Hiked the P3-Defiance-Mason Lake loop via the ridge.
Trail to P3 gets steep after a while and previous trip reports are pretty accurate about it. Only weird thing was at some point my Gaia gps sort of disagreed with the P3 trail for a bit. I was thinking to follow the actual trail than gps as it seemed pretty well traveled. Then I met a group also and followed them for a bit and crossed the boulders which I remembered from last time I was on P3. Then gps was on track after that.
P3 to defiance - Stay on the top of ridge. There is a boot path most of the way until you merge with the Mount Defiance trail. I had to scramble tad bit here and there on the open ridge. When you hit the tree line from open ridge, boot path is still easy to follow. About 0.1 mile from junction to Defiance trail, boot path gets faint and starts to climb up a bit. Don't resist the climb and eventually you will see the actual trail.
Rest of the trip to Defiance, Mason Lake and back to trailhead was straight forward.
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