I came here not quite knowing what to expect. I've been to Rattlesnake Lake a few times and noticed the ledge from below. I thought it'd be cool to go up there. I am new to the state of Washington and am not used to these steep hills. I am not an advanced hiker, so this review comes from someone who gets tired and breathes hard quite quickly after going 5 minutes up a hill. But I have some stamina.
So, on a recent Saturday around noon, after spending a long time trying to find parking because everyone and their mothers were there (and babies, even tiny dogs, etc), I found the trail and went for it.
All I had were some good gym shoes and a zip-up hoodie. No backpack, no water. Strangely this was fine since it was cool enough out.
So. many. people. were on the trail. We were like an assembly line of humans marching our way up. I was disappointed to see many without masks on, but I hoped they were vaccinated.
This darn trail just kept inclining. It was hill after hill after hill. About 20 minutes into the hike I wondered if this was a mistake. But I kept going, and going... and going.
My lawd this hike just did not end. The pressure of knowing people were right behind me (or passing me up but not saying "excuse me" or "on your left", how rude!) were the only things pushing me to keep going and not turn around.
I wanted to sit or lie down a few times, but instead I just stood at slightly scary little ledges with drops going almost straight down, to stand off the trail for a moment & take breaks. I thought I might almost pass out at one point where there's a really long incline in the second half of the hike.
Somehow I made it to the ledge. As I approached the rocks, there were like 50-100 unmasked people on it. DAMNIT. It was hard to find a spot to comfortably stand. I leaned for a moment on a rock but then two people who just arrived sat right next to me breathing heavily and uh, no.
I spent maybe 5-10 minutes on the ledge trying my darndest to take photos (they all are mostly photos of strangers' heads with sky/mountains in the background- I am short) and not fall over & die due to feeling a bit dizzy (maybe vertigo?). The view was great, but hard for me to really soak in.
Oh well, I still can't believe I actually made it to the top. That alone was worth doing this trail.
I hastily made my way down. It took longer than I expected.
So... honestly due to all the stress, I couldn't really enjoy the hike up... but I can see this being a great hike for those who are more fit than I am, and who come at a time where it's not so crowded. These are things that I cannot blame the actually trail for, so fine, I give this 4 stars.
But I'm probably not doing this again. Once was enough, ENOUGH I say! read more