Thank you Micro-spikes!  Fortunately all four of us had them along and ended up using them almost immediately.  Two other parties turned around within a mile due to snow.  Snow at the parking lot and up the trail.  Probably 10 inches at the top.  Gorgeous!  But this trail is not for the faint-hearted this late in the season - I might suggest waiting until Spring:)  

Arrived at 11:30am and had the entire trail to ourselves. Clear and sunny at the parking lot and cloudy at the peak, with the lake visible in and out of the clouds. Some pretty fall colors. Sad to see the shortcuts eroding the trail in places, even with signage asking hikers to stay on the designated trail. Saw marmots and chipmunks!

Not my favorite hike. This had increidble ratings and was even listed as one of the top 15 and it simply didn't work for me. The hike is almost exclusively switchbacks. You will do 26 in a row on the same side of the mountain with almost no change in view. The switchbacks are not hard. but they are very narrow and the edge is too steep for my liking. You do that for 1.8 miles and then have very short period of a lovely hike that is beautiful. Then you are back to a narrow hike on small rocks with steep drop offs. 

In the end, I couldn't justify this hike. It was 2.5 hours from Seattle for a 90 minute hike where I felt anxious about falling the entire time. I didn't think it was worth it.

Stats:

Total Mileage: About 4

Total Time: Less than 2

Dogs: 3

Snacks: Sadly, none.

This trail gives more bang for your buck than any I can think of in the North Cascades.  And even our little dog could handle it.  Conditions on Monday were perfect; starting out in shadow with a frosty trail was not a bad thing as the sun can make for a warm ascent of the many switchbacks.  There were never more than about 8 cars in the parking lot, from start to finish, so fairly uncrowded, even for a 9:30 start.

It is always a bit disheartening to see the well-worn switchback cut-offs despite the clear sign at the bottom asking hikers not to do so.  Repairing these cut-offs would take quite a bit of work.  Other than that, the trail is in really good shape. 

The road is also in fairly decent condition as well, except for the last two or three switchbacks where there are some deep ruts.  We didn't have much concern with 8.5" clearance on our car; however, it is passable even in a normal car if taken carefully. 

It was a perfect day for a hike on Sauk Mountain! Cool clear aufumn weather with 360 degree views at the top. A perfect place to have lunch. The road may have become more rutted since the original description of this hike was written for WTA, as I don't think the road is passable for all cars the entire way. One of our drivers in  a Honda Odyssey elected to park about 1/4 mile below the parking lot and hike up to the trailhead as the last part of the road is deeply rutted.