Tackled Necklace Valley to Salmon La Sac via La Bohn Gap, and Dutch Miller Gap the four days following July 4th.

Trail #1062 from the Necklace Valley trailhead to the river crossing is is in superb condition! There is much evidence of bear in the area. The bark had been striped from the base of many spruce trees near the river crossing - must be eating the sap. The remaining distance to Jade lake had a few blow down but all are negotiable. Necklace Valley is just unlocking and all the lakes are snow free to the head of the valley. Many flowers are starting to bloom and the bugs are out in mass. Snow line is about 4500-5000 feet. One should be prepared for the pass at the head of Necklace valley - carry and use ice axe. La Bohn Lakes are completely covered with snow. However the views were outstanding with the beautiful weather! Many of the Peaks were visible.

The route down to Williams Lake is passable with the snow line again about 4500-5000 feet. Beautiful camps at williams lake with outstanding vistas to the the nearby peaks: Bears Breast, Summit Chief and Chimney Rock. Even a few goats were grazing on the slopes. The Williams lake trail #1024 down to the Middle Fork of the Snoqulamie is sketchy from the lake shore as the snow is still melting out. Find the trail clear at around 4000-4200 feet. Route is clear with no blow down.

The route up to Dutch Miller Gap #1030 is clear of snow until about 4500-4700 feet. The trail is in good condition but there is evidence that much rain had flowed on the trail at some time last fall/winter. Snow at the top of Dutch Miller Gap with nice views of Lake Ivanhoe and down to Waptus Lake. Circumnavigated Lake Ivanhoe on the east side to avoid exposure on the west side of the lake. Steep snow fields linger at the base of the cliffs and extend partially into the lake. Bridge is also destroyed at the south end of the lake connecting to the west shore line. East shore trail was the correct choice.

From Lake Ivanhoe down to the valley floor Trail #1362 was very brushy. This trail is not used often and is over grown in many places. A little patience revealed the trail though. The Chief Creek requires a ford right now - the water run-off is high but negotiable. The bridges at the Waptus river and Spade Creek are intact. However, many blow down remain on Trail #1310 between the junction of the Pacific Crest Trail and down to Waptus Lake.

Good trail between Waptus Lake and Salmon La Sac. The foot bridge is out at the crossing of Spinola Creek - used the horse ford.

The Dutch Miller Gap trail is in generally good condition, having benefitted from extensive trail crew work in the past few years. The Williams Lake spur trail is eroded in spots, but otherwise presents few problems for hikers. Williams Lake can get crowded on Saturday nights, so get there early for the best camps. Mosquitos are a nuisance around the lake. The trail to Chain Lakes and La Bohn Gap, which starts next to a mine just above Williams Lake, is terribly rough but leads to a landscape of exceeding beauty. Almost all snow is gone from the Chain Lakes area and around the gap. Even the scramble up to Mt Hinman is almost snow free. I made it as far as the false summit at 7200', which gives a good view of the remains of the rapidly melting Hinman Glacier.

The biggest surprise for me was that they have finally regraded the Middle Fork Road from Taylor River to Dingford Creek for the first time since the stone age; the road is now almost a pleasure to drive. Of course the road beyond Dingford Ck is still horrible, especially the last two miles beyond Goldmyer Hot Springs. A high clearance vehicle is recommended. The Forest Service may close the road for good beyond Dingford Creek this November, making the trip to Williams Lake much longer.

The Middle Fork road is now open to the end, bypassing a huge toppled cedar. The road is in terrible shape, and took 2.5 hrs to drive from Issaquah.

As bad as the road is, the Dutch Miller trail is in great shape. It has been brushed to an incredible width, tread has been rebuilt, new turnpike, bridges, you name it. We took advantage of the good trail, and the shade of the morning to cover ground quickly. We had a long lunch in the woods before Pedro camp, and finally made Williams lake after about 4.5 hours. Bugs were bad.

Before dinner we took a quick trip around the lake to the Williams Lake adit, the tailings pile and rails extending down are easily seen from the lake area. This tunnel was started and intended to reach a vein from the basin above, but was never finished. Only 80 feet or so were dug. We checked out ""Old Pokey"" - an interesting machine which scooped up mine debris, and passed it back to a side-dumping cart behind it - which was still in the mine. There were a lot of newer pipes which looked to be stored in the mine.

The next morning we started out around 8 am to make the climb to the Chain Lakes area and the rest of the Dutch Miller workings. The route to Chain Lake begins immediately at the Williams Lake adit, and switchbacks up through the open woods above the mine. The tread is easily followed, and at about 5200', the transition is made to talus and rockhopping is done for the next 300 vertical feet or so, following the path of least resistance. It took about 1 hr to reach the Chain Lakes basin. Just a few snow patches, and some good campsites overlook the basin.

Right before the basin is reached, the first adit can be seen on a small hill (Chain Lakes #1) and is only about 30 feet deep. We found some nice crystals outside. Just above to the west is an old foundation of a cabin, dug into the side of the slope. From here one can see the devastation that this area had sustained from the mining in the 20th century. Huge tailing piles flowed into the small alpine tarns that pepper the Chain Lakes basin. Many of the rocks in the water and streams in the basin were stained with iron oxide. There was no signs of plant or animal life in the water.

There exists a large mineralized outcropping in the center of the Chain Lakes basin, and this is where the mining effort was concentrated. Wherever the outcropping hit the surface, we found evidence of some kind of excavation. We made our way over to the most obvious site of activity, Chain Lakes #2, which consists of flooded shaft in front of an adit (did not enter), and a dangerous shaft above it. Many nice mineral samples and artifacts here, including pallets of timbers and a stack of rusty mine rails. Chain Lakes adit #3 sits on the shore of the most western lakelet, and is about 25 feet long.

We wished we had more time to explore the basin, but had to get back. We made our way back down to Williams Lake quickly and arrived before noon, where we entertained the bugs, packed up and hiked out in 3.75 hrs. The drive out was terrible.

We drove up the Middle Fork on Saturday morning - people unfamiliar with this road should have a map and drive a vehicle with good ground clearance. It takes about 2 hours from North Bend.

The trail is in pretty good shape - some trail maintenance has been completed, with more in the works judging from lumber stashes along the trail. The creeks are running high which puts the late season stepping stones under water. We bushwacked upstream in a couple of spots to good log crossings (we didn't go down stream for any of our crossings.)

We hit transitional snow (e.g. patchy, postholes, water under snow, etc.) at about three or four miles and 3700'. By 4000', you're on (mostly) solid snow the remainder of the way to Williams Lake. The snow was pretty slushy and we were glad to have gaitors and snowshoes.

We camped at Williams Lake - absolutely sublime! The lake is about 10% melted out. There are great snow camping spots everywhere, and some flat boulders for lounging and cooking.

We summitted Mt. Hinman the next morning, returned to camp and then tried to also do Summit Chief. We got 2500' of bonus elevation, but turned around before the summit due to slushy snow, thoroughly soaked, cold feet and a desire to eat dinner before 8:00 or 9:00pm. Some great glissades back to the Dutch Miller Gap.

Plastic boots would have been nice since the snow is so slushy. Didn't use crampons at all.