Who loves the smell of burning brakes? ✋🏼 Yep, we nearly burnt through our van’s brakes to do this hike. 🫠 Sauk Mountain trail, located just outside of North Cascades National Park, is incredible! Fields of wildflowers, panoramic views of the Sauk and Skagit rivers... AMAZING! 😍 But driving down the road from the Sauk Mountain trailhead is something else! 📉 The road descends 4,000 feet over 7 miles... switchback after switchback after switchback! Our brakes were quite literally smoking half way down the steep mountain road. The brakes were so hot we thought we had burnt through them completely. An unexpected trip to the car mechanic afterward thankfully gave our brakes a clean bill of health! 🙌🏼 Lessons were learned - we’ll drive slower and use a lower gear next time 🚐💨 Was it worth it? Absolutely! Would we do the hike again? Absolutely! Have you ever tested your car’s limits? If so, what happened? ✨👇🏼 #northcascades #northcascadesnationalpark #nationalpark #nationalparks #visitwashington #washingtonstate #traveladventures #outdooradventures #pnwonderland #optoutside #washingtonexplored #cascadiaexplored #ourpnw #pnw #hikemore #hikingbangers