Did a CW loop of Putrid Pete then east along the ridge to the Mt. Defiance trail and back around to my truck. 

P3 is the steepest hike I've ever done! I was using my hands most of the way past the switchbacks. The boot path is easy to follow. Good condition right now, dried out from the snowmelt. The last scramble up to the top of the summit block is a bit dicey with not a lot of space to sit and hang out at the top. You can get a very similar view from a small saddle about 100’ east on the ridge.

There seem to be two boot paths along the ridge—one that runs mostly along the top and one that traverses the slope about 50’ below. The lower one seemed sketchy to me so I took the upper one. I’d rather walk on top of a ridge than on the side slope any day. The top route meanders around a bit and sometimes you have to poke around for it, but I never really lost the boot path.

Connecting to a “real trail” upon reaching Mt. Defiance was a relief! I didn’t go to the top of Defiance because I’ve done it before, but I highly recommend it. The rest of the loop was super easy. Barely any snow on the usual patch descending down the east end of Defiance Ridge to Mason Lake. There was some black mud caused by snowmelt though, which I fell into and got on my pants. Good thing I keep a towel in my truck. :)

Bear grass is about halfway to peak. Lots of purple flowers and some Indian paintbrush starting. 

Putrid Pete via Ira Springs TH is steep but stunning, parking is a mess. Thank you again to the Volunteer Ranger we saw out on the trail! Poles and GPS highly highly recommended making a loop, not coming down the steep section, like we did. 

Road/Parking: Road isn't terrible but it is getting worse again and a few pot holes are unavoidable. Most vehicles should be fine if you go slow. Parking is a mess, completely full by 7:30 and cars park way down the road, making getting out a mess with two way traffic. Pit toilet was open and had a line, we didn't investigate. 

Trail: We planned to do the loop, but we had to go down the way we came instead due to a medical incident. It is doable, but I 100% don't recommend! Going up is steep and slick, but on the way down gravity is trying to accelerate you off the cliff instead of just slow you down. The last 500-1000 ft are stunning with views and flowers everywhere! The beargrass is staring :-D 

The trail starts out pretty chill, then picks it up a notch (feels something like the old mailbox trail), then picks up some more and starts mild scrambling up a rocky sandy slope. There are a few places where there seem to be multiple trails in the wooded old mailbox section, but not all paths are equal, so I recommend checking a GPS track to make sure you are on the right one. 

The ranger we saw said they were doing the once a year check of this trail and had a hand saw to clear obstructions. 

Stats: None today because we didn't actually make it :-/

Parked at 630am on Saturday; lot 2/3 full.

Putrid Pete’s trail in good shape, but a little hard to follow just before you get above the tree line. GPS makes it easy to course correct. Boy it’s steep!

Ridge was sublime. Perfect as it gets. I did not go to Web Mt. but instead went right to Mt. Defiance. There are many ways to pick a route across that ridge but there’s a nearly intact trail at the very top, even though you may not see it from below. When in doubt turn toward the very top of the ridge and it’s usually easy to see where to go.

Junction of ridge trail to trail 1009 is trickier. Don’t go down to the right. Keep going up and to the left and you’ll hit the main trail.

Spur to the top of Defiance was virtually snow free (as was the entire trip to that point). From that part of the state, atop the ridge on a clear day, you can see Rainier, Adams, the Olympics I. The Distance, Stuart, the whole Alpine lakes complex, Glacier, Baker and a zillion more. Probably the best ridge hike this side of Kendall Katwalk.

The way down via Mason Lake was uneventful. As usual in June, there’s still snow for about a quarter mile between Mason Lake and the ridge approaching Mt. Defiance. Poles are nice. Did not use my spikes. Don’t need ‘em at this point.

Although there were few bugs, there were swarms of campers and day hikers from Mason Lake on down to the trailhead. Not surprising in a perfect late spring weekend. Everybody and their dogs seemed chill.

Cars parked on the side of the road a full half mile from the parking lot as I drove out around noon.

Take lots of water with you folks. It’s going to be hot out there this weekend!

This report will cover everything after P3 (most reports here have to do with P3 and have plenty of great information). On a very busy Sunday (Ira Springs Trail parking lot/road completely full at 1100AM), we were thankful to encounter only 3-4 parties total on our ascent to P3, and zero for the rest of the day. 

Everything up to Web Mountain is completely snow free. The traverse over from Web to P3 is far easier than that last stretch of uphill to P3, and is a welcome break. There are plenty of different paths forged over time, and as long as one doesn't go over the ridgeline/towards large boulders or go too far downhill, it's pretty hard to go wrong. The sitting area for Web is actually much nicer than the P3 area!

