Mason Lake is a winter wonderland right now and still accessible. Beyond that trail conditions are less favorable. It's good to have flexible plans this time of year.

Today's original objective was Mason Lake and a side trip to whatever peak looked most favorable, Bandera or Defiance. I changed plans when I got to the talus field near the Bandera turn off and encountered 40 mph wind gusts. I decided to head for Island and Rainbow Lakes instead. 

There was snow on the trail starting at the top of the ridge, but just a dusting. Mason Lake was delightful. The trees on the far side of the lake are dusted white. Wind was high at the lake outlet, but the north side of the lake provided a sheltered place for lunch.

Beyond Mason, the trail conditions get more challenging, mostly from ice and deep water pools covering the trail. There's also snow in some sections. Right now spikes aren't helpful, but waterproof boots and poles are nice. 

Sir Richard's Pond was more scenic than usual as it's now mostly frozen. I didn't get much farther than that. After negotiating several parts of the trail that were deeply covered with water I turned around. 

Temperatures today really dropped higher up due to the wind. I used most of my layers at some point. 

Total mileage today was 9.5 and elevation to the point beyond Sir Richard's Pond was 2700'. I saw around 15 people total all day. Parking lot was mostly empty when I arrived around 9:30 and still had a bunch of spots when I returned.

Nice hike up to Mason Lake today. There was light snow on the trail about a half mile from lake but nothing hard to pass. Lightly snow covered lake was beautiful!

TLDR: there is a bit of snow now above 3500 feet. The rocks are heavily dusted with an inch or two of snow, edging into winter travel conditions.

We hiked/ran a lollipop loop, starting from the small parking area off Exit 42, just north of the highway, up the "mushroom trail" along Mason Creek to the Ira Spring trailhead, out to Putrid Pete's Peak, along Banana Ridge, past Defiance and Mason Lake and down the new trail. The route is well described elsewhere, so a few notes on conditions:

• Snow starts to appear on the way up to P3. It wasn't terribly slippery but navigation is becoming more difficult. My Strava logged a 1h18m mile approaching the P3 summit, then a 35min mile along the ridge. 
• The ridgeline had maybe two inches of snow most of the way. It was lightly snowing at times yesterday, despite being dry in Seattle.
• Finding your footing near the P3 summit and along the ridge has become a little tedious. 
• We didn't tag Defiance as we'd gotten a bit cold in the scrambly sections earlier and didn't feel like re-entering the realm of Type 2 fun. 
• The trail east of the Defiance turnoff was in lovely shape -- 2-3 inches of untouched snow on the trail. One of those "more comfortable in the snow than it would have been in the rain" kinds of days. Another trip reporter said it was quite mucky up there two days ago. The fresh snow cleaned that up for us, but I feel like that's a narrow window.
• The low clouds were lovely and a bit gloomy for most of the day. We got a short peek at a patch of blue sky for a minute near Mason Lake. 

TLDR: No snow! :o But bring poles

The long version...

Road:

The road to the Ira Spring Trailhead is in fine condition. A few sections of minor potholes, but that's it. This morning, it was a bit bogged down/wet and sloppy in parts, which did make me slide slightly once.

To Mason Lake:

I arrived at a sleepy parking lot, and to my great surprise, I noticed a bright light in the sky. Since I still had service, I checked the hourly forecast, and sure enough, a bright yellow spot was showing in the forecast for only about 3 hours. Determined to investigate this celestial phenomenon, I made short work of the climb to Mason. Sure enough, I had pockets of blue sky! I passed one couple on the way up and ran into two backpackers at the lake. Other than that, I didn't see anyone for the rest of the way up to Defiance. No snow. I worried about crossing the outlet, but it actually wasn't too bad. 

To Mt. Defiance:

It was rather windy at the lake, which didn't bode well for the summit. But I happily pressed on, with the sun peeking through the trees occasionally. The variation from year to year is really amazing. One year ago, almost to the day, I was trudging through deep, fresh snow while breaking trail towards Defiance. Crazy! Not even a hint of snow until the very tippy top. That being said, it was muddy and sloppy past Mason. Once on the ridge, I was treated to glorious, warm sun and epic views. I used my GPS to make sure I didn't blow right on past the spur to the summit. It's a steep, final climb, but never hard to find the trail. 

Summit:

VERY windy! Finally, evidence of snow appeared at the top, but all off trail. I didn't stay too long, as clouds were floating in and out, occasionally obscuring the views. I instead descended a wee bit and found a rock. I then proceeded to splat out, marmot-style, and bask in the warmth from that lovely star. I truly lucked out with the weather window. It wasn't long before the clouds came, and I knew the time to head down was here.

Descent:

I hadn't seen anyone for hours and was loving the solitude. On the way down, I did start to run into a few people, but it was more or less deserted (compared to summer!) What a ghost town! Do be mindful that the roots are slippery between Defiance and Mason. Also save some energy, because remember that you must drag your weary carcass back out of the lake basin before heading back down towards the trailhead.

