Our region is growing, and so is the use of hiking trails. If you’ve been to Rattlesnake Ledge near North Bend, then you already know that.
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The hike to Rattlesnake Ledge is a short drive from the city. It’s uphill, and what a view!
Ralph Naess minds the trail at Seattle Public Utilities. He said it's so popular, it’s become a verb.
Naess: “Like, I’m going to Rattlesnake. Meaning I will hike up to the ledge.”
More than 200,000 people have “Rattlesnaked” so far this year, surpassing the total for all of 2016.
Naess: “It’s a wonderful trail and word of mouth has gotten out.”
Rattlesnake Ledge saw less than half this visitor count a decade ago. It’s one of the few trails where use is tracked.
Naess: “This is an indicator of the general, incredible increase of use everywhere: Mount Si, Little Si, Tiger Mountain. I mean, you can go up the Middle Fork to Mailbox Peak – you can go to any of those trail heads on a summer weekend day and they are packed.”
In Rattlesnake’s case, there’s trail damage. SPU tried to put together grants for about a quarter million dollar's worth of work, but the state hasn’t come through with its share.
For now, the trail gets only the most urgent repairs.
