Where to begin!? The road is in pretty much the same condition as always - good, not great. Potholes are not too deep; there are many in some places. Trail in excellent condition.
Thimbleberries are still ripe and delicious. Not numerous though. Past the turn off for Bandera is where the huckle & blueberries on the hillside start to become more numerous. (keep reading for more about the berries)
CAMPING at Mason Lake: There are only 2 campsites, both are slanted. There is a 3rd site off to the left of the trail, but you will not have a view of the water. After setting up camp at Mason Lake I headed onward for Mount Defiance with a lighter load. Now the huckleberries are more plentiful, but not quite ripe yet in most places. Just not enough sunlight around Mason basin area.
DEFIANCE was beautiful, as always. On a Wednesday around 1pm, I had the peak to myself for nearly an hour. NO BUGS!! Thank the high heavens (and the partial cloud cover that probably deterred them). The clouds kept moving around. I could not see any peaks south of I-90. From here, I decided to see what Spider Valley view was (headed towards Thompson Lake). It's a pretty significant drop down, that you'll have to come back up, and I went from feeling very safe as a solo hiker to realizing I was in a more significant bear area, made obvious by 3 bear tracks on the trail. This trail was gorgeous. I loved it. Spider meadow has no trail that crosses it, but you can see there is a drop across the meadow, which probably opened up to the view. I did not cross the meadow, since it was more than a 20ft jaunt, and there was no trail. I headed back up towards the split with Defiance, and down to Mason Lake. Lots of pikas around Mason lake. I did not see them, but I heard them all night and starting around 5AM.
In the morning, thanks to my pika alarm clock, I was up about 5:15 and wondering what to do with myself. Around 7:30 I set out in the other direction towards Island lake to explore. BERRIES BERRIES BERRIES! go this way if you want to eat blueberries till you are blue! The blueberries start to get thick as you approach Sir Richard's Pond, and don't stop there. This area is just meadows of blueberries, so it gets more light and they are RIPE and FALL FOLIAGE is already starting (crazy!). Berries will be your companion all the way to Island Lake. At Island lake there are many huckleberries along the water.
CAMPING at Rainbow & Island Lakes: There are 3 spots around Rainbow, 2 of which are only large enough for a single, but they appear flat. At Island lake, there is just 1 open area, it is slanted, and it's the only area I can see on the map and could find via trail suitable for a tend. (I did not have the leg strength in me to make it down and up to Kulla Kulla, so that will have to wait till next time.) Just down from Mason lake > Island lake and back to Mason was 720ft. (ya, I know, this is not a lot, but just keep it in mind when you are adding it to others).
Back to my car about 1PM on Thursday. Lot was mostly full, but still a few spots. No one parked on the road.
IG @linz_obsessions for more adventures & pictures of PNW trails (the best locations will not be tagged)
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