Rattlesnake Mountain is one of the quieter places along I-90, mostly because all the other hikes in the area are more exciting. I specifically wanted "quiet" and also "quick" (because it was already 5 PM) so I headed up to Stan's Overlook.
If you are like me and have not been here in a few years, you will probably be surprised by the number of cars in the parking lot. What was once a minor hiking destination is now a major mountain bike destination so it's a lot busier than it was in years past. The good news is that hikers and bikers only share the trail for a short time. After starting on the hiker-only trail I saw three other hiking parties all the way up and no one on the way back down. The hiking and biking trails are mostly separate and don't come together again until Stan's Overlook.
The trail is in decent shape. The first mile to the power lines is all business but the grade levels off after that. I saw a few forest birds and squirrels as well as a lot of slugs and a single frog. Parts of the trail are getting a little overgrown but mostly it's easy to step off the trail and let other people pass. The one thing you definitely can't do right now is hike all the way to Rattlesnake Ledge. The eastern half of the trail is closed somewhere past East Peak.
Here's the catch: the view from Stan's Overlook is actually less impressive than the view from the park at the trailhead. For a worthwhile view, you really have to hike all the way up to Grand Prospect. That's 8 miles round trip (and another 1,000 feet of climbing), which would not have gotten me back to the car before sunset.
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