Rattlesnake Mountain
Updated 9/18/2021
Rattlesnake Mountain, a long, steep-sided ridge that looms to the south of the city of North Bend, is the highest summit of the Issaquah Alps. Rising to 3500', the East Peak is tall enough to get heavy snow in winter, far more than any other summit in the Issaquah Alps. Snowshoes can be useful for travel on the East Peak in winter. A long and scenic 11 mile trail traverses the entire length of Rattlesnake Mountain. This trail touches on a number of spectacular vista points, including the Grand Prospect vista point about four miles from the north trailhead at Snoqualmie Point Park, and the Rattlesnake Ledges at the east end of the mountain. Hiking the entire length of this trail from the west to the east trailheads is a classic close-to-Seattle adventure.
A note to the concerned: there are no rattlesnakes on Rattlesnake Mountain, or anyplace else west of the Cascade Mountains for that matter. The name may have come from the early pioneers hearing the sound of dry seed pods rattling in the wind.
Now for the bad news: bus access to the area is tricky. You have to rely on the sparsely scheduled Metro 208 bus to get to the Mt. Si Senior Center in downtown North Bend. From there, Snoqualmie Valley Transit https://svtbus.org/ runs a shuttle to the Snoqualmie Casino, which is fairly close (a 0.8 mile walk) to the main Rattlesnake Mountain trailhead at Snoqualmie Point Park. From the Casino, walk west on North Bend Way (being careful around the fast traffic) to the I-90 freeway interchange. Then walk under the freeway bridge and up Winery Road, which will take you the the trailhead.
You can also use their Door to Door bus service to get the to the east end of Rattlesnake Mountain at Rattlesnake Lake Park - this bus service must be arranged a few days in advance by calling SVT. From there, you can hike to the top of the spectacular Rattlesnake Ledges.
Doing the whole traverse of the mountain from Rattlesnake Lake to the Snoqualmie Casino will require careful timing to make the bus connections. Don't forget the possibility of using Uber to solve bus access problems. If I were ending the traverse hike at the casino, I might plan on using Uber to get from the casino to Issaquah Transit Center .
Perhaps an easier-to-manage hike possibility in the area is to ride the door to door bus to Rattlesnake Lake, then hike back to North Bend on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, a long (7 mile) but easy route on a converted railroad grade.
Both these trailheads would make great destinations for a future Trailhead Direct bus route. Contact your favorite King County councilperson and suggest this idea!
Rattlesnake Ledge vista
Getting There & Back
From downtown Seattle, ride Sound Transit 554 to Issaquah Transit Center. Take Metro 208 to get to Mt. Si Senior Center in North Bend. Access the trailheads by using Snoqualmie Valley Transit as noted above.
Or you can try using TOTAGO to get round-trip transit directions, plus offline trail maps if you download the app:
The Hike
As mentioned, the 11 mile hike from the north to the south trailhead is a classic. This route has a 2700' elevation gain, so the hike is definitely a strenuous all-day outing. A shorter option from the north trailhead at Snoqualmie Point Park is the 8 mile out and back hike to Grand Prospect, which features a grand view out over the North Bend Valley to the Cascade Mountains. 2000' elevation gain. From the south trailhead at Rattlesnake Lake, the hike up to the top of Rattlesnake Ledge is a good shorter option that gains 1100' with a distance of 5 miles round trip. The view from the main ledge is spectacular. To extend the hike, you can continue up the trail to two higher ledges , or all the way to the windswept summit of the 3500' East Peak, the high point of Rattlesnake Mountain. Tree growth has made the view from the summit not as good as it once was, but you will get a good workout and sense of accomplishment upon reaching the East Peak.