Sauk Mountain

I made a visit to Seattle and decided the best thing to do was a hike! We decided on a short and easy hike to Sauk Mountain which had promises of really good views. Since the hike was short, we started quite late. We had quite a bit of drive up to Mt Baker area though. On the way Rashmi, who was doing her first hike asked - why do you have to drive so much when there are mountains to hike within 1 hr along I-90. We did not know how to answer, the best way was just to show why, and the mountain did not disappoint.

The views started at trailhead itself which was quite high. The trail was quite unique, make of 20+ switchbacks which were all visible from the trailhead. If this was in Switzerland, there would be no switchbacks, infact there would be no trail, its a mountain, you can see the top, just get up there! But here there were really nice switchbacks. We make our progress through these, waiting to see what's on the other side. On the way we were hoping to see some blue berries. But the season was almost gone, and whatever berries were there, were already eaten by people before us. Still we tried to hunt some small berries on the way.
Once close to top at the false peak, we were greeted with site of a lake, and an awesome view of North Cascade. Such clear views of North Cascades is not very common. From the false peak there is another 20 min of hike mostly on rocks which leads to the true peak. We were lucky to get one of the clearest days in Seattle. The surrounding mountains looked amazing in the blue background. I tried to think what is the difference between these mountains and Alps, for they are definitely different. These clearly looked gentler and wilder at the same time, while Alps look more daunting and tame with grasslands at the same time.
Way down was uneventful, just some more attempts to get blueberries. We ended the day with some Ethiopian food at Queen of Sheba.