Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Hiking Among the Stumps at Rattlesnake Lake
I come from the Evergreen State which means there are lots of trees everywhere. It also means lots of brown and sometimes lots of stumps!
We visited Rattlesnake Lake last month and found giant stumps lining the shore.
Rattlesnake Lake is spring-fed by the Cedar River; levels fluctuate during the summer months, depending on the amount of snowpack in the mountains.
You can see the marks in the trunk that the loggers made.
You can also see the size as my husband poses for me next to the stump.
Rattlesnake Ledge is high above to the left 2 miles up, while Mt. Si can be seen off in the distance to the right. We hiked up to Rattlesnake Ledge once upon a time; not anymore.
No guardrails up there, so watch your step if you make the trek.
We also hiked to Mt. Si back in the day. A favorite of locals and visitors alike, though not a favorite of mine.
According to Wikipedia: “The four-mile-long (6.5 km) Mount Si trail vertically climbs 3,500 feet (1,070 m) to the summit ridge. Its summit is reached by an exposed scramble, class 3, up the north side of the summit block, which is known as the “Haystack”.
In other words, I had no business up being there. And yet, I remember scrambling to the top of the Haystack with a group of young people sometime in the last century and thankfully living to tell the tale! (Youth is like that.)
A hike through the stumps was enough for us.
Sharing with #Sunday Stills, Brown.
~ Susanne
P.S. A number of you wondered in the comments, about all the stumps in the lake! They are the remnants of Moncton, an old railroad town that was flooded over a 100 years ago. It was more than I could describe, so here’s a link to more history.
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
The hike up looks steep. I think I would settle for the stumps too! 😎😎😎
Yes, indeed! Something you don’t think twice about doing when you’re young! 🙂
Seeing the scale of these stumps is truly remarkable, Susanne. The way they are situated around the lake reminds me of the Tufa Towers along Mono Lake near the Tioga Pass side of Yosemite. Yours remind me of sentinels from times past. Makes you wonder why they were all cut down.
Thanks, Terri. I wondered too about why there were so many stumps. Couldn’t find much on it, but I did learn there used to be a small railroad town on the shores of the lake, that was flooded over a hundred years ago. I’m guessing the trees were cut down for the railroad or the town.
That makes sense!
Others wondered about the stumps in the lake, so I added a P.S. with a link to the history of the flooded town of Moncton.
Good idea!
The stumps offer a natural art gallery with beautiful paintings in the hills and landscape. So pretty. I love the photo of the man next to the one stump for perspective.
Thank you. It certainly is an interesting landscape, isn’t it? 🙂
Pingback: Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge: All the Leaves are #Brown and Much More – Second Wind Leisure Perspectives
Terrific area and those stumps are so cool – the stories they could tell!
Yes indeed! Thanks, John! I had a lot of interest in the stumps so I added a P.S. to the post with more history. There was an old railroad town here that flooded over 100 years ago!
The history of a lake in stumps! They’re actually really interesting. Hugs, C
Glad you enjoyed it! The stumps are remnants from an old railroad town that flooded here over 100 years ago! 🙂
I wonder if the lake rerouted, and this is an old logging section? It’s beautiful and sad at the same time. The old growth forests are disappearing.
There was an old railroad town on the banks of the lake that flooded over a hundred years ago. Others were interested so I added a P.S. to the post with more history! 🙂
Now that literally was in my old backyard. I grew up at the bottom of the hill you go up to get to rattlesnake…in the housing community of Riverbend…my aunt lived in Wilderness Rim. We spent a lot of time at Rattlesnake. I climbed to the ledge once. Never climbed Mt. Si. The history of Rattlesnake is so interesting.
A homecoming for you! Rattlesnake Lake is beautiful though I don’t show much of the lake in this post. 😊 My husband and I took a group of young people on a hike to the Ledge years ago, makes me tremble to think of it! And we each hiked to Mt Si separately in our youth.
Very interesting photos! Those trees must have been monstrous big!
Thank you! Yes, we grow them big here in the Pacific NW. 😊
Wow, your husband must be very short. Can’t think of any other explanation for your splendid photos!
That must be it! Stumps shouldn’t be that big!! 😄
Those stumps are truly impressive. I know people needed wood, but seeing them makes me feel so sad for the mighty trees that were cut down.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks, Pete. I’m glad that many of our giant trees have been preserved in national parks and forests, or nothing would be left but tree farms!
I would definitely be happy with a hike through the stumps – they look so photogenic! I’m glad you included your husband as I would never have appreciated the scale otherwise.
Thanks, Sarah. It’s a beautiful area, even when the stumps are exposed, when water levels are low. And I’m glad my husband is willing to provide the scale in my photos!
Wow, really interesting stumps there. What a cool place!
Thanks so much!
Neat spot!
Yes, different when the water level is low!
Age has taken some of the wind out of my sails. I would not take the high trail either. But, still, it is wonderful to be ‘Naturwanderweg’. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!