"Perfect weather day hike with AK. We had some good clean fun getting off-trail and doing some light scrambling to get back on. Also had a rockfall scare (near Bandera split walking on trail), as we heard some shouts of "ROCK! ROCK!" from above and saw a microwave-sized boulder sweep by us just a few feet away. Snow was present 70% up from Mason Lake, but melting away rapidly for some added uncertainty to your steps. Ira Springs parking lot was full, but we parked at the less busy Tinkham TH for some extra mileage. Great day!" — zachmitch • Jun 3, 2023

"We weren’t sure if the road to the upper trailhead was open (it was), so we parked just off of I-90 and took the trail from the lower lot, then followed the winter route to Mason Lake. Snow was fairly constant as soon as we started following Mason Creek. The boulder field below Mason Lake had good snow coverage and was easy to traverse. This was the first hot day of the year and the snow was getting very soft by the time we reached the summit area. We avoided the slide-prone south-facing meadows and went directly up the southeast ridgeline, through the trees, without incident. The hike back was pleasant plunge stepping until we got back to the Mason Creek drainage, at which point there was a lot of surprise post-holing. 8 hours car-to-car, followed by pizza and beer back in Tacoma." — TynanRammGranberg • Apr 29, 2023

"Day 1: Evening of July 17th - Parked at the Granite Mountain/Pratt Lake TH and hiked into Rainbow Lake (3 hrs). Made camp at the lake. Cloudy with drizzle and temps hovering around 60F. Very buggy at the lake - mossies and little black flies. Day 2: Day hike to Bandera (true summit), and Mt. Defiance via Mason Lake and Sir Richard's Pond. Excellent weather, blue skies from beginning to end and great visibility. All trails were in great shape. Bugs were a nuisance - mossies and black flies. Returned to Rainbow Lake camp for another restful night in the tent, 10 hrs sleep. " — MosquitoFood • Jul 18, 2020

"Knocked out Defiance and Bandera on a single day hike. Socked in but cleared up while snacking on Defiance’s summit. Convenient way to snag both peaks with tired feet and quads upon returning to the car." — TheIncredibleGulk • Jul 8, 2020

"Hit the trail head at 0640, started up in the rain. Hit the trail intersection towards Bandera peak but the trail was completely snowed in and I wasn't outfitted to bust trail through the 2 foot snow since I was just out for a trail run. Decided top cut my loss and headed back top the trail head. Will head back up I m the spring. " — CraigArnold2 • Dec 18, 2018

"Went up P3 then traversed the ridge over to Mount Defiance. Took the old Mason Creek Trial down for a fun challenge. Would have added Web Mountain/West Defiance but it looked to sketch for the 2 dogs with us." — Happyjoecappy • Aug 25, 2018

"Do not try to hike the Ira Spring Trail through the Talus Field until at least May. Several feet of very loose snow from recent avalanches covered the slopes. A man with snowshoes tried to break the trail but agreed it was much too dangerous and turned back. Snow appears to be more than 10ft deep along the trail at only 3500'." — KianCarson99 • Apr 9, 2018

"We started early... It was cool and misty. Lots of traffic as this was the fourth of july weekend - in fact our parking situation actually added an extra half mile or so to the hike. The trail is in great shape and is well engineered. There is just a little bit of scrambling at the top that one of our dogs struggled with. Other than that smooth sailing all the way." — mikebarlow • Jul 2, 2017

"Early season loop out of Dirty Harry's TH. Headed up road to the fire training center and then found the old trail from there up Mailbox. Traversed over to Dirty Box (fairly easy) then over to DIrty Harry. Went straight up the west ridge of Dirty Harry which involved some exposed class 4 moves. Then followed the trail down to the basin below Webb, ascended the Talus slop to Web and followed Banana Ridge over P3 and then to Defiance. Dropped down to Mason Lake and then to Ira springs. Then closed the loop out with some running. " — stukesowle • Apr 19, 2016

"I climbed to the summit of Mt Defiance in powdery snow, about 2-3 feet deep on top of a solid, older layer. From the Ira Spring trail, I turned left after the bridge over Mason Creek and took the steeper Old Mason Ridge trail up to Mason Lake. The snow got deep at around 3500 ft. Under the top layer, the snow was pretty solid, making it easy to walk up any steep slope safely. I came down by the Ira Spring trail, which is maybe a mile longer. Since I was the first one up on these trails after a few days of snow, I had no tracks to follow going up. Coming down, I eventually ran into the snowshoe trail left by others the same day. The hike was an exercise in navigation by topo map, altimeter and compass, especially at times when the clouds, fog and snow reduced visibility to a few hundred meters. From the north side of Mason Lake, the "trail" follows a ridge NW that becomes better defined as you go up. Emerging from the trees onto talus slopes at 5150 ft I went west and then cut straight north to the peak. This was steeper than the proper trail, which follows a ridge from a point SW of the peak. With the weather still socked in, I had no view at all, save the trees within a..." — markgarrett • Mar 16, 2016