Sauk Mountain — Saturday, Sep. 27, 2025

⚠️ SAUK MOUNTAIN — DANGER

This is the most dangerous hiking trail in the PNW.

Three hikers have now died falling from the switchbacks:
• July 11, 2017: 69-year-old woman
• July 18, 2018: 71-year-old woman
• Sept 27, 2025: 63-year-old man

PLEASE BE EXTRA CAREFUL.
• Stay on the built trail. Do NOT cut switchbacks or tolerate anyone else doing so.
• Shortcutting has severely eroded the maintained trail at the top of the shortcuts and can contribute to a fatal fall.
• Keep children close; leash dogs; yield carefully before/after narrow trail sections.

When we arrived at the trailhead, two hikers arriving back reported that they had heard the yelling from a serious accident above them, called 911 and confirmed that 911 was on the phone with the people at the scene, and pointed out to us where we could see the people at the scene on the exposed switchbacks.

We gathered a few things and hiked quickly up to the scene. Bystanders were performing CPR on a 63 year old man who had fallen off one the switchbacks and tumbled hundreds of feet to just above another part of the trail.

After paramedics arrived and attempted resuscitation with their equipment, and after getting the 3 youth in his group headed down to their van with one of the adults from the group, EMS declared it to have been a fatality.

We walked the other adult member of the group, and the bystander who had performed the CPR chest compressions the entire time we were there, back to the trailhead. We then hiked back up to attempt to find the patient’s pack, but did not find one visible from anywhere on the trail above or below the scene.