Wow! When people say this is a strenuous hike, they really mean it! The first five miles are indeed fairly flat - little ups and downs but mostly level. You get to see a beautiful tall grass field, some very useful marsh crossing logs, and more types of fungi then I had seen in several other hikes combined. I ran across one thing I would like to note: Some fool left their fire smoldering. I smelled it as I was hiking by and put it out, but remember we have had a lot of fires this summer - try not to add more damage by lazy fire keeping. Once you hit the wall - and I mean a literal wall of rock you climb carefully up, and up and up. It levels out after about a half a mile, then you feel like you have won the battle. However, then it starts going up again. You really have to use your hands both going up and down. The roots are extremely slippery and there are many on the way down that you don't even notice until they have snagged your foot. In other words, be careful! Jade Lake was a gorgeous lunch spot, but this late in the year Emerald Lake looked more like a flooded grassland with a small river and Opal was really more of a field with a small puddle lake. Another awesome thing about this hike though - I had never heard or seen so much Pika evidence! They had cities under the rocks with their own little sewer systems. I saw massive collections of Pika droppings that must have been pushed to the one area. Very cool. Oh, and other than one mosquito around Emerald Lake, they weren't biting. While I had lunch on the rocks by Jade Lake watching the fish jump, I didn't get bit once.

The trail is in great condition. The first 5 miles are relatively flat, but there are some great views along the way. There are a couple of established campsites at the end of this section. After that, you cross the river and the route changes dramatically as you start climbing. We ended up camping at Al Lake. One of the other hikers we met mentioned that Lake Iiswoot was stunning, but since we got up there later in the afternoon we decided not to explore over there. Every trip report I've ever read about Necklace Valley warned about the bugs, and they were definitely present, although they could have been worse.

The trail is absolutely gorgeous right now - mostly clear, plenty of water along the route, wildflowers, and (relatively) few bugs for this time of year. The first 5-6 miles of this trail are quite flat and easy, just going through the forest following the river, but at ~6mi in you cross the river and start a pretty beastly climb: ~2500-3000 vertical over 2-3mi. However, as soon as you reach the top you get greeted by Jade Lake, and it's stunning. The trail then levels off again for another mile or so (although it does start to get overgrown) to the other two lakes before it ends. We actually went past the end of this trail and followed the cairns and scrambled over the granite fields up over a couple more ridgelines (about 3mi (and ~1500 more vertical) beyond the end of the trail) to Tank Lakes, and I highly recommend it - the view from there is breathtaking.

East Fork Foss trail is in great shape all the way to the crossing. At 2200 ft the climbing begins and only eases once on your way up to Jade Lake. Hearing the warning from other backpackers about the mosquitoes in the valley, I wasn't too concerned. After getting there, my level of concern rose quickly. They are ferocious bloodsuckers. Beware if you intend to camp in the valley. No problems in the lower elevations. The trails up valley are clear of snow. Scrambled up to Tank Lakes and enjoyed the amazing alpine scenery. The views here are incredible. The approach to the pass crossed a couple of minor snowfields, but relatively easy going after scrambling up the talus slope. The mosquitoes at this elevation were not as big of a problem. Camp high or low or plan to stay in your tent in the valley

Rachel, Ben,and I spent some time in the Necklace Valley from Friday, July 12 through Sunday, July 14. We started late Friday afternoon and camped on a sandy spot on the shore of the river, about five miles in. This part of the trail is flat. Next day up to the lakes themselves. Camped at Emerald Lake. We saw perhaps three other tents in the entire valley, and there seemed to be enough campsites to accommodate plenty more parties. Ground cover along the trail was diverse,including the usual suspects: lily family (false solomon's seal, false lily of the valley, clasping twisted stalk, queen's cup, trillium, skunk cabbage, false hellibore), saxifrages (foam flower, youth-on-age, Mertens' saxifrage), deer fern and bracken, even a few maidenhair ferns, thimbleberry, and salmon berry (only a few). Lots of huckleberries. Trees mostly mountain hemlock and red cedar, with yellow cedar and some firs higher up. We were buzzed by a few hummingbirds. Saw a water ouzel (dipper)--gray with a surprisingly short tail. Tons of frogs. As for the lakes--Jade, Emerald, and Opal (strung in a straight line in that order) are pretty shallow. Locket and Ilswoot are deeper, swimmable, larger, far more beautiful. They're at around 4500 feet, wooded. We spent some time in the basin below La Boehm gap. Trail is snow- free, except for some patches, up to the basin. We heard Tank Lakes were reachable without having to cross snow fields, but we opted not to go there. Mosquitos were negligible along the river, more plentiful at the lakes. Perhaps a 6 on my personal 10 point scale, with 10 being the worst. They seemed to like Ben the best, so we used him as bait. All-in-all, a nice trip.