Denied Mount Si - Rattlesnake Alternative

Left home a little after nine and that was evidently way too late to try and hike either Mount Si or Little Mount Si on a beautiful Saturday. Both parking lots were jammed and there were cars parked anywhere there was any free space! Went to Rattlesnake Ledge State Park as an alternative and even them had to park a mile or so from the park entrance.


It was so crowded that going into the park felt like going into an open air concert. Not what I'm looking for after having a stressful week at work. I knew that I couldn't go back to my other fallback hike (Squak Mountain) because there was a marathon trail run that was taking place. I knew this because a couple weeks ago I had seen the ad, came home immediately to check it out and saw that it was sold out. (Bummer).


Rattlesnake Ledge is a 4 mile hike round trip to a very popular ledge viewpoint, however the trail does extend out to a 8.8 mile round trip hike. A few years ago, I had explored the trails past the ledge but didn't go that far. Last month I only went to the ledge, turned around and came back.






As you can see in the pictures, the ledge was so crowded (people, kids & dogs) that it was quickly becoming unsafe. So we headed on down the trail to Snoqualmie Point. We didn't make it all the way because I was getting tired of hiking through snow. At one point, I set my iPhone timer for 30 minutes and decided I would turn around when it went off.




I don't mind hiking up in snow but coming back down without the proper gear can be a drag. Actually, I'd describe it more as a controlled slide and I wasn't really into it that day. However, in the back of my mind, I knew we would be back soon to finish this trail to the final peak.


Indeed we did jog or walk at a very fast pace all the way back. It was crowded again once we got back to the ledge to the trailhead but that was fine. Bogie got a ton of compliments (what a puppy) and even one person commented that "he will grow into a big dog someday" and this had me chuckling for a half mile or so!