The road to Ira Spring trailhead is officially closed so you should park on the north side of Exit 42. This means a steep 0.6 mile uphill. When you come back down, delay crossing the river until the last possible moment to avoid bush-bashing through thorns.
The Chainsaw Fairy has visited very recently and done a wonderful job clearing the trail of what looks like a considerable number of recent blowdowns.
The Ira Spring trail was its usual wonderful self, delivering me several thousand feet upward to the squeaky pikas in the rocks. 100% cloud cover but a high ceiling so Little Tahoma was visible but not the top of the big peak.
As I dropped into the lake basin, the temperature dropped noticeably and the snow appeared. Mason Lake is iced over but the ice is pretty thin, especially around the edges. I didn’t try walking on it.
There was snow all the way from Mason Lake to the top. Bootprints from previous days showed that people had made it with poles but no spikes. I put light crampons on as it started getting steep.
That final 400-foot push to the summit is a bit of an aerobic test. The view is fabulous but highlights the low snowfall so far this winter. The aliens have been busy leaving wonderful patterns on Lake Kulla Kulla. I’d be grateful if any physicists could enlighten me on how such perfect formations occur.
I reached the summit at 12:45 and the clouds were already rushing in from the west. It was snowing heavily by 1pm but as I got further down, it inevitably turned to drizzly rain. Still, hiking down through the forest with the fresh rain smell and the emerging bird population was nice.
AllTrails said 11.8 miles but 1.2 miles of that was the trek from Exit 42 to the trailhead. There was nobody at all on the trail. I’ve never seen the Ira Spring Trail completely empty before. No cars, fresh bootprints, anything.
Comments
It irks me that the IRA spring road is closed because the road has been snow free for most of the winter. Maybe there are a few blowdowns blocking the road and the forest service can't afford to clear them but if that is the case they should let the public access the road and maybe someone will chainsaw the road themselves. I really don't want to pay for an annual forest pass when the forest service is making harder not easier to access their land. Not being able to drive to the trailhead makes Mt Defiance a much harder climb which I wouldn't care about if I was in good shape but my work has been especially hectic lately and staying in great shape has been impossible and while I have the skills to snow climb/have snow climbed many times before that much vertical would be a little tortuous. I'd much rather they put a sign on the road saying travel at you're own risk, we aren't going to dig out you're car and it could be stuck until spring then close the entire road.
Posted by:
SRIGGLE on Mar 02, 2026 09:48 AM
Good point. When I went up to Putrid Pete's in January, some people had moved the Road Closed sign and driven through to the Ira Spring trailhead. It kind of makes sense but I can see why the signs stay up. The Forest Service in Mount Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest has lost 36 employees due to recent Federal cuts - that's around a third of their workforce. They're having a hard time getting their workload done and for the immediate future we can probably expect closures that divert the remaining employees to essential work, rather than keeping roads open. I agree that the trek up from Exit 42 to the trailhead is irritating. I can also see why the sign stays there because if anyone did go off the road, the Forest Service would probably feel obligated to do something about it.
Posted by:
MrFrog on Mar 02, 2026 08:26 PM