Island Lake - Rainbow Lake, Ira Spring Trail - Mason Lake — Friday, May. 30, 2025

Nice sunny Friday, so I headed up to the lakes area beyond Mason. About 10 cars in the lot at 8am but there was a huge overflow by 2pm. FR 6030 is in great condition. The extension up to the Mason trailhead has a few potholes but my Corolla had no trouble.

Ira Spring Trail is its usual wonderful self with blooming Trillium and stunning views of Tahoma. Mason Lake is clear of ice and the trail is snow-free until you dip into the basin just before Sir Richard's Pond. From then on, it's all snow undercut by meltwater and the consequent risk of postholing. I used crampons but snowshoes may have been a better choice - the gradient is not steep in this section, and I broke through the crust way too many times. I met a hiker at the Mt Defiance trail junction who said the steep, snow-covered scree made the ascent a pretty dispiriting experience. As far as I could see from the lack of tracks, I was the only one to get to Island Lake in the past week or so. It's a great contrast to the well-populated Mason Lake.

The ice on Sir Richard's Pond is breaking up into picturesque patterns. Rainbow Lake is about half-thawed and the frogs are becoming active. Island Lake is still iced over but the snow on the steep banks is sun-cupped and the precipitous waterfall down to Talapus is in full flow.