Rattlesnake Mountain, East Peak, Rattlesnake Ledge & Rattlesnake Mountain - Grand Prospect — Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024

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.