I led a stalwart group of seven hikers and one dog on a through hike from the Pratt Lake TH (I-90 Exit 47) to the lower Mason TH (aka I-90 Exit 42). We started early at 8:00 AM, in case snow slowed us down, since we wanted to finish before dark. It turned out to only take 6.5 hours, and we hardly ran into any snow. A great day out in the ALW, as we visited four lakes and laid eyes on four others.

STATS: About 11.5 miles in 6:30, 3400' elevation gain. This includes the side trip to Island Lake and the Blazer Lake overlook, and about 30 minutes of breaks and stopping for lunch.
 
ROAD / TH: We left some cars at I-90 Exit 42 and then drove up to Exit 47 to start our hike at the Pratt Lake TH. No special cars or gravel road driving required! I would say there were about 3-4 other cars at Exit 42 when we returned, and probably 20 cars at Pratt Lake at the end of our hike. We walked past the Ira Spring TH and that lot was full at some point today, since a few cars were parked along the road. The bathroom at the Pratt Lake / Granite Mt. TH was fully stocked and in good condition.

PRATT LAKE TRAIL: As always, this trail is in great condition. The waterfalls are lovely right now, and don't pose any difficulty in crossing. This is not much in the way of views, but there is a nice shot of Ollalie Lake just before you reach the top of the trail. Lots of big trees and dense forest, and a steady climb that never feels steep but will keep your blood pumping. At the top of the ridge, where the trail drops down toward Pratt Lake, we stayed left to follow the Mount Defiance Trail. No snow and hardly any mud or water to this point.

MOUNT DEFIANCE TRAIL (aka Island / Rainbow Lake): This starts as a fun ridge-top walk through some nice trees and rocks, before becoming a side-hill along the south edge of Pratt Mountain. The trail climbs about 450' to its high point before dropping down into the Island / Rainbow Lake basin. If you look carefully, you can spot Talapus Lake through the trees to your left. Continuing on, you will pass Rainbow Lake, climb a bit more and arrive at Sir Richard's Pond. This pond is a bug-fest in the summer, but a very pretty spot with expansive views to the back side of Bandera Mountain. Continuing on past the pond, you climb yet again, before finally dropping down to the junction with the Ira Spring Trail (turn left). Just a little snow on this trail, mainly on the descent into the Rainbow Lake basin. There was also some water and mud onm the trail at times, mostly between Rainbow and Sir Richard's Pond. The camp sites at Rainbow Lake looked snow-free, though the lake had a thin layer of clear ice on top.

ISLAND LAKE TRAIL: This is a short trail (0.6 miles RT) that goes to Island Lake. I highly recommend this side trip, as it's an easy trail that goes past some pretty ponds, and Island Lake itself is very nice. A bit of mud and water on the trail but nothing serious. The camp sites at Island Lake were snow-free and the lake had no ice.

BLAZER LAKE OVERLOOK/TRAIL: In between the two outlet streams that run out of Rainbow Lake, you will find a primitive trail heading north. If you follow this trail, you will eventually come to the edge of a steep hill and get a great view of Blazer Lake below, and Kaleetan and Roosevelt in the distance. The trail does continue down to Blazer Lake, though we didn't venture down it today, so I can't report on the condition. There are a couple streams and a boggy area you have to cross to get to the overlook, so I wouldn't recommend it without waterproof footwear at this time.

IRA SPRING TRAIL (Mason Lake): No issues on the Ira Spring Trail, except for some muddy parts on the section between Mason Lake and the Mount Defiance junction. Lots of people enjoying Mason Lake today, including one group doing some cold swimming! There are new signs at the top and bottom of the Old Mason Lake Trail indicating that it is closed for restoration. At least, new since last winter. Crossing the lake outlet was no problem at all using the rocks in the creek. The camp sites at Mason Lake are snow-free.

MASON CREEK TRAIL: We followed the trail from the Mason Lake road down to Exit 42. This trail is in excellent shape with only one or two new blowdowns that were easily crossed over. Lots of nice moss and mushrooms in the forest now, and the logging from a few years ago has really let a lot of light into the forest here, especially in the lower half.

SNOW: Note - I marked the report as "snow free" since the vast majority of the trails we hiked (99%+) had no snow. This included the the Pratt Lake Trail up to the junction with the Mount Defiance Trail, and the entirety of the Mason Lake (Ira Spring) Trail. It didn't look like there was any snow leading down to Pratt Lake or Ollalie Lake, or up to Mount Defiance, but we didn't explore those trails so I can't say for sure. The only places we ran into any snow were dropping into Rainbow Lake, and quite a bit on the Island Lake Trail.

GEAR: Some of us used poles, but no one put on spikes for any of the snow sections. The snow we did find was often hard packed and icy, but mostly on flat ground, with enough rocks or other things to step on to avoid it. I'd still recommend bringing spikes, as conditions may change and individuals have different risk tolerances.