As you drive east from Concrete on Highway 20, there are few old-growth trees remaining on private land anywhere in the area, and it isn’t till you reach Rockport State Park (Albert St. and Hwy. 20), about 10 miles east of Baker Lake, that you realize what has been lost.

Covering 457 acres, the park has five miles of wooded hiking trails, Skagit River steelhead fishing, and camping ($14) at tent sites (those with Adirondack shelters and RV sites are $20) beneath incredible 250-foot high old-growth Douglas fir trees.

The campground is open mid-April through October and has showers but takes no reservations. The paved and wheelchair-accessible Skagit View Trail leads right down to the riverbank, providing a great place to look for bald eagles in the winter.

Immediately west of the park is the start of Sauk Mountain Road, a 7.5-mile gravel road that takes you to a trailhead most of the way up this 5,537-foot peak. A steep, switchback-filled trail begins at the parking lot, climbing another 1.5 miles to the summit, where you’re treated to views of the northern Cascades and the Skagit and Sauk River Valleys.