Beautiful and challenging. Muddy in places and trail often was unclear due to snow or mud. Snow top few hundred feet. Boulder field was mostly dry and easy to negotiate. Light hiking boots did the job but just barely.

The raw review given about this trail in the Mountaineers 2nd Edition, is undeserved. The old growth trees, the water falls, and the lake itself more then make up for the admittedly 'rough' trail!! 4-5 feet of snow covered the ground for the last 1/3 of the hike but the foot prints were easy to follow for the rest of the way.

This walk starts out with an easy warmup on an abandoned logging road. Switchbacks start at the junction with Bandera Mountain trail and are in fairly good condition with views south across I-90. At about 1/4 mile the trail splits. I took the left (wrong) fork which follows Mason creek for another 1/4 mile and then disappears. After a half hour of careful scrambling I found the trail just before the boulder field which is quite steep and covered in 3-4 feet of snow. An ice axe would be helpful here. Snow was deep to the lake and finding the trail was hit or miss. The rewards at the lake made all the step-kicking worthwhile. Still frozen over, with a 6 inch frosting of snow, the lake was picturesque and the bowl was beautiful, the sun breaking through the high overcast as I arrived. After half an hour a heavy mist dropped into the bowl, hovering about 15 feet over the lake. Heading back down I found the official trail much steeper and in poor repair. I had the trail and the lake all to myself today. I expect that as soon as the snow melts this nearby subalpine lake will be mobbed.

The Alpine Lakes - The trail up to Mason Lake has snow starting about1/3 to 1/2 the way up. Much of it is in that in-betweenstage where snowshoes aren't needed, but you punchthrough in boots too often. It's solid snow soon,and on this warm day quite slushy. But I got tohike in my shorts for the first time this year. Good thing Ihad my sunglasses on, too! Having just read the webmeister's hint on how toimprovise gaitors with rolled-down socks and pulled-down thermal pants,I managed to keep relatively dry feet. Mason L. is99% covered in snow (just the outlet is thawed), andsome brave souls had walked across it. I continuedpast little Mason L., and on up to Mt. Defiance.Perfect day, little wind and views from Baker to Adams.The slopes were avanlanche-prone, but the route to thetop is fairly well protected most of the way.

My buddy and I arrived at the trailhead to find only one other truck in the parking lot on this fine morning. We opted for the Mason Lake trail instead of Bandera this time. Seems the trail has been re-routed since the last time I was up there and for a while I thought I was on the Bandera straight up climb! We found the snow after a half mile or so which made the boulder field crossing much easier than in summer. Many thanks to the person(s) who kicked in the steps up the last climb to the lake! The winter scene of the lake was so peaceful with it's blanket of snow that we decided to just kick back, munch on some biscuits and soak some rays. Within minutes the sun disappeared behind the clouds and we started to get chilled. After waving frantically to whoever was climbing Bandera, we headed back down. This trail is in great shape and makes a great climb for a free morning or afternoon.