Ira Spring Trail - Mason Lake — Thursday, Jul. 8, 2004

Snoqualmie Region > Snoqualmie Pass

With clouds drifting from the corners of the mountains, I decided to hike the lakes along the Ira Spring trail. The scenery begins once you climb beyond the old road and start to ascend the bear grass talus slopes of Banderra. These slopes would be hot on a sunny day, but beneath the clouds the climb was cool. Dropping down towards Mason Lake the trails transforms into a moist jaunt amongst moss-drenched trees. I continued up the steep and slick trail beyond Mason Lake towards Pratt Lake - turning around at Rainbow Lake as a sky-filling wall of clouds descended towards the lakes. By the time I returned to Mason Lake the lake was so thoroughly enshrouded in fog that standing at its edge you could not tell if the water you saw at your feet was the start of a great lake or a pond that you could jump over. The fog continued until I was descending the talus slopes where I saw my first fellow hiker - someone bound for a cloud-bound destiny atop Banderra. In total I saw only 8 hikers not counting those camping at Rainbow Lake. There were bugs but I easily out-walked all but one.