On the Trail Again

Two weeks ago yesterday I rolled my ankle playing basketball, which kept me off the court for two weeks and off the trail for three long weeks.  The swelling went down slowly but decided to give it a shot on an easy one- Rattlesnake Ledge.  I also wanted to experiment with the GPS capabilities of my new DROID 2 phone. I discovered that it doesn't like to be in the woods as much as I do. The location of all of the photos was identical, and wrong by several miles.  Oops!  Although the weather has been rainy of late, it was pretty decent for an early November morning. The temperature was in the low 50s and it stayed dry, if foggy, during the outing. I saw a couple of dozen hearty souls on the trail, which is about 10 percent of the typical traffic on this route.

The understory on the lower section of the trail is covered with moss, as seen on this photo of gracefully curving vine maples.  After a couple of small switchbacks the trail climbs on a gentle grade heading to the southwest.  Finally, with the sound of a small creek ahead, the trail cuts back 180 degrees, avoiding the boundary of the Cedar River Watershed, which is protected for the City of Seattle's water supply.

The trail steepens at this point letting one's legs know that the summit won't be had without a little work.  Two switchbacks later there is a sign pointing right to Rattlesnake Ledge and left to Rattlesnake Ridge, a 12 mile point-to-point hike that I plan to try someday. The view from the summit was obscured by fog, which didn't do much for me, but the trees seemed to enjoy are the moisture.