Eventually I’ll organize with friend or family a hike for the entire Rattlesnake Mountain Trail from end to end. On my own I can do out and backs from either end and today I chose the west side. I read that Middle Peak was about midway, so made that my destination. I personally hadn’t seen Mt Rainier from Rattlesnake Mountain yet and was hoping to see some of that southern view on this sunny day. My understanding was that it’s available at some point between Grand Prospect and Middle Peak. And it was. Right from the main trail a few times along the way. Occasionally I wondered if I was seeing faint social trails heading out to views. If they were social trails, they’re not needed. I didn’t do the unmaintained trail from Grand Prospect to West Peak, which I believe also offers those views as well as views to the, well…west. That’s an option with a few less miles I look forward to doing next time.
Don’t know if my recording is correct, but it says the outing today to Middle Peak was 11 miles, 2900 ft elevation gain, and reached a highest point of almost 3400 ft. Sections of trail with compacted to slushy snow appeared just before Grand Prospect. Thankfully the chainsaw heroes have cleared all the deadfall mentioned in previous reports east of there. Can tell from all the sawdust that the debris would have greatly slowed me down. Today this was less than 5 hours. Will definitely come back.
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