Sauk Mountain — Tuesday, Jul. 2, 2024

Hiked the Sauk Mountain trail yesterday, and it's one of the finest trails in the region.  So glad it's already available this early in the season.  The road has some potholes, but I've seen a lot worse (though the last short stretch of about 1,000 feet of road distance is very rough and rugged).  We made it to the parking lot in a Honda CRV without difficulty.  At about 10AM on a Tuesday morning we got the last spot, so expect a jam on a sunny weekend.  One vehicle did park at the bottom of the last short bit of road, thus avoiding that last rough bit of road and possibly having to turn around from a jammed parking lot.  The views are SPECTACULAR (even though there were some clouds in the sky) and the wildflowers are already wonderful -- very varied and profuse.  There were lots of humming insects, but they seemed more interested in making music than in biting us.  Expect some stretches of snow near the very top.  We had brought microspikes and put them on when we reached the first snow and were glad we did.  Others managed without them, but if you have them do bring them and use them.  Poles were also useful, not just on the snow, but also at other points along the trail, which is sometimes narrow and near a possibly risky edge.  Though both Baker and Rainier were obscured by distant clouds, we didn't miss them because what we could see was so spectacular.