Please be aware while hiking Sauk Mountain that Oct 2, 2010 65 year old Patti Krieger went missing on the mountain and has never been found. She was last seen on the trail on the backside of the mountain heading toward the lake with her dog. Her dog was found on the mountain 3 weeks later. She was wearing jeans, a white long sleeve tee with a blue tee over it, and she had a black Old Navy sweatshirt with her. If you discover anything on the mountain that could be a sign of Patti please call 911. Picture is of the day she disappeared.

Excellent hike. I was able to get a Friday off and with the forecast not so good for the weekend and my hiking buddy bailing on me, I had to go for a well populated hike. Not too far. Not too risky. This one delivers, every time. As reported the road is wash board and pot holes. Black flies will pester you at the trailhead. Those evil switchback cutters are damaging the trail. The climb is 90 minutes of uphill grunt. But once you get to the views of Baker, it is all worth while. From there it is only one or two more zigs and you get to walk around to the other side. And what views. There's Glacier Peak and Mt. Stuart and Johannesburg and the Pickets and Shuksan and Baker. Can I just stay here? Do I have to go back down? I had it all to myself for 30 minutes.

wild flowers are out, marmots are playing, and just a great day. WOnderful trail for kids as my 5 year summitted Sauk today. No bugs, no debris on trial.....Awesome.

This was a beautiful pick for my Hike-a-Thon hike #4. We got started around 8:30am which meant that we had shade for the main climb up the switchbacks. The wildflowers and views started at the trailhead and never let up. The bugs were picking up when we got back to the car but we didn't get any bites on the trail itself (pretty amazing). Only a couple other cars in the parking lot when we got there, but it was full by the time we got back. If you can't go early in the morning, dusk is a beautiful time to be here and take in the sunset over the Skagit Valley and the San Juans.

Hike-a-Thon hike #2 for me, and a wonderful day to celebrate the 5th Annual UNBirthday Hike with Karen and friends. Past destinations have included Around Mother Mountain, Blanca Lake, Chiwaukum Creek and Vesper Peak. Sauk Mountain is a worthy addition to the list! We were fortunate to be driving opposite traffic on this busy commute day. The road up to the trailhead appears to have been recently graded, but the switchbacks are still pretty rough -- just slow down and be careful. Privvy was clean and stocked. The trail is in excellent condition, with just a couple of eroded sections where people have cut switchbacks (tsk, tsk!). The valley never did lose its thick layer of clouds, which made for some interesting vistas. The whole mountainside is awash in wildflowers -- tiger lillies, penstemon, mountain daisies, columbine, phlox, bistort, stonecrop, false hellebore. We continued up the North Cascades Highway for ice cream in Marblemount and a quick look at the dam and Ladder Creek in Newhalem.