Rattlesnake Lake is a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in the

northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, located in Rattlesnake Mountain Scenic Area in

King County, Washington King County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of counties in Washington, most populo ...

, approximately east of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, south of

Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain states, Mountain West, Great Pla ...

History

The town of Moncton existed in 1906–1915 around the northern edge of Rattlesnake Lake. In the spring of 1915, it was destroyed by flooding caused by seepage of water from the newly created

Chester Morse Lake Chester Morse Lake (originally Cedar Lake) is a lake in the upper region of the Cedar River watershed in the U.S. state of Washington. The original lake surface was 1,530 feet (466 m) above sea level, but when the river was dammed in 1900, the ...

into Rattlesnake Lake, and later condemned. Hardly any traces remain.

Management

Rattlesnake Lake is part of the Rattlesnake Lake Recreation Area, which is owned and managed by Seattle Public Utilities as a non-development buffer to the protected municipal watershed lands. The watershed supplies 65% of the Seattle region’s unfiltere
drinking water
to nearly 800,000 people. However, Rattlesnake Lake itself is not used for drinking water and is spring-fed by the nearby Cedar River.

Attractions

Rattlesnake Lake attracts many people during the summer. Th
Rattlesnake Ledge Hiking Trail
ascends over of well maintained switchbacks from the north shore of the lake to the scenic Rattlesnake Ledge viewpoint that overlooks the lake. Fishing is also popular. The lake has many tree stumps which are exposed when the water level is low enough. The exposed stumps are often used by birds as nesting sites. The spacious, grassy shores around the lake are used for many outdoor activities, including

slacklining Slacklining is walking, running or balance (ability), balancing along a suspended length of flat webbing that is tension (physics), tensioned between two anchor (climbing), anchors. Slacklining is similar to Slackwire#Slack rope, slack rope walki ...

and picnicking. The park serves as trailheads for both the Snoqualmie Valley Trail and the

Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail The Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail, formerly known as the John Wayne Pioneer Trail and the Iron Horse Trail, is a rail trail that spans most of the U.S. state of Washington. It follows the former railway roadbed of the Chicago, Milwaukee ...

References

External links

* {{authority control Lakes of Washington (state) Lakes of King County, Washington Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest