Rattlesnake Ledge (06/12/2021)

Officially the busiest hiking trail | Can hike any given day or night 365 days a year | Amazing views

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Views: 360-degree views - Cedar River watershed, Mount Si, Mount Washington, Rattlesnake Lake, and Chester Morse Lake.

Area: Snoqualmie Region -- North Bend Area, Washington

Trailhead: I-90 exit 32. Turn right onto 436th Avenue SE, then the parking lot is there 4 miles down the road. It is likely that you will have to park on the side of the road if you arrive late.

Pass: None

Stats: 5.3 miles, roundtrip; Elevation Gain: 1411 ft. Highest Point: 2275 ft.

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Journey:

This is one of the hikes that I have heard so many times but not have visited many times. We arrived there at 10 am and parked on the side of the road 1/4 mile away from the trailhead parking lot. It was a beautiful bluebird day, nice and warm. It is nice to be hiking again in shorts.

From the parking lot, walk a short distance around the north end of Rattlesnake Lake to the trailhead on the northwest side of the lake. To the right of Honey buckets, is the well-signed trailhead. The trail ascends steadily, and you will arrive at the first ledge after approx 2 miles. The ledge is on the right. Be very careful on the ledge. It has dangerous fall-offs. Stay well away from the edge.

On this day, there were hundreds of people on the ledge. We took few pictures and quickly moved up the trail towards the middle ledge in another 0.3 miles. Magically, we lost all the people on the trail. It seems like the first ledge is the turnaround spot for 95% of people.

The middle ledge had one more party besides us. We had a quick water break and moved up to the upper ledge in another 0.3 miles. Beautiful views from up here with very few people. We arrived at the upper ledge with a moving time of 1 hour 10 minutes and a total time of 1hour 40 minutes that included breaks at the first two ledges.

After enjoying the views, we hit the trail and back to the car in 50 minutes. Overall a good decent workout day.

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