CHS - Rattlesnake Ledge

Rattlesnake Ledge, 4/5/08, 4 miles, 1200 elevation

This year, Michael and I decided to get serious about hiking. OK, several of you out there are laughing, but really, we want to go on further hikes so need to work on our stamina and endurance. Our needs were answered with a class offered by the Mountaineers - The Conditioning Hike Series. The class takes you from shorter distance and lower elevation gain hikes to some extended and Higher elevation hikes (I think one of the graduation hikes is 17 miles). What better way to get ourselves ready for an adventurous hiking season?

Our first hike was to a favorite old haunt - Rattlesnake Ledge off of I-90 in North Bend. We met our group in the parking lot for brief introductions before walking around the north end of the lake to the start of the trail up. Now, Michael and I are slow hikers - there's a reason we call ourselves Trail Turtles, so it wasn't much time before we lost sight of our fellow hikers as they quickly made their way through the lush green of a coastal forest. Never wanting to be left behind, I began to push my pace so I could keep up, only to feel the nausea swell in my throat as my heart pounded through my chest. A trip up Rattlesnake generally would never make me feel this way, but I was pushing myself too hard to keep up and had to stop to regain my breath and heart rate.

We again met up with the group where the snow still covered the trail and obscured the ferns that grew so thickly near the start of our journey. After stretching Yak-Trax over our boots, the way became a little less slippery and we made good time to the ledge. Clouds hung in the sky threatening rain but none fell on our little respite overlooking the partially drained lake. Our leader broke out some chocolate covered hazelnuts to share with the group as we sat sharing stories and views.

Our way back down the hill was paused as Michael whipped out his saw and helped to take a fallen tree out of the trail. I learned a bit on this hike. The biggest lesson learned that signing up for this class is the thing to get my rear in condition.

Springtime Snow

Rattlesnake Ridge 4/15/07 8 miles

Continuing on our conditioning for climbing Mt St Helens, Michael & I decided to traverse Rattlesnake Ridge near North Bend. This hike is 11 miles from start to finish - from the east end of the mountain to the west with a 2000 foot elevation gain. Not the conditioning hike Mt Si can be, but a good stamina booster. However, we didn't expect the late season snowfall that would contribute to our turning around.

Our plan was to start at the Rattlesnake Ledge trail head and continue to the other end at Snoqualmie Point. The last time we hiked the trail all the way through, the WTA had still been working on it. I was interested in seeing what they had done. We saw the dusting of snow atop Rattlesnake and the other mountains surrounding North Bend as we drove to the trail head. I thought this might make for an interesting hike.

Our initial climb to the ledge went smoothly, fog had settled in around the lake which gave the new green of the forest a soft quality. A few birds could be heard calling back to one another, possibly catching up on overnight happenings. The view that greeted us from the rocky ledge was partially obscured as the clouds drifted about the mountains - Mt Si and the other mountains across the valley played peek-a-boo with us.

We continued up the mountain. It wasn't too long before we reached the snow we had seen from the highway. Already the glimpses of sun had started melting what snow rested in the branches overhead. The resulting melt felt as if we were hiking in the rain - big heavy drops splashed on our packs, arms and hats. Every now and then a small frigid clump of wet soggy snow would let loose invariably hitting my neck or ear.

But that wasn't the worst of it. When we had hiked Mt Si the week before, there was no snow at the top. Mt Si is higher than Rattlesnake. We didn't envision the amount of snow we would run into on the trail. Approximately two feet of snow still lay in wide trail that once was a road. We were not prepared for this. On top of the snow on the ground, more snow had begun to fall around us. After a brief discussion, we decided not to chance it and turned around to head back to Rattlesnake Ledge and the lake below. Our day of happy springtime hiking cut short by snowfall.