Distance: 4.25
Duration: 2.5 hours
Elevation Gain: 1160 feet
Difficulty: Moderate

A week after the snow dumped on Seattle for several days, I was itching to get back out and hit the trails. Since the weather had been so bad, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to find any trails that were passable without snow gear. After consulting a few trip reports, I decided to hit up Rattlesnake Ledge which ended up being a pretty good choice.

Per my usual cold-weather hiking routine, I stopped for my morning coffee and filled up the thermos with hot cocoa for the trail. The drive to the trailhead is almost the same as the way to Mt Si, about 45 minutes from door to parking lot. When I arrived, the main parking lot was gated off with a sign warning of hazardous conditions. I parked in an inch or two of slouch and watched a couple get out of their Subaru (the only other car in the lot) to head up the mountain. For a minute or two I debated whether or not I should set out, but I figured I’d make a start and see how it went- knowing that I wasn’t alone on the trial.

From the parking lot, it was .3 miles walk to the official trailhead where there were a few porta-potties and a few signs with information about the trail and the area. I’ve come to realize that I really appreciate the toilet facilities at the trailheads here because the local hiking paths aren’t conducive to ducking off the trail if you have to pee- at least not if you don’t mind sliding down the steep slope of the mountainside while the other hikers look on.

The trail to Rattlesnake Ledge isn’t a particularly difficult one, except for the the steepness of the path. As previously mentioned, there was a warning at the parking lot that there were hazardous conditions on the trail, the sub-note was regarding falling and downed branches. On the first quarter of the ascent, there were quite a few blowdowns, ranting from branches and twigs to small trees- at one point I had to crouch down and duck-walk under a set of three small trees that were broken across the path. As I continued up the trail, I figured that it was raining today and it was shaking loose snow on branches and dripping down through the trees. I was wrong; there was no rain, only warm (for January) weather melting the snow on the trees overhead.

The middle half of the trail was mostly slushy snow and a few places where snowmelt was running over the trail. The air wasn’t cold enough to make this icy, but I can imagine that early in the morning on a cold day this could be quite precarious. All the while, bigger and bigger chunks of snow were dropping from branches- a few landed on my head and I was thankful that I’d had the foresight to pull up my hood. As I neared the last quarter of the uphill trail, I passed the couple from the parking lot going back down. They had been to the top and said that the conditions improved farther along. They were right, the last part of the trail was powdery snow, not too deep nor slippery. All the sounds of the modern world, save the crunching of snow under my boots, slipped away until I reached my destination.

As I came up to a clearing to my left, I believe my exact expression was, “Holy shit, that’s amazing!” The view was beautiful, you can see much of the Snoqualmie Valley as well as the other local mountains. I spotted Mt Si and Little Si in the distance. A few meters on the trail ended and there’s a lovely 360 of the area- including a view of an alpine lake which the sign at the trailhead so thoughtfully informs you is Seattle’s supply of drinking water. I thought that I took a short narrated video at the summit, but apparently I only succeeded in filming for 3 seconds. I guess photos will have to suffice.

The way back down was a bit slushier and slipperier than the way up, likely a combination of more melting and also that cruel mistress, gravity. From the ledge to back to the trailhead I passed quite a few afternoon hikers. In total, (including the couple who went ahead of me) I saw 14 adults, 1 child, 4 dogs and a mosquito(!!!) on the trail. For all the people I passed going up as I descended, the trail was pretty quiet and I enjoyed the solitude. I’d like to return to do the full hike of Rattlesnake Mountain and the ridge to the lake- but this will probably have to wait until the weather is warmer and I can find someone else to go (it’s a through-hike, you need two cars unless you want to be stranded at the end of it all).

Also, the security issue regarding anti-virus malware warnings has been dealt with.  Some irritating hacker was kind enough to insert some nasty code into a post, it just took me a while to figure out where the problem was and take care of it.  That said, it’s all clear now.

Instead, I’ve put a link to my photosets on Flickr (the same pictures) in the Links section of the right sidebar.  Also, I did a little housekeeping on the links pages and restructured my Peace Corps blogs between general Peace Corps and PC/Philippines. 

Stay tuned for more.

Stay safe and enjoy the snow if you’ve got it!

This is the view that I get on my walk to my new school. The top of the mountain is hiding behind the clouds, but from my vantage point, I can see into the crater of the volcano when it’s clear. To give some scale, the summit of the peak (which you can’t see) is approximately one vertical mile above sea level. And the rest of the land is pretty much at sea level…

Right now I’m in the middle of moving and starting up at a new site.  So my time has been spent trying to get that set up.

In the meantime, I have been updating the txtlogs pretty regularly.  There’s about a year’s worth of amusing text messages to read…

Meanwhile…life’s a beach!