Honestly, this is the best bang for your buck hike. While it's steep, it's very short. You can up in 1 - 1.5 hours and the switchbacks give you a great sense of accomplishment. And the views at the top rival many peaks much more difficult. If the views of Baker, the north cascades, or Gothic Basin don't excite, the Skagit river will astound you as it snakes through the valley. You even get a taste of the alpine with the fun little rock scramble to the peak. The road getting up there is a little rough and kinda steep, but doable by all cars. You've probably been on worse. Even the views from the parking lot is worth it. Enjoy!

Got to the trailhead at 8:30 am on a Friday. No other cars were in the parking lot at that time, and didn't see another person on the entire way up. The forecast said that it might clear up but was going to be partly cloudy. The way up was entirely in the clouds almost. There were a few breaks of blue skies, but not many. There were some ripe blueberries on the trail but not many. Eventually got a little above the clouds and saw some peaks over the clouds across the Skagit Valley. Once on the backside of the mountain where it is much more rocky, I was hearing marmots all over but never saw one. Saw a bunch of Pika, including one that screamed at me as I passed on the trail and then stayed there and almost posed for me as I took a picture. Once I got to the top it was almost completely socked in the clouds, but the old fire look out site is still pretty cool. Incentive to come back on a better day! On the way down the clouds cleared out a little and got some views of the Skagit and some peaks across the valley. The toilet at the trailhead was pretty nice for a pit toilet and was very well stocked with tp. 

Sauk Mountain is a relatively short and easy hike, with great views, but there are two major problems with it. First is that I am not sure the hike is worth the drive up the almost eight mile dirt road. The road is steep, washboarded, and contains numerous potholes. The time it takes to drive this stretch of road is almost equal to the time it will take for you to do the hike (one way). It took me about 45 minutes to drive the road, and about 60 minutes to do the hike to the summit. The other problem is that the trail actually does not go to the true summit. Encountered many hikers the day I was there who seemed oblivious to this fact. One can easily see the true and higher summit just a short ways to the north. Unfortunately the trail appears to end at the false summit, and going farther did appear to be quite difficult, although not impossible. Since I was alone I didn't want to take the risk, but I am curious if others have successfully pushed on to the true summit?

I was here about three weeks ago when the fog was so thick you could not see Sauk Mountain from fifty yards away.  Today everything was revealed: the Sauk and Skagit Rivers, Mount Baker, Mount Shuksan, Bald Mountain, Sauk Lake, The Sisters and even Glacier Peak through the haze to the south.

There are still some wildflowers hanging in there: penstemon, asters, paintbrush, harebell, cow parsnip and fireweed.

The trail is in good condition and just damp enough so that there was no dust. There are the usual dangerous areas characteristic of this area where people continue to cut across the switchbacks. They have caused the trail to be narrow and highly slanted to the downhill side and ruble to accumulate on the trail below.

The Sauk Mountain Road is in generally good condition for a forest road. It has the usual potholes, washboarding and some ruts. Most vehicles should make it okay until the last sharp switchback. Sedans should park below that section. Higher clearance vehicles, even small SUV's, will make it up to the parking lot.

See URL for other photos.

Made good time up, sat and enjoyed the view with our brunch and made excellent time down. Please keep dogs on leashes and keep leashes in hand; not everyone wants to meet a dog no matter how friendly or nice it is :)