Mount Defiance via Mason Lake
Started at the Mason Lake trailhead at 7:15 AM. After leaving the
logging road and heading north on the switchbacks the trail splits at
2730 feet (not shown on USGS, kind of shown on Greentrails), I took
the west split (closer to the creek), which turned out to be the best
choice in my opinion (more on this later). The trail was completely
covered with snow by the time I reached Mason Lake. The lake was
covered in snow too. The beaten path in the snow lead all the way to
the top of Mount Defiance. I reached the top at 11 AM.
After a lunch break at the top, I descended the SW ridge of Mount Defiance
hoping to meet up with the trail and continue towards Thompson Lake.
But after descending 500 vertical feet I realized that not enough
hikers have continued on towards the lake to leave a path in the snow.
Visibility was bad enough that I didn't feel comfortable continuing on
to the lake by only map and compass. I could have contoured east and
met up with the trail, but instead I snowshoed back to the top and
descended from there.
At Mason Lake I took a break for hot tea and to don rain-pants, then
headed down. When the trail split directly above the rock field, I
decided to try going over the rock field (which is marked "main
trail") instead of the creek route I took on the way up. Man, the
rock field is awful, there are holes in there that could swallow me,
very slow going. And the trail afterwards is pretty steep too. I
prefer the trail nearer the creek. Although hopefully the new trail
will be better than either of our current options.
I was back at my car at 4:30. I didn't see a single person (or even
fresh tracks) on the trail all day, and it was a Sunday.
Elevation gain:
3,384 feet
In:
Alpine Lakes Wilderness, South Fork Snoqualmie Drainage, Middle Fork Snoqualmie Drainage
Car-to-car:
9 hours 15 minutes
-
3 hours 45 minutes
ascending
from
Mason Lake trailhead
to
Mount Defiance
-
5 hours 10 minutes
descending
from
Mount Defiance
to
Mason Lake trailhead
Copyright © 2024 Gabriel Deal.