CHS 2 Hike - Rattlesnake Mountain Grand Traverse

 No problems the first and last 30-40%, but the middle section is in terrible shape. Logging here has opened up nice views to the south, but blow-downs( apparently the season after the logging) created a mess. The official detour trail has been obliterated by many downed trees and branches, and there are big holes where tree roots used to be. Although you can pick your way through you certainly can't stride along in this section, which goes on for several miles. It would take a LOT of person-hours to restore it to be reasonably walk-able, and the 6 of us agreed that it's not worth repeating the traverse until that trail work has been done. NOTE: if you start at the west end (Snoq. Point Park) there is a "trail closed" sign somewhere east of Stan's Overlook. However, I talked to someone on the WA Dept. of Natural Resources just a few days ago and she assured me that the trail is not officially closed. She also told me that there were detour signs for hikers. We saw a few but others were missing, at least for people heading east to west (at several points we saw detour signs still up for people going west to east, but for us they were at the end rather than the beginning of a detour, so no help).   As expected, crowds of people were going up and down to Rattlesnake Ledge, and 2 or 3 dozen were at the Ledge when we got there. Beyond the Ledge, saw just a few other hikers and maybe half a dozen trail runners until Stan's Overlook, where it became more crowded again. Rock penstemon on the Ledge, but the only other flowers we saw were some Canadian dogwood, and salmonberries and thimbleberries in bloom.