Spring into spring on the Ira Springs trail

6/16/2025 Bandera Mountain and Mason Lake

The Ira Springs Trail takes you to both Bandera Mountain and Mason Lake. The trailhead gets extremely crowded on weekends, but on a Monday morning, I was just the third car.

The bulk of the trail is fairly steep but very well maintained. There is a point where you cross a massive boulder field, which would be a terrible place to be during an earthquake.

About 3/4 of the way up the trail, you reach a junction where you can choose between Bandera Mountain, Mason Lake, or both. I like to go up to Bandera first, since it is by far the harder route, and I prefer to get it "out of the way".

The route to Bandera is not very long, but it is challenging. It is very steep most of the way, with some scrambling and boulder hopping. The wildflowers were best on this part of the trail.

From the ridgeline to Bandera, you can look down on Mason Lake across some of the lingering snow on the shaded north side. Technically, I stopped at Little Bandera, but the extra effort through the snow to "Big Bandera" does not provide any real payoff.

Despite the hazy weather, Rainier was still visible. Mount Adams was hard to make out, and even harder to capture in a photo.

The descent down from Bandera is rough. The trail appears to just drop off. Every step requires significant care, and the old knees are never happy with me afterwards.

The additional effort to add on Mason Lake was trivial compared to the Bandera route. The lake was nothing spectacular, but it was still pleasant, with a cool breeze and plenty of shade.