Rattlesnake Ridge, known as daʔšədabš to the

Snoqualmie people The Snoqualmie people (Lushootseed: ''sdukʷalbixʷ'') are a southern Coast Salish indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their homelands span the Snoqualmie Valley in east King and Snohomish counties in Washington state. Today, the ...

, is the

ridge A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...

of Rattlesnake Mountain located south of

North Bend, Washington North Bend is a city in King County, Washington, United States, on the outskirts of the Seattle metropolitan area. The population was 5,731 at the 2010 census and an estimated 7,136 in 2018. Since the closure of Weyerhaeuser's Snoqualmie sawmi ...

, United States. The western end is near the intersection of State Route 18 and

I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, an ...

Snoqualmie, Washington Snoqualmie ( ) is a city next to Snoqualmie Falls in King County, Washington, United States. It is east of Seattle. Snoqualmie city is home to the Northwest Railway Museum. The population was 10,670 at the 2010 census and an estimated 13,62 ...

, and runs southeast about or by trail. It is the highest and easternmost of the Issaquah Alps (although Cedar Butte in the gap between Rattlesnake Mountain and the Cascade front at

Mount Washington Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934 ...

is considered by Harvey Manning to be a quasi-Alp). A maze of abandoned logging roads and constructed trails have been strung together to provide a footpath from the Snoqualmie Point trailhead at Exit 27 on I-90 all the way to the

Rattlesnake Lake Rattlesnake Lake is a lake in the Northwestern United States, northwest United States, located in Rattlesnake Ridge, Rattlesnake Mountain Scenic Area in King County, Washington, approximately east of Seattle, south of Interstate 90 in Washington, ...

trailhead near Exit 32. Rattlesnake Ledge is a rock outcropping and viewpoint 1160 feet above Rattlesnake Lake. Rattlesnake Ledge is a very popular hike destination. The Rattlesnake Ledge Trail makes up the eastern 2 mile segment of the Rattlesnake Ridge or Rattlesnake Mountain Trail. Several recreational opportunities exist, including hiking and rock-climbing.

Legal status

Most of the mountain is owned by the state of Washington or King County, and is protected as Rattlesnake Mountain Scenic Area, managed jointly by the

Washington State Department of Natural Resources The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) manages over of forest, range, agricultural, and commercial lands in the U.S. state of Washington. The DNR also manages of aquatic areas which include shorelines, tidelands, lands un ...

and

King County King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

Park and Recreation Department. The eastern section of the mountain, including the ledges, is owned by Seattle Public Utilities, while large sections in the western part of the ridge are owned by

Weyerhaeuser Weyerhaeuser () is an American timberland company which owns nearly of timberlands in the U.S., and manages an additional of timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. The company also manufactures wood products. It operates as a real e ...

Corporation, which conducts substantial logging operations there.

Deadly incidents

On May 30, 2009, a 28-year-old man fell one hundred feet to his death from a ledge on Rattlesnake Ridge. Officials say Ruben Maldonado, 28, of Snohomish County, fell from the popular hiking area above Rattlesnake Lake around 12:15 p.m. On March 9, 2012, a 32-year-old man fell about 300 feet from a ridge. He was found dead by another hiker who saw the fall. On February 9, 2013, a Redmond man missing near Rattlesnake Ridge was found dead at about 10 a.m. Bove said King County Search and Rescue found the body of Ira Thomas Clodfelter, 28, about three-quarters of a mile from the main trail, and it appeared to be a suicide. The King County Medical Examiner said February 11 that Clodfelter died from a gunshot wound to the head, and ruled it a suicide. On August 29, 2013, a man in his 20s fell to his death while hiking in the Rattlesnake Ridge area of Snoqualmie near Rattlesnake Lake. King County Sheriffs deputies received a 911 call around 10:55 a.m. from a woman who said someone had fallen off Rattlesnake Ridge. When rescue personnel arrived, a friend of the victim told them she and the man had hiked to the top of the ridge. She was taking pictures of the man, who was near the ledge, when he slipped and fell as he was trying to jump to a rock. Medics found the man's body and determined he had fallen about 150 feet to his death. On March 3, 2018, a 16-year-old boy died after falling off of Rattlesnake Ridge. He was attempting to take a picture and slipped due to icy conditions at the top of the mountain. Search and Rescue was called at 8:40 a.m. and the body was located at 9:15 a.m.

Climate

Rattlesnake Ridge is located in the

marine west coast An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

climate zone of western

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

.Beckey, Fred W. Cascade Alpine Guide, Climbing and High Routes. Seattle, WA: Mountaineers Books, 2008. Most

weather front A weather front is a boundary separating air masses for which several characteristics differ, such as air density, wind, temperature, and humidity. Disturbed and unstable weather due to these differences often arises along the boundary. For in ...

s originate in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

, and travel northeast toward the

Cascade Mountains The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, a ...

. As fronts approach the

North Cascades The North Cascades are a section of the Cascade Range of western North America. They span the border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington and are officially named in the U.S. and Canada as the Casca ...

, they are forced upward by the peaks of the Cascade Range, causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall onto the Cascades (

Orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

). As a result, the west side of the North Cascades experiences high precipitation, especially during the winter months in the form of snowfall. During winter months, weather is usually cloudy, but, due to high pressure systems over the Pacific Ocean that intensify during summer months, there is often little or no cloud cover during the summer.

References

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Gallery

Image:Rattlesnake Ridge.JPG, Rattlesnake Ridge Image:RattlesnakeRidge.JPG, As viewed from above File:Rattlesnake Ledge weekend crowds.jpg, Rattlesnake Ledge weekend crowds {{commons category, Rattlesnake Mountain Scenic Area Landforms of King County, Washington Ridges of Washington (state) Washington Natural Areas Program Protected areas of King County, Washington