North Fork Sauk River — Saturday, Sep. 16, 2006

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

All I can say is that this trail is an awesome hike. After reading many great posts on what a nice trail this was by a beautiful river and with old growth trees, my Dad and I decided to explore it. Here is my opinion: * This trail has some of the best old growth trees that I have ever seen outside of the Hoh Rain Forest (and perhaps the Grove of the Patriarchs at Mt. Rainier NP). It was amazing to hike for many miles with such huge trees around. Many of the other reports talk about the best trees are just at the beginning but I disagree. This trail is blessed with a continous forest of old growth. * At around the 2 mile and 4 mile markers there are some excellent campsites by water. * On a Sunday afternoon we saw only two other people the whole time. * We followed the trail to Red Creek, which is about 4 miles from the parking lot. We stopped many times to admire nature and it was a good turn around point to have lunch at. The entire trail to this point has very little elevation gain. If you are looking for peacefulness, amazing trees and a beautiful setting, this hike is for you. I'd give this trail an A+.