Arrived at a gated Rattlesnake Rd. terminus off of WA-18 near the I-90 Snoqualmie Parkway exit (25) a little before 12:30 PM. During the mostly flat 2.5 mi start I encountered a couple hiking and two loose dogs.  I passed slowly as they were barking and the hikers indicated they weren't their dogs! They were loose with no owners in sight and seemed irritated by our presence but were not threatening.  Encountered potholes, puddles, mud, rocks, gravel, paved bridges, snow and a variety of other simple features.  Incidentally noticed live ammunition in the dirt.  Continuing upward I had to hike my bike at a couple of the sections.  Interestingly, cardio was not being pushed nearly as hard during hiking or running, so hoping more muscle training will rein in the right legs.

The Evergreen MTB trail description is spot on for the counter-clockwise route, at least up to about 2700' near Rattlesnake Road milepost 7.  Here on the eastern flank of the road's climb I encountered an abundance of loose wet snowpack with no mountain bike tracks and very few footprints.  It was very postholish and I couldn't maintain solid traction uphill on the bike.  I walked it through snow for about 2/10 of a mile until I came up and around a corner and saw that the route was covered in snow as far as I could see, and it was quite a distance. Some sections could be navigated around and it's very likely that an alternate route could have avoided the snow due to aspect, but for my first trip decided to play it easy and not reroute mid-trip.

At just shy of 7 miles and over 2000 ft elevation gain,  I called it and turned around for my first downhill mountain biking experience.  It was quite fun and fast with some potential for slide offs but I didn't really feel exposed at all.  Remembered to break before I needed to and that got me down safely over rocks and loose gravel, though I hit 30+ mph a few different times which was new for me on a bike.  There are some fun things to bounce off of and though this short 2 hour trip leaves much to be desired, I have a lot to train and learn and I'm excited to do so.