I first noticed West Defiance from on top of McClellan Butte and realized later that i had to climb it. West Defiance is the peak between Dirty Harry's Peak and Mt. Defiance. It is the bare mountain that looks white on top. It looks that way because it is rocky with less than average amounts of vegetation. It is 5335 feet tall and can be accessed from two main starting points, and a variety of routes from there. I started my climb from the Dirty Harry's logging road trailhead near Exit 38 East. After hiking past the turn-off to Dirty Harry's Balcony and continuing North-West for another .7 of a mile or so, i leave the logging road/trail just before the it crosses Museum Creek at about 2900 feet. Flagging tape marks the start of this newer ridge trail that goes up the ridge east towards West Defiance. The ridge trail itself is mostly easy to discern and follow, although at places you may have to stop and think. However, it is well flagged so there is no problem of wandering off too far. Also, it stays close to the ridge top all the way. I should qualify that the ridge trail actually ends before you get to the peak because of the rocks and the sparse vegetation and large hill-side. Once you exit the logging roads, the grade increases significantly. In fact you leave the logging road at about 2900 feet, and arrive at the peak at 5335 feet and you do it in a span of about a mile and a half. Actually, I walked much more than that, and even had to climb more elevation than that due to some detours i had to make off the ridge. The ridge trail starts out on soft ground covered in pine needles, but eventually emerges into rockier and more rugged terrain until i was hopping from boulder to boulder along the ridge. At 4500 feet i had to leave the ridge to traverse under trees that i could find no trail through. Once in the clear I climbed back up to the ridge to see if i could continue boulder hopping which i was able to do until i think about 4800 feet, where the boulders became too big for my dog to negotiate, and the slopes to the side were too steep for her to go around easily. So at this point, we left the ridge again, to find a path lower on the south slope that we could traverse. We did this until we were nearly south of the peak so we headed straight up the hill-side back to the ridge, and then easily up to the peak. This hike is a lot of work. Although the first 2 and a bit miles on the logging trail are moderate, gaining only 1700 feet in that distance, most of the rest of it is nearly mailbox grade, plus it almost requires you to climb down and then back up a few hundred feet i think, before you can arrive at the top. The view was interesting. This is a place to climb if you ever really want to know what's on the other side of the mountain. You can see one of the Granite Lakes, Spider Lake and the little pond that feeds into the Granite Lakes. At this time of the year at least, Spider Lake is kind of unattractive. This hike is great for an adventure because once the trail ends, you never know when you're going to have to leave the ridge next to work your way around some obstacle. Also, it is quite an experience to be hopping these amazing boulders on a ridge that is 8 feet wide, and over 4000 feet above the freeway. And it isn't ever as exposed as the climb up the haystack or up McClellan Butte. This hike took me 3 1/2 hours up and 2 1/2 hours down.

After taking the last three weekends off I thought I'd do something easy like Bandera. I took the new wide, gentle, and scenic trail (under construction weekdays) to where it drops down to Mason Lake. I assume a spur will be built to the top of Bandera? The trail descends about a third of the way down and then it is just flagging in the brush. After 10 minutes of brush-bashing I made it to the lake and decided to do West Defiance. Returned via the old Mason Lake creekside trail. Only saw a few people all day. The new trail will mean hordes of humanity in the hills next year. The parking lot will not be big enough.

we had wonderful loop scramble starting from the mason lake trail - we headed up to Putrid Pete's Peak (West Defiance) traversed banana ridge to the top of mount defiance then down to mason lake and back to the trailhead. views of adams, rainier, baker, glacier, kaleetan, chair, silver,the olympics, seattle's skyscrapers and many many more. we left at noon, took our time and we were back to the car by 7:45 - half an hour of headlamp travel. we started on the banana ridge trail as the wta described: ""From the Mason Lake TH, take the main trail about 1/4 mile until it dog-legs sharply to the right. Split off the main trail by heading straight ahead on an obvious and well-kept path. This trail is not on any of my maps, but someone has put a lot of effort into it!"" follow that trail and take every major junction that goes uphill and to the right. eventually the trail will lead to some cairns. follow these up to the top of pete's peak. from here we headed east toward mt defiance along or near the ridge top (no trail but easy scrambling). a skiff of snow made the junction of the ridge and mt defiance a little tricky (the mt defiance trail can be found here at this junction) follow the mt defiance trail until you see an obvious side trail on the left the heads to the top of defiance. from the great views on top, head back down and continue following the trail to a signed junction and head towards mason lake. the trail disappears briefly on the north side of mason lake, but just head west along the north shore and you find the trail at the outlet. the rest of the trail is obvious. have fun.

I parked at the Mason Lake parking lot, looked up, consulted with the Happy Wanderers, and switched our destination. Instead of going up Bandera, we would march up the unnamed peak to the west of Mt. Defiance. Leaving the road at the bend, we continued on a trail that goes to Dirty Harry's Peak. At the first avalanche chute, we headed up on a gravel wash filled with thimbleberry bushes. It wasn't long before the rocks were covered with run-off, but it wasn't wet enough to stymie the progress of this hearty group of mostly 14 year-olds. The upper basin did. With lots of loose rock, every step required care as we switchbacked our way up to the top of this steep section. This took much longer than we thought it would from the parking lot, where the way looked open and easy. Of course the views from the top were spectacular, even if I spent most of the time corralling them away from the steep drop-off. We dubbed this Get Away Peak, for a song and the fact that we were fleeing the nasty Middle Fork Road where we had been hiking for three days prior. (I can't wait till they pave it.) But a Mr. Pete Schoening and company beat us to it. They placed a summit register here last year. Three hours up and down. It's putrid, but satisfying. Great views of McClellan Butte and Mt. Kent all the way up.

Started from old logging road that goes up Dirty Harry's peak & balcony. Encountered consistent snow at around 3100'. Road will eventually lead to south slope of DH peak. Looked like a simple scramble up to top as its a gentle talus slope with a well anchored snowbase. Stayed in snow just above treeline & headed relatively east. Foggy & misty all day but did opened some just enough to see the destination. Don't stay too near north face of west ridge of West Defiance to avoid avalanche gullies/slopes. There are big open snow slopes interspersed by connecting thick islands of trees that makes prolonged exposure minimal. Gained north ridge & was a fairly simple scramble south to West Defiance. Note the cornices on east side of this ridge. The west ridge looks quite narrow & exposed. Brought snowshoes but did not use. Saw no other human above snowline. This peak is also known as Web Mountain.