West Fork Foss River
May 24, 2009
by
Yowza
—
last modified
Sep 21, 2010 10:58 AM
- Type of Outing
- Day hike
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: West Fork Foss River and Lakes
- Region: Central Cascades -- Stevens Pass - West
- Agency: Skykomish Ranger District
- Trails: West Fork Foss River (#1064)
- Avg Rating: 3.62
- Why You Should Go Now
- Wildflowers blooming
- Be Aware Of
- Blowdowns
- Bridge out
- Snow on trail
- Road to trailhead inaccessible
Day trip to Copper Lake: Beautiful and sunny day greeted the effort. Could not drive to trailhead - stopped short of the the trailhead at the swollen stream - 1/4 mile from the trailhead. Blow-down prevented access. Got wet right away - walked accross stream rather than search for a "dry" crossing. Snow is still on the groiund at the traihead 1600 feet elev. The old log crossing accross the West Fork of the Foss river is partially submerged - remembered that log gets very slick when wet decided to look up stream. Found a suitable and safe log jam to cross the river about 1/4 mile up river - located on the "island" formed by the division of the river in the area. Intermittent snow on ground from the start but increases all the way to Trout lake with an estimate of about 3 feet at the lake in most places. Continued towards Copper lake with the trail showing it's self off and on but mostly on. At about 3500 feet elev. a "sketchy" creek crossing through a gully with very old avalanche "fill" - watch for melt-out in this area. It was solid when I crossed - use your good judgement here! At the bridge crossing the outfall from Malachite lake - part of the bridge is out with 6-8 feet of snow pack. Expect to scale the snow wall at the bridge for a few weeks. Reached the lake in 4 hours. Nice views up to the ridge line seperating Camp Robber Valley from the Foss River drainage. Lots of cornices on that ridge line were releasing in the warm weather. Stayed an hour at the lake and returned to the car in 3 hours. Only saw one other party of two all day and only on the return. Recommend good navigation skills on this route until the trail clears.
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