Another day of excellent fall weather led me to my first run on Rattlesnake Mountain. It's only about an hour from Seattle just off I-90 and I am surprised in retrospect that I haven't done this run before, but I have been lazy and rarely drive past Tiger Mt which is slightly closer. The
Rattlesnake Mountain trail covers 11 miles from Snoqualmie Point Park to Rattlesnake Lake. I started at Snoqualmie Point and turned around at Upper Rattlesnake Ledge for a round trip distance of 16 miles. If you want a shorter route, the best views by far are from the Grand Prospect viewpoint which is about 5 miles from the trailhead at Snoqualmie Point.
My out and back route starting from Snoqualmie Point Park at Exit 27 off of I-90.
The view from Grand Prospect overlook (Mile 5).
Mt. Baker
Glacier Peak
About 0.7 mile past Grand Prospect, I wandered off the trail onto a gravel road for about 25-50 yards and crossed over the ridge to suddenly get a nice view of Rainier--which was never visible from the trail.
View of Rattlesnake and Chester Morse Lakes from upper Rattlesnake ledge, where I turned around.
About 0.7 mile past Grand Prospect, I wandered off the trail onto a gravel road for about 25-50 yards and crossed over the ridge to suddenly get a nice view of Rainier--which was never visible from the trail.
