Sauk Mountain — Saturday, Sep. 27, 2025

You definitely want a car with 4WD or AWD preferably with a higher clearance for the road as well as solid hiking boots and probably trekking poles for the trail as well as a leash for your four legged companions. We arrived pretty early around 0830 the last quarter mile or so of road was definitely rough which my husband decided was the perfect excuse to try out the 4L setting on the bronco. Trail was pretty solid, there are a lot of “shortcuts” that make the actual trail extra narrow in places. My husband was carrying the baby in a front pack (switched to backpack on the way down) and used trekking poles for the first time ever but was glad he had them pretty early in in the hike. I had our 95lb mountain dog leashed around my waist with the baby essentials in her saddlebags. The trail being extra narrow did cause her to start to slide in one spot. Her hind legs went just over the edge of the trail. Thankfully she just dug in instead of panicking and I was able to grab the handle on her harness and give her a boost. There were a couple unleashed dogs including a dog reactive one that were coming down as we were headed up. That was not a fun experience for us as our dog is very non reactive but it was a narrow trail and having an unleashed dog growling and snarling at you while his owner loses their grip on his harness is a bit anxiety producing. Our dog handled the trail pretty easily but the super rocky part near the top was more of a challenge for her. Trail was otherwise gorgeous and we thoroughly enjoyed being able to look at the cascades as we hiked.