A four-mile trail with an ominous name and no actual rattlesnakes has just been named one of the top hikes in the United States. Rattlesnake Ledge, in the foothills of Washington's Cascade Mountains near North Bend, placed seventh in a 2025 Edge Fall Protection study that ranked almost 6,000 American trails using AllTrails ratings, review counts and popularity scores. It holds a 4.7 out of 5 on AllTrails from more than 36,000 reviews — and hikers who've stood on its granite edge tend to agree.
The appeal is simple: big Pacific Northwest payoff for moderate effort. The round trip covers about four miles with roughly 1,160 feet of climbing, usually taking two to three hours. Switchbacks lead through Douglas fir forest thick with moss and ferns before breaking out onto the ledge itself — a sheer rock face with serious drop-offs and no guardrails. The views run to Mount Si, Mount Washington and the Cedar River Watershed, with the lake you just walked around shrinking below.
Location is a huge part of the draw. The trailhead sits about 35 miles east of Seattle — take Exit 32 off I-90 and follow Cedar Falls Road to free parking at Rattlesnake Lake — making this one of the most accessible big-view hikes in the Cascades. It's family-friendly in length, though the cliff edges demand close supervision of kids and dogs. The quirky name reportedly came from an 1850s surveying party that mistook dry camas seed pods rattling in the wind for a snake.
Most people turn around at the main ledge, but quieter options continue uphill: Middle and Upper Ledges offer similar views with fewer people, and serious hikers can push along the ridge toward East Peak, another 2.4 miles, or commit to the long route toward Snoqualmie Point.
The trade-off for all this accessibility is crowds — it's one of the region's busiest trails, and weekend parking fills fast. A weekday early start is your best shot at solitude. No permit is needed, but bring sturdy shoes for rocky, root-strewn sections, layers for the chilly wind at the top, water and bug spray in summer, and a downloaded trail map since cell service is patchy and there's no drinking water at the recreation area.
Make a day of it: the 111-acre lake allows swimming, kayaking, paddleboarding and fishing (dawn to dusk, no lifeguards), and the Cedar River Watershed Education Center covers the area's natural history. Then head into North Bend for lunch at Twede's Café — better known to TV fans as the Double R Diner from David Lynch's "Twin Peaks," with filming locations scattered around the Snoqualmie Valley for a post-hike fan tour.
For visitors based in Seattle without a car-full of time or a taste for epic alpine treks, this is the ideal intro hike: short, dramatic, free, and now officially ranked among the country's best.
