On Friday, July 5th, Mr. D and I decided to return to Rattlesnake Mountain—where there are, in fact no rattlesnakes—and do the short hike up to Rattlesnake Ledge. We did this same hike in both 2011 and 2012 and it is a great choice when you want to hike but don't want to hike all day.
The trail is short, but steep. There are a few level spots, however, like this one:
The last two times we have done this hike, we have stopped at the Ledge, had lunch and hiked back down. This time, it wasn't quite lunchtime, so we decided to hike for another half-hour and then go back down to Rattlesnake Ledge for lunch.
As we hiked further up the trail, we spotted a little side trail, and decided to explore. It turned out that it led to another ledge, high above Rattlesnake Ledge. Even on a cloudy day, it had a great view, and unlike Rattlesnake Ledge, there were no people.
We decided that we would hike a bit further, and then return to that private spot for lunch, which is exactly what we did. While we ate, we enjoyed the view to the east.
That's Chester Morse Lake in the distance, and in the foreground you can see some of the hordes of people that were flocking to Rattlesnake Ledge that day (it was a holiday weekend, after all). We only had one visitor on our picnic spot: this little guy who picked up and enjoyed a grape that Mr. D had dropped. Who wouldn't want to share their lunch spot with him?
Our lunch over, we headed back down the trail. It turned out that stopping to eat where we did was a great idea, because we passed at least 50 people heading up to the Ledge. Lesson learned: if you are looking for solitude, climb a little higher.
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