Ira Spring Trail - Mason Lake — Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026

Started at 8:30am from exit 42 at the end of Tinkham road. There were 13 additional cars by the time we got back.

The connector trail was in good shape given the tree damage that recently happened. That section was short but beautiful, and worth having the standard road reported as closed.

The snow started being more present at 3500ft. You can get to the lake without much traction. But we put microspikes at the first bigger boulder field. It will likely be gone soon because the snow is sticky and the human traffic of today likely will remove a lot of it. Our microspikes were removing chunks of it on the way down.

I tested the lake with my foot and it broke instantly. We choose not to go farther given the cloud coverage and the low temperatures at the lake.

We had great views on the way up but the fog was going up so that it got worse on our way down.

Despite the sun not succeeding at piercing those clouds, it was a great hike in minimal snow and lots of moss!