North Bend and the Snoqualmie Valley

An informational sign at Rattlesnake Lake near North Bend, Washington, asks the question that must be on the mind of anyone who visits here or sees it on a map for the first time: How did a lake on the west side of the Cascades, a reputed rattlesnake free zone, get Rattlesnake for a name? To paraphrase the answer, “We don’t have a clue.”

I have heard that Rattlesnake Lake is a good float tube lake, so we took advantage of Kristin’s midweek day off and checked it out. There weren’t many people there, but you can tell that it gets pretty well populated on the weekends. It is the head of the Cedar River, and the watershed that supplies Seattle with water. It was opened to special regulations fishing some years ago and is stocked annually with rainbow trout. On this day it offered proof that just because a lake is stocked does not mean the fish are competing to leap into your net. I just waded out and cast a nymph rig into a substantial wind while Kristin walked a trail in the park. I did not catch any fish, and I didn’t see the fellow in the float tube or the two guys in the boat catch any either. It is a pretty location, and I’m sure I’ll take the float tube or drift boat up there and try it again someday. It’s open until the end of October, and I suspect fall is a good time to fish it. We’ll see.

There is a neat interpretive center at the lake. It tells the story of how and why the lake is a good municipal water supply, and gives some history of the area. There is a library, the ubiquitous novelty store, and some research presence. It would be a great place for a middle school field trip. Across the road is Iron Horse State Park, which is a developed section of the John Wayne Pioneer Trail. The trail runs nearly all the way across Washington following the route of the old Chicago-Milwaukee-St. Paul Railroad. Literature says there are trestle crossings that offer fantastic views. All the tunnels are closed for safety reasons, but they are working on detours. A warning sign at the trailhead says there is a closed tunnel in 52 miles. That’s far enough for me anyway.

North Bend is a tidy little town that is essentially a bedroom community to Seattle, only 32 miles to the west. North Bend has a rich railroad, timber, agricultural (hops), and even mining history. It has the main North American manufacturing and distribution center for Nintendo whose American headquarters is in Redmond, Washington. Mainly, from what we experienced, North Bend has Twede’s Café.

Twede’s starred in David Lynch’s bizarre television series Twin Peaks which aired for two seasons starting in 1990. One of the stars was Lara Flynn Boyle whom we recognize as a very handsome cast member from The Practice, and other roles. The “complimentary collectors menu” notes the café as, “Home of Twin Peaks Cherry Pie and a “Damn fine cup of coffee.” I tried both, and they were both damn fine. The soup of the day was homemade vegetable beef; the BLT was better than average. Kristin had one of the 53 burgers on the menu—more if you count the fact that all of them are also available in garden veggie and black bean patties. She had chocolate cream pie. I stole a couple of bites, and consider it to be damn fine. The café is decorated with all imaginable examples of stuffed Twede Birds: fireman Twede, police Twede, beach Twede, and so forth.

After the late lunch at Twede’s, we went and checked on the prospects for fishing the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River. The river was still a bit high, so I didn’t fish it. We all know that fish don’t disappear during high water, and the fishing can be good in the eddies and calmer pools. After the pie, I just didn’t feel athletic enough to go out there and leap from rock to rock, and wade in the strong current. The Middle Fork is another opportunity for fishing special regulations water, and when lower, a great example of classic pocket water fishing. It is a refreshing retreat from the hustle of the city, rarely crowded, and less than an hour away. The relatively light pressure comes from the fact that the fish are small for guys who are hooked on steelhead fishing, but the resident coastal cutthroats are fun and beautiful. Snoqualmie Falls isolates this water from the cutties, steelhead, and salmon that run to the sea.

We looked at the impressive Snoqualmie Falls, and watched a guy on the river below the falls fight and land really nice fish. From that distance, all I could tell was that the fish was at least 24 inches, and bright silver. I’ll not hazard a guess on the species. In my ideal world, the guy would have turned it loose—no such luck. He strutted around showing it to everyone in his area, chucked it up in the rocks, and went back to fishing.

The Snoqualmie Valley has a number of golf courses including Mt. Si, and Twin Rivers. Cascade Golf Course is very close to Rattlesnake Lake, and a very attractive nine-hole public course. With the extra long summer days at this latitude, I could envision a day incorporating a round of golf, lake fishing, stream fishing, some fat tire riding, and a damn fine slice of cherry pie—all within 30 to 40 minutes of Seattle or Tacoma. We will turn in a report after we give it a try.

Our last stop was at the new Snoqualmie Casino. Kristin lost ten bucks on the nickel slots. I won about twenty on a dollar machine. We figured that paid for the gas for our adventure, and we headed for the house.


Next: What does John Wayne have to do with it?