Got in a hike before the rain started on a Saturday and before the snow comes in October. Got up to Little Bandera, but didn't go farther and try to get to Bandera's true summit. I talked to several people who tried to make it there, and they all turned around when the trail stopped around the boulder field between Little Bandera and Bandera. No snow at all! 

Road to the trailhead: Pretty uneventful, but right when the pavement transitions to dirt, there is a very big pothole that is somewhat dangerous if you take it at full speed. Slow down and go left, and it isn't bad. 

Trailhead: Bathroom was open with TP. Trash cans were taken care of. When I got there at 8 am on a dreary Saturday, there were about 8 cars in the parking lot. When I got done at around 1 pm, there were probably about 20, with still room to park. 

Trail: The Ira Spring Trail is in great shape up to the junction with the Bandera Trail, as usual. Some nice fall colors here and there. After the junction, it obviously gets very steep, with some rock hopping and boulder fields to cross. There are a few places where it might be easy to lose the trail, but if you keep going up, it isn't too bad. It wasn't fun coming down, but completely manageable. 

Wildlife: Saw a Ptarmigan right on the trail just short of the junction with Bandera. It flew to a tree about 10 ft off the trail, and I was able to get a picture of it. I was then able to look back on the boulder field just before the junction, and it had gotten back on the trail, and saw another group come up on it, and it flew away into a nearby tree again. Cool birds. 

Road - There are one or two sections with lots of potholes but any sedan can make it.

Trail was snow free and in good shape till false Summit. I followed the "unmaintained trail" towards the true summit from false summit. I went as far as the boot path goes and the boulder field starts. This is where I turned out as I wanted to get off the mountain (steep part) and get back to flat trail before rain starts. 

When going towards Summit, I lost the trail at some point when I hit boulders in between and ventured left on to boulders. Boot path was actually a bit right. If you are not on visible boot path, then you have ventured off. It also seems there were two boot paths. When going towards Summit, I was kind of mostly on the ridge or just a bit off of it. When I was heading back, I unknowingly took a different boot path which dropped elevation and took me away from from ridge a bit. I noticed it as I could see myself losing elevation but decided to carry on as it seemed well trodden. I was hoping at some point it will gain back elevation but it didn't. As I was nearing false summit, I just did some side hilling and got back on the boot path as per gaia gps. 

In hindsight, weather held up, so I could have made a run for Summit and not worried about rain as much.

Arrived just before 10am. Parking lot was about 3/4 full.  Privy was open and stocked with TP.

Beautiful day be on the trail.  Rainier was out providing a spectacular snow-covered backdrop to the South.  The trail is in great condition for most of the way up.  A little bit of snow showed up on the side around mile 3.  The final climb to the false summit has snow and ice in the shadows which made it a bit more interesting both up and down.  The trail became harder to find near the top with no clear path to the true summit.

Arrived 10:30am. Trail is easy to follow. Inch of snow on the last third past the tree-line that warrants being careful. A lot of zigzag switchback and not many flat/clear areas. Good condition overall. Parking lot fairly full when we left at about 2pm.

Awesome day on the trail today, got there about 9am with still a good amount of parking left and for a holiday it really wasent that busy on the Ira spring trail and by the time I started up bandera mtn, there was almost no one for along time! The last half mile was full of wild blueberries and huckleberries! Well worth the scramble to get to them! Happy hiking!