, but delays spent bushwhacking and route-finding, uncertainty about what lay ahead given no recent trip reports, and the fact that we still had to come back this way on weaker legs prompted us to turn around and drive to the new trailhead.
Am posting a GPS track. It is accurate up to ~1,700 feet elevation and above ~4,900 feet, but the middle section, though deeply researched, is topographical and satellite imagery guesswork. Am looking for collaborators to help improve accuracy, so fellow hikers can (finally) have a reliable track to consult.
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