Ridgeline Views & Cascade Falls

The 4-mile round-trip trail climbs 1,100 feet to a basalt promontory above Rattlesnake Lake, with clear-day views stretching from the Cascades to Puget Sound. The final quarter-mile involves light scrambling across open rock — worth every step for the 270-degree panorama. Popular but the earliest start usually means a quiet summit.

A 270-foot freefall into a mist-filled gorge — higher than Niagara, and wilder. The upper observation deck is paved and 5 minutes from the parking lot; the lower trail (1.5 miles RT) descends into the canyon for the full spray experience. The turbine house below is the nation's first underground hydroelectric plant, still generating power.

The lodge perched at the falls' edge has served serious Northwest cuisine since 1988 — wild salmon, Dungeness crab, seasonal mushrooms from the surrounding hills. The dining room's floor-to-ceiling windows sit directly above the gorge; ask for a window table.