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 along a single trail. 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.
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.
There is a stone seat along the trail in case you need to rest. After 15-20 minutes of walking the first lookout came into view.
I took the ridge trail on to east rattlesnake mountain finding a toad and garter snake along the way
And finally, the view from East Rattlesnake mountain. At this point you can simply return the way you came back to your car or continue along several other trails to other parts of the mountains or down to the water depending on which trail you take (bring a map if you then to venture off on various side trails).