Today, I hiked a short trail called Rattlesnake Ledge. It was a two-mile trail up 1700 feet or so.
I went with my youth group and my friends to go hiking there. I had been hiking near that area before, so I knew what to expect. But the trail that I hike before was much more steep and longer, so this one seemed comparatively easy, and it was.
Rattlesnake Ledge was a fairly easy incline up. All around the trail were tall slender trees with only a few leaves, but they were so densely packed together that the whole forest we were in was washed in a vibrant green-yellow aura. Marking the trail were stones called erratics.
These were large stones 10-20 feet across that were deposited by glacial flows from the last Ice Age. They were just sitting there in random places next to the trail.
When we got near the ledge, the trail forked. The left went to the highest peak at the mountain and the right trail to a platform not too much below the highest peak. We took the right trail onto the ledge.
The view from the ledge was gorgeous. I could see all around me for about 270 degrees. There were giant rock-mountains all over the landscape, far and wide, and were predominated by lush green foliage, especially trees. The sky was clear. We could see the city from where we were standing, and some very weird structures like a platform in the middle of a small lake. Most awesome of all was that we could see the lake below – Rattlesnake Lake. It was a sparkling mass of blue-green water.
We ate lunch on the ledge and some daring people climbed into a small crevasse between a few rocks. I was too injured from my bike ride to go into the crevasse.
It was time to head down. Apparently heading down was more dangerous than going up.
My friend bruised his knee, and everyone was slipping and sliding. Fortunately, I was wearing hiking boots so I didn’t slip. We got down to the bottom and hung out by the lake for five minutes. Then it was time to go. Since we had some extra time, we decided to go get slurpees, but I couldn’t go since my uptight dad wouldn’t let me.
Overall, Rattlesnake Ledge was an awesome hike. It’s fairly easy, and it’s great for everyone.