The weather was fog, low clouds and drizzle from Snohomish County all the way to North Bend so I wasn’t expecting to see any views today. However by the time I reached the top of Cedar Falls Road the clouds magically parted and I could see that the Ledge was clear. I arrived at 9am and found several spots still open in the small parking lot near the trailhead. While gearing up I happened to turn around and notice a rainbow next to the Ledge, which was a treat. Rattlesnake Lake looks more like an African watering hole currently, and I was able to take a shortcut directly across the dry lake bed to reach the actual start of the trail.
I encountered a modest number of people while hiking up, but for the most part I had solitude which is pretty rare on this trail. With the exception of a couple minor blowdowns and one section with water running across it the trail was super-easy to traverse. Having gotten used to the narrow, rooty, rocky and muddy trails higher up in the Cascades this one was a breeze and I made it to the first ledge in my usual time, roughly 50 minutes. There were just a few other parties there, and it was mild and not too breezy. But soon more people started showing up behind me so I quickly moved on to the second and third ledges, reaching the third ledge 15 minutes later.
I spent about 20 minutes relaxing there and taking pics of the moody clouds rolling through before heading back down. By then I was feeling a little chilly and put on my fleece jacket, and I noticed more clouds were rolling in beneath the first ledge. By the time reached the ledge junction again I saw a really neat layer of low clouds extending west out to Mount Si, which had to have formed in just the 15 minutes it took to get back there. After admiring that I continued back down, passing scores of people headed up which came as no surprise. I was back at my vehicle by 11:15 after which I decided to go check out the former site of Moncton while the lake was so low.
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