FORD CAR KEYS FOUND and they are attached to the bullitan board! 

Beautiful trail snow free now. Some potholes on unpaved road to TH. 

Beautiful! We got to TH at 8:30 Tuesday morning and lot was empty. Didn’t see anyone until the way down. Lot was half full when we got back to car at noon. 7.18 miles 2266 ft gain

Road: Divets in road, nothing we couldn't pass in a sedan.

Ira Spring Trail to Mason Lake: Simply wonderful! Easy goings up Ira Spring trail to the Bandera/Mason lake fork. Better conditions to Mason Lake than when I visited last week - a lot of the snow has melted, and the ground is slowly becoming more traversable. Descent to Mason Lake has sizable mud patches, so be mindful of footing.

Mason Lake to Mt. Defiance: Conditions... made me feel alive? Trail going around the lake to the mountain is a bit muddy, but easy enough to traverse around. We're not late enough into the season for full snow melt yet, so the remaining snow is quite squidgy - some of the patches going up to the summit are wet patches of deep snow. Establish steady footing before proceeding.

I'll admit - I kind of ate it on a patch of wet snow and slid 20ft near the summit on the way down, scary stuff. Fortunately the snow was deep enough to self-arrest myself, but I'm saving my next visit for later in the summer. The snow's just a little awkward to traverse right now. Bring atleast microspikes, and be careful! Happy trails.

Lost my brand new tenkara fly fishing pole, and some wonderful hikers saw my post and connected me with the person that left a note/call at the trail head! Thank you! 

Hike to mason was snow free, lakes still a little frozen, no fish biting yet. I went on to Mt. Defiance, which had about 400 yards of snow to navigate the back side. The front side had some snow patches. Recommend some good traction shoes or crampons with hiking poles.  Top had a great view!! 

Enjoyed a night out at Mason Lake the Sunday of the holiday weekend and a climb up Defiance before the whole area became enveloped by a cloud. Trail was very popular on Sunday, but starting at 2pm helped us get a spot in the main lot and we were one of very few parties heading up at that time. Almost no snow on the way to the lake, where we snagged one of the last suitable campsites.

Climbed Defiance in the late afternoon, passing a handful of parties heading down. Sections of the trail were a bit hard to follow, so having navigation helped. Poles did, too, for the few tricky snowy areas. We put our microspikes on for a steep snowy area but took them off a minute later - with our poles, we really didn't need them. 

Couple noteworthy things at the lake: Residue from a fire, which, as signed, isn't allowed. And some shelter materials that were clearly ditched - see pics. 

Overall, a great first night of the year out despite waking up in a cloud to that familiar drizzling sound on the tent.