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Hiking in New Hampshire: West and East Rattlesnake Mountain

 West and East Rattlesnake mountain are both worth hiking and offer beautiful overlooks onto Squam Lake. You can visit both lookouts in a couple of hours. I would recommend allocating three hours for sufficient time to enjoy the lookouts. The trail is not long, perhaps a couple of miles, but the beginning of the hike is somewhat steep. 

Not being a local, I found it a little confusing to determine where to park. What you want to do is park in the West Rattlesnake parking lot on Route 113. If that is full, there is another lot directly across the highway I believe this is for Mt. Morgan. If that lot is also full I saw two more lots Mt. Percival has a lot on 113 that is also a very short walk. There is also a lot for the COL trail (blue diamonds or blue markers) that will take you up to the ridge trail about half way between East and West Rattlesnake lookouts. This is about a 5-10 minute walk down the highway from the West Rattlesnake parking lot, so if you end up needing to park there just go up the COL trail and carry a printed map with you. I was luckily the only car in the lot of West Rattlesnake the weekday morning I went.  I was greeted by many chipmunks as I climbed the stairs.




A really nice seat has been created a long the trail. I was excited as the first lookout came into view. This one you need to climb on top of a large granite boulder for the best view.






The trail continues on until you reach the main West Rattlesnake lookout which is stunning.





After taking in the views, I continued along the ridge trail to East Rattlesnake mountain. I did not find any rattlesnakes, only toads and a gartersnake.






View from East Rattlesnake



I made a wrong turn on the way back and ended up going down the COL trail (blue markers). This takes you past a lake and ultimately back down to 113 but it's a little bit of a walk (maybe 10 minutes) along the highway to get back to the original trailhead this way.

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