Bandera is a tale of three trails: the first 1.5 miles is a mellow converted road walk, then it starts climbing for real on singletrack until just shy of 3 miles from the trailhead, and then once the Bandera parts with the Ira Spring trail it starts climbing for real FOR REAL for the push to Little Bandera. That last half mile felt like more effort than the sum of the first three miles.

The road to the trailhead is in good shape apart from a few short sections of moderate potholes scattered throughout that any car should be able to navigate slowly. There is one giant pothole (or asteroid impact crater?) right where the paved road ends, on the uphill side of the road, which is best avoided entirely by driving on the left side when heading in.

There were 13 cars in the lot at 8am on this Tuesday and about 30 at 11:30am. The trailhead privy was in great condition.

The trail is in great shape for its entirety. There are a bunch of wildflowers with quite a bit of variety getting more frequent the higher on the trail you go. Bugs were not bad on the Ira Spring portion of the trail, but the mosquitoes were awful on the whole section above the Bandera/Mason fork.

Be advised that there is a huge rut on the FS road as you head from pavement to gravel. If you're speeding you could have serious problems with your car.

6 of us got to the parking lot for a 6:30 Tuesday morning start and there were only 4 other cars (backpackers) in the lot. By 2 p.m. when we returned the lot was 1/2 full but most of the people were either doing Bandera or backpacking to Rainbow/Island -- we didn't see them. Northwest Forest Pass is required; kiosk is available at this trailhead. Latrines are stocked and clean. Check out McClellan Butte due south before heading up the trail nad watch for peeks at Rainier as you ascend.

The route is in good condition with lots of wildflowers and stellar views. Bugs are annoying but spray/bug nets were helpful. The lake is definitely worth going in. If you go early enough, you'll hear picas in the boulders and may even feel underground caverns - refrigeration - providing a little cooler air pockets in the first boulder field.

We had 19 bird species on the morning, with bear grass, Indian Paintbrush, tiger lilies, and more. Past their peak but still incredibly beautiful. No bears (saw one here 4 years ago). Bring AT LEAST 3 liters apiece; leader drank close to a gallon.

CHS-2 pace (Mountaineers Conditioning for Hiking Series) started out 2.6 mph but by 40 minutes when we started gaining elevation we dropped to 2.2 and reached Mason Lake in 1:40. After a 15-minute fuel and hydration break (including visits to the official toilet - no TP but still space) we started up to the summit with good looks at Adams, Rainier, Baker, Stuart, Lake Kulla Kulla and Mason Lake. A small group of 4-6 came up after us from their camping spot. We saw a handful of hikers, trail runners, backpackers, and a few dogs (oh my, those poor, poor dogs in this HEAT!!)

I strongly recommend participants have some rudimentary skills in scrambling or someone with steep hiking experience in your party to coach anyone feeling nervous down the steep scrambly-route. I demonstrated hand and foot positions and gave some advice to a new-to-steep-and-dusty student directly behind me. The dirt IS VERY DRY and some of the steeper areas give way pretty readily. The exposed ascent and descent added to our total time but we still managed 2.0 mph average pace for the round trip.

The highlight besides the stellar view was the time at the lake when we all could enjoy our success and wade in the water. After about 45 minutes, we headed back to the cars in pretty significant heat, but fortunately it was all downhill. I don't advise going up much later than we did (especially 7/16), as it was pretty hot. If possible do this on an overcast or cooler day.

All in all a lovely outing with a hearty group of hikers.

I wasn't quite powered out from a hike earlier the same day, so I decided to hike up Mount Defiance for some evening light. I started at the trailhead at around 2:30pm on a Friday. There were parking spots available at the trailhead at that time.

It's a steady, long climb up the ridge that can get somewhat monotonous. The trail is easy to walk on, with the occasional talus field interrupting it.

Mason Lake is pretty and extremely popular with overnight campers. Arrive early if you want a camp spot. Too many backpackers went up too late that day, setting themselves up for disappointment with campsites gone.

The views from the top of the mountain are good. Not as good as Mailbox Peak or Snoqualmie Mountain though in my opinion.

It took me four and a half hours up and down, not counting taking breaks. I spent about six hours and forty minutes on this hike with breaks.

The climb is doable for fit hikers with no climbing experience. There isn't much exposure, very limited amounts of scree sections and minimal scrambling on rocks.

You'll need bug spray. The mosquito situation is very annoying. You will get bit.

The wildflowers along the trail are some of the prettiest I have seen this year.

I'll add more pictures from this hike on Flickr later, so check back again if you want to see more images.

Arrived at the Ira Spring trailhead at 8 AM, to plenty of parking available. The lot filled up later in the day but only a few cars parked on the road. Privy is in great condition.

On the road in, which starts out paved but soon turns to dirt, beware the very nasty pothole right where the pavement ends. It's not so much a pothole as a trench that stretches almost across the whole lane.

I did the clockwise loop: up Putrid Pete's Peak, across the ridge to Mt. Defiance, to the top of Defiance and back, then down past Mason Lake and back to the TH. I didn't bother scrambling east from P3 to the true summit of Web Mountain.

Although the wildflowers are past peak, there are still many in bloom. I'm sorry I'm too ignorant to list them all.

Bugs were a serious annoyance at times. Most were the little ones that irritatingly swarm without biting. A few times it got to the point where I inhaled a few. Fortunately a little breeze was enough to provide some relief.

As many have commented, the trail up to P3 is very steep, and just keeps getting more so as you go along. Altogether it's about 3000 feet, and the last 1000 happen in just 1/3 mile. But at least that last section is wide open so it's not difficult to find a route. Lower down, near the top of a series of switchbacks in the forest, I fumbled into a route that put me in the middle of a huge boulder field. And I made the same mistake when I did this last year, too! The real trail, or at least the sensible trail, goes below that boulder field. But it does go through the middle of a smaller one higher up. I highly recommend GPS sanity checks.

I've never gone down P3. I think that would be considerably worse than going up, especially on tired knees. I prefer to head across the ridge leading the Mt. Defiance. This time I avoided the pitfall of drifting too far down the southern side of the ridge line. I stayed as close as possible to the top of the ridge, and though it is rough in places, that's the best route. It helped that another hiker was in front to show me the way (hi Leanne!). And of course the views are great up there. The whole of Mt. Rainier was in our faces today, the top of Adams, Glacier Peak, Mt. Baker, and everything in between.

Amazing day for this hike - blue skies and plenty of flowers in the alpine meadow on Defiance.  For me the best part of the hike was past Mason lake where there were fewer people.  Appreciate the message about the huge pothole as soon as the road turns to gravel (on the right) -otherwise road fine in a sedan.  1130 arrival and got one of the last two spots on a friday.  Dog was hot on the way up - steady climb so consider whether yours is up for it.  Sit down in the alpine meadow before the final climb up Defiance and have a snack.  I missed the turn off for the final climb at the end of the meadow - probably because I was looking at the mountains.  Final climb is steep and you will need hands to climb a bit but it is not too long.  I pretty fit but haven't been hiking much this season.  I am definitely sore today and my knees might have appreciated some poles on the way down.