Miles: 8.5 mile loop
Elevation Gain/Highest: 3518ft/5220ft
Map: Green Trails Bandera No 206, my GAIA
Favorite Eats After Hike: Garlic Crush, Agave Cocina, North Bend Bar & Grill, Chang Thai & Pho, The Commonwealth, or just Pack A Cooler. You can learn more about these places in my Must Hike Must Eat Eating Out Guide.
Find out current conditions and as always, practice Leave No Trace. Pretty please.
My hike:
7/6/2018 A friend from the Everett Mountaineers scrambling course and I took a ramble up on I-90 to practice rock scrambling. We had both been told there was some loose rock on the route and with thunderstorms in the forecast we thought we’d get on trail early and test it out.
This loop starts at the Ira Spring trailhead and when we arrived at 7:30am, the parking lot was already half full. I wasn’t too worried, though, our route was going to be a bit off the beaten path. After just .17 miles up the Ira Spring, we kept straight at the switchback where most folks turn up a switchback to the right towards Mason Lake and headed into the forest on a lesser traveled trail.
We followed the trail as it stayed relatively straight until about 1 mile in when it met a junction and began a set of steep switchbacks up. There was a small sign, we were headed for PPP or P3 as it is known by those in the know. We had only gained 500ft at this point, a modest climb. The next .9 mile would be another 1000ft before our first glimpse of the views to come peeked through the trees as we neared the treeline at about 3750ft. There is a point where the trail comes close to a stream, this was the last water until we reached Mason Lake much later in our trek. It is a little confusing here, there is more than one path to continue but as long as you keep heading up you will be fine.
Soon, there was a small talus field to cross and the sun radiated through a peephole up above us. Now our climb really begun, the trail followed a boot path on the rib of the slope straight up to Putrid Pete’s Peak which topped out at 5,220ft (that’s 1,500ft in less than .5 miles) ending with some rock slab to scramble up at arrive at 11am. Views of McClellan Butte, Mount Kent, Duke of Kent, and Mount Gardner laid out before us across I-90. Even the tip of Rainier was evident when the clouds parted enough.
The rock hadn’t been as loose as we had anticipated and there were multiple boot paths that led up to the ridge. West Defiance and Web Mountain were off to our left and Mount Defiance and Bandera stood proudly to our right. This would have been a wildflower bonanza a few weeks prior; the beargrass, columbia lily and paintbrush were all just a little past prime. We were pretty sure we could see the Seattle skyline, too.
The views were glorious! We had beaten the weather that was due to roll in around noon and enjoyed our time at the top for about 45 minutes. We were loving the view so much, when I told my friend I had read it was possible to walk the ridge and make a loop back down to our car, she was game to try it out.
Leaving our perch, we continued along the crest between Putrid Pete and Mount Defiance. A path wove between the rocks, staying mostly on the crest itself allowing for most of our steps to be on rock. It was interesting to view the peak from below as we made our way down, it looked so much more formidable from this angle.
It took us about 2 hours to traverse the .75 miles of the crest, mostly due to too many pictures and retracing steps when my friend realized she had left something behind near our stop. Totally worth it for the breathtaking scenery around us, considering we were just up from a busy interstate.
Where the ridge runs into the tree line at Mount Defiance, we followed a boot path into the trees that ran the contour line. I was expecting something more defined based on the map, turns out we were a bit below the Mount Defiance trail and had to scramble up a bit.
Next time, I would drop a bit to the left when leaving the crest where it widens to meet up with it. We hit the spur for the Mount Defiance summit a little after 2pm and the clouds had begun to darken the sky. Sprinkles told us that the summit would have to be missed for today but I couldn’t imagine the views would be better than what we had already experienced.
The trail makes its way across a meadowed slope with a view of Mason down below. From here we continued down a well worn trail filled with mud and polished roots to the lake, arriving about 3pm. It was going to be a busy weekend, at least 4 tents I could see meant lots of campers. The bugs were not as bad as the last time I had been at Mason Lake and my friend was getting ready for a quick dip in the water when thunder echoed across the lake and it begun to rain in earnest. Oh well, time to head back to the car.
The new rain was adding to an already muddy trail from Mason Lake and we quickly made our way through the trees to where the trail sweeps across the slopes of Bandera. The wildflowers here were a brighter than what we had seen so far and the storm was passing. We could look up behind us at the crest we had been on, now shrouded. We sure had good timing!
We passed plenty of day hikers and backpackers headed up to Mason (only one person claimed to be heading to Thompson) as we made our way back down the long switchbacks of Ira Spring to complete our loop. The trail here was as wide as I remembered it, allowing for plenty of traffic to and fro. We paused just a minute at the bridge over Mason Creek before arriving back at our car at almost 5pm and 9.2 miles for the day. Much longer than we had anticipated but so much fun!
Directions: Head east from Seattle on I-90 and take exit 45 off and turn north (left) onto FR 9030. In less than a mile the road meets FR 9031, stay left. Follow the road to its end. There is a large parking lot and a privy. Expect crowds, this is a very popular trailhead. Northwest Forest Pass needed.
For more hikes on I-90, click HERE.
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