A two-fer Sunday: Mason Lake first, then Bandera. And boy, are my legs sore!
We got to the Ira Spring trailhead early, just before 7. The parking lot was less than halfway full, so getting there early pays off on a sunny day! The road in was fine, lots of potholes, but nothing that even a low-clearance vehicle couldn't handle. That said, there's a big one where the paved road meets the gravel/unpaved road. Be ready for that one!
The trailhead toilet was in pretty good shape, though low on toilet paper even when I used it that morning, so it's a good idea to bring your own (and bring your own hand sanitizer, too).
Note: If you choose to do Mason Lake + Bandera in one day, I highly recommend heading to Mason Lake first (a la doing Bridal Veil Falls before Lake Serene, if you're familiar). My wobbly legs would not have wanted to continue to Mason Lake after descending from Bandera (lol).
TO MASON LAKE
Because we got such an early start, it was a quiet hike up to Mason Lake. We got passed by a few backpackers who were heading down, and a couple of trail runners (and one very speedy hiker) who were on their way up. The trail is in good shape, albeit quite very rocky in some places, so poles were nice on the way down when my legs were a little wobblier.
The lake is beautiful, as always. It's been years since I've been to the lake, and it's as lovely as I remember. Bugs were annoying at the lake, though they weren't mosquitoes and were never bad enough to pull out any bug spray. We sat around the lake for a while, and got the lake to ourselves for like 20 minutes — another nice bonus to starting early!
TO BANDERA
It has also been many years since I've done Bandera and I apparently forgot how steep this hike was. WOW.
The trail is in pretty good shape — that is, it's easy to follow for the most part, and, with poles, I didn't have too tough of a time staying on my feet. That said, I would not have wanted to come down this trail without poles. Lots of "rock steps" (if you can call them that — they're really mostly just rocks, see photo #3), though you get incredible views the whole time, and the top of Adams as you climb higher.
We saw wildflowers all day, but they were really popping on this stretch to Bandera, with paintbrush, beargrass, tiger liles, and probably other wildflowers I'm forgetting/can't identify (because I'm bad at identifying plantlife). It was really beautiful. My pictures don't do any of it justice.
We stopped at Little Bandera Peak. We heard other folks talking about how the trail ahead to Bandera was a big of a mess, and we felt good about stopping there. There were nice rocks to sit on there for a break, and we were just about ready to start heading back down to the trailhead anyway.
We (unsurprisingly) ran into many more folks on our way down, and the parking lot was full when we got back, with cars parked down the road over a quarter-mile. A fun day for a pretty tough hike!
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