The Carey Adventures

Can you imagine hiking in the North Cascade Mountains and having a trail just about all to yourself?  Neither could I especially when the trail is one of the more popular in the state, being an easy 7 miles off pavement and only 2.1 miles long. But last Friday that is what Kim, Kenai, Yukon and I both encountered with a hike up Sauk Mountain. 

Little known to us, Sauk had been the site of a tragic shooting the weekend before.  One of the only 12 people we met on the trip relayed the events the weekend before when a teenager had mistaken a hiker on the trail for a bear, shooting and killing the female hiker.  This could have been a large reason why the mountain was nearly deserted, or it could have been the late hour of our arrival on a week day. 

The hike itself is uphill for 1.5 miles utilizing approximately 24 switchbacks.  While it was steep and gained 1200′ in that time, the hike did not feel over exerting.  Either we were in shape or the grade between the swtichbacks was more gentle than most other climbs.  By the time we were at the 20th switchback we had encountered the last of the hikers we’d see for the day.  On the path up the mountain top was shrouded in mist and clouds and while we believed they’d obscure out view from the top when there, we were thankful the sun wasn’t out in full force as this climb is almost entirely on the South face of the mountain and can be grueling in the hot summer sun.

After the switchback we were treated with a tremendous display of wild flowers while curving around to the northern side of the mountain.  And then the dogs spotted the marmots down the hill.  Kim, Kenai and Yukon had all never seen marmots or heard their whistling calls and it was fun to whistle back to them, although none deemed us cool enough to approach, so we continued around to the rock face of the mountain. 

The last section of the hike is a quick scamper up some rock to the old site of a fire lookout.  All that remains are some timbers used for the legs and a couple of anchoring points.  Rock cairns have been placed by hikers before and one setup reminded me enough of the throne from the movie Conan that I had Kim take a picture.  The clouds would break loose once in a while and give us great views off to Mt. Baker and to some of the surrounding peaks.  After 30 minutes on summit and some snacks, we headed down as the sun sank lower towards the unseen San Juan Islands.  Views on the way down were just as spectacular and we both were happy we didn’t have our better cameras, as we’d have spent a LOT more time photographing until it was too dark to see.  We did also note there were a could of bivouac spots on the summit for the adventurous the next time around.

It was a great hike and a fun time with Kim and the dogs.  I’m glad Kim picked this last minute destination and we didn’t instead stop at the local wineries as I had suggested on the way in.