Robert, Terry and I are heading for Rattlesnake Ledge today. It is gloriously sunny, the hike is easy, and so we push ourselves a little to get a good workout, which we do. We get to the top in an hour and a half, spend an hour luxuriating, and then are back to the car in an hour. Perfect for a 1200' hike. A really cold beer at the car for all of us tops off the hike, and then we headed over to Terry's where we attempted to humiliate each other on a ping pong table, which mixed success excepting for Terry, who graciously didn't pound us into the ground too hard.
Robert and I are now in full planning and preparation mode for hiking above Paradise, the apt name for an incredibly beautiful area on Mt Rainier. We will start at 4500' at the parking lot, and see how far towards Camp Muir we can get, at 10,000'. If we make it, it will probably be 7 hours up, and 3 hours down, for a 10 hour day on the trail. I suspect we will not get all the way, but we'll see. We have been climbing and conditioning enough, that we could do it if we want.
Here's Rattlesnake Ledge from across the lake by the parking lot. We hike around the lake to the grass, and then up the trail. It is not "pointy" on top like it looks here, but fairly flat, and incredible view.
Looking across the valley to the north from Rattlesnake Ledge, we can see Mt Si, with the town of North Bend in the valley. We are at 1200' elevation gain, while Mt Si is 3300' elevation gain.
The lake in the far distant valley is the Cedar River Watershed, water source for the city of Tacoma. It is off limits to hikers. This is part of the great view from Rattlesnake Ledge.
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