Did an afternoon quick hike up to Grand Prospect.

Trail was in good shape.  Minimal mud (caveat: my scale is calibrated to the levels of the West Tiger boggy trails).  But seriously, the mud was minimal enough such that light trail shoes would have worked fine. 

Trail was virtually snow free until the last 100 feet to the viewpoint.  Microspikes/snow gear not needed.

Views from up high were pretty much nonexistent due to the clouds.

Saw about a dozen people spread over 5 groups.

Arrived around 10am on a rainy Sunday to find the parking lot about half full.

We hiked out to Grand Prospect and back on the Rattlesnake Mountain trail. This is a pleasant trail in great condition with a pretty steady, moderate grade the whole way up. Plenty of small patches of mud but nothing that we couldn't walk around. The whole thing is in the woods with views just at the overlooks.

We started seeing patches of snow about 3 miles in, and the falling rain turned to snow shortly after that. At Grand Prospect there was maybe 3 or 4 inches on the ground. We were fine without microspikes though.

We saw maybe a dozen people all day and 2 dogs (both off leash). My watch clocked the hike as 7.9 mi and 2200 ft elevation.

My party met up with esteemed and Outstanding Trip Reporter tiffanyc and her party for a fun but muddy hike. I'd hiked Rattlesnake Ledge and Rattlesnake Mountain many times before, but never thru, so we took two cars and shuttled each other.

The Rattlesnake Mountain/Grand Prospect trailhead was maybe 1/4 full around 8 a.m., mostly with mountain bikers. We left her car, everyone piled into mine, and we arrived at Rattlesnake Ledge trailhead around 8:30. It was the least crowded I'd ever seen it.

The entire trail is in pretty great shape, especially up to Rattlesnake Ledge(s). Views were... non existent. But numerous beautiful fungi fruited the entire way, including big flushes of Amanita muscaria, coral mushroom, oysters (on logs) and many more.

It rained the entire way until we finished the hike. Go figure. Atop the ridge of Rattlesnake Mountain and its logged, exposed section, the rain became light hail for a bit. Pretty chilly, but besides a few puddles and muddy spots, the trail was debris free. We were wet and cold by the end, but it's nothing a quick visit to the Square Lotus in Factoria couldn't fix. I recommend the vegetarian special pho.

Distance: 10.32 miles
Elevation: 3,013 feet
Moving time: 3:59:24

It's fall — and what better way to enjoy it than a very rainy Rattlesnake Mountain traverse? Trip Reporter Joe Gonzalez and I took 2 cars and did a thru-hike of Rattlesnake Mountain, starting at Rattlesnake Lake/Ledge and ending at the other trailhead near Snoqualmie Point Park. 

THE ROAD / PARKING

Both parking lots are in good shape, and both had restroom facilities open. 

We first drove to the Snoqualmie Point Park trailhead and there were plenty of spots available, and most of the cars there seemed to be mountain bikers. When we got to the Rattlesnake Lake trailhead, there were also not a ton of cars. We suspect the rainy weather kept some folks home.

THE TRAIL

The trail is overall in good shape, but with the rain and fall in full swing, there were a lot of muddy spots. There was a layer of fallen leaves on the trail, especially near Stan's Overlook and the last stretch, so the trail was also pretty sludge-y from the decomposing leaves. Gaiters might have been a good idea to keep the mud off of my leggings and the wet dirt getting in my shoes. 

MISC.

We got soaking wet! When we reached East Peak, it started somewhat hailing. Again, I am guessing the forecast is the reason for the solitude we found today. We ran into a few folks near Rattlesnake Ledge, and other than that, we really only happened upon a couple of trail runners until we got close to Stan's Overlook. 

It took us just over 4 hours to complete the traverse, at about a 2.5 mph pace. 

0 views today, though we stopped briefly at Upper Ledge, East Peak, and Grand Prospect. We saw our first bit of blue sky when we reached the Snoqualmie Point Park trailhead (ha). We were in a cloud on the whole hike. 

I've had this traverse on my list forever and I'm super stoked to finally check it off my list! Awesome hike with no backtracking if you can swing the 2-car thing. Highly recommend it as a longer low-elevation hike.