Went ENE toward left side of rock slide seen from top of Bandara to about 4800 ft at 609688mE and 5253361mN. Cross minor rock slides to a glenn. From glenn went upward above obvious cliff avoiding tempting airy trail by questionable log. Look up to see the waytrail. We had no exposure at any point. Waytrail led to broad meadows on ridge. When waytrail gets brushy go toward left side of ridge to relocate waytrail. Discovered manmade hole on ridge (winz') near 609811mE, 5253116mN. Continued down easy ridge (little bushwacking) to main trail at 609703mE, 5253370mN

Originally, I had planned on bagging Banana Ridge on the 4th of July, but due to some obligations I chose to do Bandera as it's shorter.

Bandera trail is as tough as always...I like to call the big steps in the ""trail"" Paul Bunyan Steps! But hey, flowers are out full force: beargrass, lupines, tiger lillies, and others. Only one or two patches of snow remain on the back side of Bandera.

The views are pretty good, but Defiance still rules!

Happy hiking!

John M.

Hiked up Bandera today, despite the gloomy skies. The dirt road to the trailhead is smooth and in good shape, any car will do fine. The bottom third of the trail(up to, and a little past the Mason Lk. trailhead)is a nice gradual stretch of trail. Soon things start heading up on a very rough and steep trail, all the way to the ridge. Though, you punch through the trees quickly. Very impressive watching the clouds engulf the entire valley! Once making the ridge, the trail starts and stops amongst large boulders. Keep your eye out, the trail always seems to pop back up. Trail along the ridge is snow free to the summit. Looks like there is a flat enough spot for a small tent or bivy. One hour and 45 minutes to the top, about the same to get back down. Saw only one other hiker on the Bandera portion of the trail, handful of others before the Mason Lk turnoff. Good hike.

Always had this dream to hike Bandera early in season. Yesterday turned out to be the day. Trail is in remarkably good condition with the road above the Mason Lake turnoff being recently chain-sawed clear of alder. Once the trail leaves the spur road, it turns straight uphill, steep with lots of erosion. At least there are views. We climbed to the first high point, elev 5100'. No snow to this point, but lots of snow further on the way to the true summit and plenty on the north slopes. We got this hair-brain idea to go down to Mason, so down we went, first on good snow, then further down on rotten snow with alder belays and the ""vortex of doom"", located between one rock and a down log. Eventually, we got to the trail around Mason, where the campsites are mainly snow free and the lake half melted out. The trail down was steep as ever. We did lose our way towards the bottom of the talus slope, they need more cairns in this section. Then the trail points down hill and after a long while, reaches the old logging road. We were amazed at the number of members of the ""Cotton Killz Club"" up there, people without packs of any kind, in sneakers, heading up late in the day. Is this a city park'