Sauk Mountain is a big ugly lump of rock you pass on highway 20 on the way to better places. However, I only had about 3 hours of daylight left and decided to give it a try. The only snow on the south side of of the mountain is the 2 feet of it on the upper half of the trail. This baby zigzags up a very steep slope, so at times I was wishing I'd brought crampons for the snowy part. A slip could have been bad and the footing was quite slick as the temperature dropped. I hit the end of the trail just before sunset. The slopes on the north sie of the mountain are buried and too steep to traverse without crampons so I couldn't get to the summit. This cost me a big view of Mount Baker. Otherwise, I saw quite a lot. It's great viewpoint, and the setting sun mixed with the light cloud cover on this day made for some great photos.

Just a quick note to say that the trail is still free of snow. Lots of folks hiking, despite the poor weather on the day of our trip. The flowers have all bloomed out, but still worth the hike.

A Rockport State Park ranger said the Sauk Mountain Road had been regraded recently, and it was OK, no deep potholes; but it is narrow and steep. It climbs most of the mountain, in fact. The toilet at the trailhead had been cleaned, too. The trail is fine and has great views all the way: Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, Glacier Peak, the Skagit Valley, and many others. Some hardy bugs were buzzing around, but they seemed busy with other matters than going after people. This is not the trail to experience the solitude of the wilderness! BTW, if driving up from Seattle, you can take Hwy 530 from Arlington to Rockport, turn west at the junction with Hwy 20, and just past Rockport State Park, turn right on Sauk Mtn road. I think this is more scenic than going up to Mt. Vernon.

This is a great time to take this hike. The meadows are close to full bloom and it hasnt been hot and dry enough up there to completely bake the hillside yet. We started up early in cloud cover, but as we got over to the otherside, it was absolutely gorgeous. I would recommend to anyone to start early and beat the bugs to the top. If you start out late, you are bound to get attacked by the hordes. But anyways, this is a great hike to take almost anyone on.

The Wildflowers are just coming out~so neat when they are fading on the Olympic Pennisula. The Sauk Mt. road is in great shape with only a couple potholes in the 1st mile. The pit toilet at the pking lot is very clean too! The trail was a breeze to climb and it does offer nice views of the Skagit River~though me and my son hiked in the clouds quite a bit! After you finish all 28 or so switchbacks and go over the top, we encountered 3 patches of snow, easily walked over, no sliding. There is more snow at the top, but will probably be gone in a week. Saw marmots playing in the rocks. Sauk Lake is still 90% frozen down below and was gorgeous to look at. A great hike!