Rattlesnake Mountain traverse
Mary, Jack, Colt, and I had what I found to be a surprisingly nice
after hours hike from one end of Rattlesnake Mountain to the other.
The first stop at the Rattlesnake Ledges made it obvious to me why the
city couldn't keep people out when they were trying to make the ledges
a part of the Cedar River Watershed. The view from the ledges is
quite nice and the vertical drop below makes it all the more
satisfying.
The trail over Rattlesnake Mountain passes through many phases
including an area of thick salal and sparse trees; a path gouged out
of a forest of thick, young trees; nicely recovering forest with
devils club, ferns, and maple in the undergrowth; logging roads; and
thinned forest with a surprising number of flowers in the undergrowth.
We got occasional views of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie valley and very
interesting views of all the little logged bumps in Hancock's
Snoqualmie Tree Farm (in the mouth of the North Fork Snoqualmie
Valley). Clouds obscured what I was told was a very nice view of
Mount Rainier.
Round-trip distance:
12 miles
Elevation gain:
2,640 feet
Car-to-car:
4 hours 18 minutes
-
1 hour 58 minutes
ascending
from
Rattlesnake ledges trailhead
to
Rattlesnake Mountain summit
-
2 hours 20 minutes
descending
from
Rattlesnake Mountain summit
to
trailhead
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