Sauk Mountain Summer Guided Wildflower Hike – North Cascades, Washington
Leaving Anacortes at 2pm, we arrived at the Sauk Mountain trailhead at 3:30pm. It was foggy (completely foggy), we could only see about 100 ft all around. But that did not stop us; instead, it made us feel as if we were about to enter a hiking dream, or was it a dream of a hike… As it would turn out, it would be both! Off we went on our Sauk Mountain Summer Guided Wildflower Hike
, Chen and I armed with cameras and with Chen’s son Pin in tow.
Sauk Mountain is nestled in the Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, in the heart of the North Cascades. The narrow, south-facing, exposed switchback trail is about 2 mi long and gains about 1200 ft.
Splashes of bright red indian paintbrush mixed in with white oxeye daisies immediately greeted us. 
That was only the beginning. Every step we took, the array of colors changed. Purple Cascade penstemons and showy asters, white pearly everlastings and pink fireweed filled the hillside meadow. Ta 
ll, white kneeling angelicas and cow parsnips, along with tall red curly docks towered above. Further up, where meadow had turned into more of a rocky slope, yellow appeared. Goldenrod, woolly sunflower, arnica, silverback luina and stonecrops were in full bloom. Bluebells added their color to the palette. And, where the snow had recently melted 
on the north-facing side of Sauk Mountain, the ground was now carpeted with pink mountain heather and white partridgefoot!
It took us about an hour and a half to reach the Sauk Lake lookout. And that is because we stopped and stopped to look and photograph all the flowers we encountered. There was an abundance of yellow bracted louseworts (the largest of the louseworts in the North Cascades) but they were mostly bloomed out. We also saw the delicate slender rein orchids, yarrow, different saxifrages and several new ones none of us had not seen before. Our total count: 45!
And to add the icing on the cake, the fog lifted just enough on the last switchback, coming down, for us to see the meandering Skagit and Sauk river joining waters down below.
Our hearts were content!
For more information and details click Book my Chasing Wildflowers in the North Cascades Adventure!
Skagit Guided Adventures offers small group Nature Tours and Farms Tours in Anacortes and Skagit Valley. In addition, Day Hikes are offered in Mt Baker and the North Cascades. Join one of these fun Adventures for a day. Or stay longer for a multi-day Adventure to “Re-Wild” Your Spirit! in NW Washington. Check out all Guided Adventures.