North Fork Sauk River — Sunday, Jun. 7, 2009

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

The Mtn Loop highway is completely snow free and open for business. I always enjoy the N Fk Sauk River trail. Currently road 49 (N Fk Sauk Rd) is closed for repairs at about 1/2 mile before the trailhead. There is room for about 3 cars near the repair spot. The FS is installing a culvert - I don't know how long it will be out of commission. You will get wet crossing the creeklet, but it's not a scary crossing at all - it's just wet. Lots of stuff in bloom right now. Tons of wild ginger, and trillium is at it's height. Blue bell, yellow violet, star flowered soloman's seal, false soloman's seal, and bleeding heart. The trail has been logged out recently, and is in good shape. about 4 miles in, the trail is very recently out from under snow - nothing is blooming yet, so if you miss the early spring blooms along the first portion of the trail, a few weeks from now the rest will be in bloom, and likely Red Creek will be crossable by the average hiker (NOTE: The Forest Service is going to install a footlog at Red Creek sometime this summer!)