Rattlesnake Ledge — Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026

To celebrate this years donation to the Mount Rainier wilderness permit lottery gods I took a quick spin up to the first ledge hoping that the rest of Seattle would be crammed into downtown for the Seahawk's parade.  That mostly worked and I even had the ledge to myself for a few minutes.  The views from the ledge were super clear, the lake is full and was so sparkly today.  The sun is still low enough to make lake pictures challenging, but I really enjoyed all the warming rays on the way up as it was a chilly 32F when I left the parking lot.  After enjoying cake and wishing I'd hauled up my thermos of coffee my party of one was over as others arrived.  Then right on cue a "hiker" arrived toting an old school boom box sized speaker to play their made it to the ledge music - must have been a patriots fan lol.  I left them to their vibes and headed back down, more and more folks headed up now.  All sorts of different sized dogs and everyone on their best trail behavior, so that was great to see.

Back at the bottom I added some extra steps by walking over to check on the tree growing out of the large cedar stump, fully moated by the lake right now.  Temps had only made it into the low 40s on my drive out, so don't forget to pack a layer or two - it's not spring yet!

Out houses decent and stocked.