Down to Dirty Harry's Bathtub, there's no route or boot path, so ofc don't do this if you're not into route-finding/off-trail navigation. There were quite a few snowfields to navigate, but thankfully the snow was still pretty deep and was fairly soft. We elected to descend the talus fields for the higher angle areas, and then walked on the snow for almost the rest of the way down. Microspikes and poles helped, though the snow was pretty soft and easy to step in without postholing through. 

The trail to Dirty Harry's Peak trail begins on the other side of the talus southwest of Dirty Harry's Bathtub (a hilarious name for such a beautiful area). It is an unmaintained trail for 0.7 miles, then a mile on the incredibly well maintained peak trail, and finally, a little less than a mile on the Ira Spring Connector trail (fairly unmaintained), then you're basically home free. 

There are many opportunities for water filtration from creeks/streams, listed as follows: one at the top of the switchbacks for P3, a few leading down to Dirty Harry's Bathtub, a few crossing Dirty Harry's Peak trail, a few crossing the Ira Spring Connector trail. 

By far, we spent the most amount of time on the final ascent of P3, traversing to Web, and descending to the bathtub, even though this stretch is less than a mile and a half (slowed from ~2MPH to ~0.5MPH). 

Final mileage count should end up somewhere around 8.5-9 miles, depending on route taken. 

No trip up P3 is ever the same as the one before. But one thing is always the same: the literal insanity of this trail!!!

Road: I saw all sorts of cars at the TH. There are sections of potholes that may cause mild unpleasantries if you are in a lower clearance car. However, I believe it is doable with car, regardless of vehicle.

Trailhead: The Ira Spring TH was HOPPIN' this morning at 7 am. Whoa. A NW pass is required, and the FS was ticketing today. (They made a small fortune, actually. Loads of people either had no passes or the Discover pass.) I quickly scurried out of the busy parking lot. I was willing to bet everyone was headed for Mason/Defiance, and I was correct. I did not see another human being until I was headed down from the P3 summit.

Trail: The trail starts out so innocently, as it lures you towards its putrid upper section. The junction for the P3 turnoff is marked by a small diamond on the tree. It's easy to miss, so look for the Ira Spring Connector Trail sign that is much more obvious. Instead of going that direction, turn right.

The path continues to lull its victims into a false sense of security as it gently switchbacks through the forest. It seemed to take forever, but maybe I was just anticipating what was to come. ;p There are several social trails that are very convincing, so you have to pay attention. Look for sticks on the ground that indicate the wrong way.

All the sudden, the trail abandons all pretense of politeness and turns into a rocky, steep horror. This is where you will want to stash your hiking poles. Time to get dirty, as you will need your hands, ladies and gentlemen. Climb up giant boulders for a short time, before entering an even steeper scree field. I may be misremembering, but this particular part of the trail seems to have deteriorated quite a bit since last year. This makes sense, as there is no maintenance and continual foot traffic. I got my hiking poles back out, and carefully made my way up. It is so, so slippery, and a slip here (either up or down) would have serious consequences.

(A slip anywhere on this trail would have serious consequences!!)

Anyway, I finally broke out above the tree line. This part, to me, is always easier than the middle section. You still have to be extremely careful, but I happily plodded up this part. 

Summit views were phenomenal! Over to Defiance, Stuart, Glacier, Rainier, Adams! Everyone was out today. Note: I could see the Defiance-Thompson traverse is utterly buried in snow.

I was now faced with a decision. I could either go back down that godforsaken trail or traverse the ridge to Defiance and go back via Mason Lake. I chose the P3 descent for two reasons. I had seen a recent trip report (is there anyone else besides me who reads WTA reports like the newspaper?) indicating deep snow on the Mason side after Defiance. Also, I really did not want to run into that conga line of people I knew would be on that trail. If my fate was to perish on the slopes of P3, I was gonna do it in a quiet, blissful, introvert fashion. So down I went.

I did not meet my death, even though the descent was terrible. You absolutely need GOOD TREAD on your shoes and POLES!!! Be prepared to literally scoot down some sections on your butt. Take it slow. R.e.a.l.l.y slow, and test every single rock before you put your weight on it.

Started to run into people of varying levels of preparedness. Most people seemed to be headed toward the ridge traverse. I managed to make it down safely and only fell once (in the forest, because I was slightly hyper that I hadn't died and maybe was bouncing a bit carelessly. ;))

Back at the parking lot, my choice was confirmed: cars lined the road for at least a mile. I had seen under 10 people the whole day!!