I did a proper hike today, Mason Lake. I took a different route than normal. It is usual to drive to I-90 Exit 45 and then drive 3 miles west on a service road. But the trip reports are complaining about the massive pot holes so I took Exit 42, went to the north side of the freeway, parked along a little pullout and went up the unofficial trail that hits the service road .25 miles from the parking lot. The trail is .4 miles long so this route adds about 500 feet of elevation gain (the short trail is steep!) and 1.25 miles to the hike. So it was about 8.5 miles.
Trail is in good shape. Almost no snow anywhere. As always on a sunny day, the views from the ridge at 4,300 feet are awesome:
And on the way down I got to see a frog. They normally run away but this guy just sat there. I hope he is all right.
The track:
