Wendy and I hiked in about 4 1/2 miles. Lots of trees down requiring to climb over or under. Some snow on the trail about 2/3 the way in. About a mile from the camp site on the river before the climb to Jade Lake, there is a serious slide with rock, snow, tree, etc, which takes out about 40 yards of the the trail. We found it and went on for about a half hour, then decided to turn back. We only ran into one other person and that was a few miles from the trail head as we were headed back. Lots of some flying insects, no bears..lots of fun for an 8 miler round trip. Ill try to down load pictures but I think they are too big.

East Fork Foss River 5/30/2009 My Mountaineers group had a great time on this trail. We did have to work a little to get by the residue of harsh winter storms. Many trees were down once we passed the Wilderness boundary. And we were stopped by a huge avalanche/landslide obliterating the trail at about the 4 mile mark. It is passable though. Now for the good stuff. There is a great waterfall at about a mile in where Burn Creek drops right under a sturdy bridge. We enjoyed wonderful early season flowers: calypso orchids, trillium, stream violets, bleeding heart, salmonberry, spring beauty, and skunk cabbage. The forest is fine and gets better the further up the trail you go. There are many big majestic old Douglas firs and cedar. The forest is open with an understory of ferns, flowers, moss, and low shrubs. At a little over 3 miles is the prime lunch spot on the river edge next to rapids and falls where the river works around some house size boulders that came down from one of the surrounding peaks long ago. Another great lunch spot is on a moss covered rock slab at the top of a bluff, with views of the mountains to the west (only about 2 minutes away). After the lunch spots there are some clearings with views of Bald Eagle and Silver Eagle mountains. These 6000+ ft. peaks tower 4000 ft. above the valley floor. We had 4 or 5 interesting creek crossings, with a few wet feet. We found mud, and walked on snow . Only two tiny snow patches were actually on the trail. But there were quite a few scattered around in shady low spots in the woods from about 2 1/2 miles on. This is an easy trail by Mountaineers standards but we got a good workout going over, under, around and through all of the downed timber of various sizes. Some of the detours lead through groves of devils club, so beware ! The devils club has not leafed out yet so it is harder to see and avoid right now. The river was very cold, it’s source is the glacier melt from Mt. Daniel and Mt. Hinman in the heart of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. The river roar was one of the day’s sensual pleasures, as were the smells of the forest (fir needles, pitch, skunk cabbage, fresh broken tree trunks). Each little creek had it’s own gurgles and roar as we approached. Winding along the trail the only other sounds were bird songs. We briefly encountered about 10 other people all day. Statistics: Trailhead elevation 1600 ft. High point elevation 2100 ft. 8 miles , 700 ft. gross gain 75 miles from my Seattle home. Robert Michelson

Snowshoed up East Foss for a few miles up to the Necklace Valley trailhead and hiked that up for about a mile or so. Took Tonga road back down. Snow was a few feet deep, fairly wet, and pleasant for walking on. The road to get to the trailhead was in great shape and plowed all the way up to where we were hoping.

West Fork Foss R #1064 Foss Lakes High Route Necklace Valley #1062 9/13-15/08 perfect weather, salm, sunny, brisk east wind at night You can do this loop in 2 days, but more fun in 3. If the weather is clear, you won’t want to hurry in the high country. I parked at Necklace Valley and hiked the road to the West Fork. You want the 7.5’ Big Snow Quad; a 15’ map is inadequate in poor visibility. West Fork Foss R #1064 ========== Note: early season posters, please include detailed info on the river crossing, as this is the crux of this route and that’s what your readers will need to know. The Alpine (Foss) Lakes High Route is more pleasant when it’s under snow, but I avoided it earlier this year because I was unsure of the river crossing and postings were not very informative. Until the river is bridged, people need to know if this can be crossed at high water. The first part of this trail is the worst: 1/4 mile or more of rocky overflow channel, a big washout and a river crossing that would be difficult (impossible?) at high water. Don’t let this stop you. It gets much better. I was able to clear a lot of blowdown by simply moving it out of the way – stuff people had been clambering over for years, apparently. Duh. If you shove a big log or rock off the trail, make sure there’s no switchback with people below. A collapsible hand saw works wonders. It’s better now. In the Copper-Big Heart section, a lot of recent, beautiful rockwork, puncheon and turnpike speed the trail. Nice work, thanks! Much effort has been put into this trail. Foss Lakes High Route Sept. 2008 ========== Unseasonally hot weather after recent rain plus this year’s heavy snowpack meant unseasonally abundant bugs. Mosquitoes were vicious at Chetwoot Lk. outlet and bothersome on a hot Sunday at Tank Lakes, where I hung my food to keep it away from the insects. They must’ve been murderous in Necklace Valley! I had no tent or DEET and was saved by high camping and nighttime east(!) winds. From Chetwoot, go high, straight east up the talus, then traverse left under cliffs. One could camp on the first rib (N of Pt 6077), flat with a stagnant but filterable pond. Much more snow than last year at this time. If it’s very dry and you must use the Iron Cap Lake water, bring a silt filter and water bag. Remarkably, there were snow patches high on the N. ridge of Iron Cap (utterly dry 9/2007). I bivvied there near 6200’ in clear warm weather with a full moon. Weather permitting, carry water up high and enjoy the view. The traverse to Iron Cap Gap is straightforward… in good visibility. Last year, in poor visibility and rain, it wasn’t. West-to-east, climb up to about 5850’, then drop down to a flattish spot about 5500’, then traverse SSE. The route is cairned, perhaps over-enthusiastically. Necklace Valley #1062 ========== For the first several miles, this trail is a cruise. Past the river crossing, it is not, climbing steeply into the hanging valley. The bad news: one of my favorite trails is admittedly rocky, rooty, muddy, and steep. Needs a lot of work. The good news: it’s had some. Thanks! No blowdown (except 1 monster), and some of the worst spots have been fixed. Brand-new handrail at the upper log crossing, yay! Some beautiful rockwork. Moist, the upper valley is notorious for insects. The cabin has a plaque with a punctuation error charmingly cast in bronze. The upper cirque has immense solid granite walls – there were huge glaciers here. A year ago, the huckleberries were a serious impediment to travel. This year: none. The poor bears must be starving. Ascent to either La Bohn Lakes or Tank Lakes would be more pleasant in early season on snow (the chute up to La Bohn Lakes requires an ice axe; I’m not sure about the Tank Lakes route). Late season, very rocky: if you like rock-hopping, you’ll love the ascent to Tank Lakes, which follows the medial moraine, and this rockpile doesn’t look like it’s been inactive for long. It’s a huge, barren, desolate, magnificent cirque. If you can get up to Tank or La Bohn Lakes in one day, do so and avoid the bugs down below, but you’ll need an early start and save energy for that last long push. It is worth it. Ascent of Hinman best in early season as a snow climb with ice axe (only really needed to get to La Bohn Lakes); late season, it's a rockpile. Tank Lakes is a beautiful topographic oddity: granite (granodiorite, quartz diorite, whatever) in layered terraces with vertical jointing planes. Climbing up from below, where you can’t see the water, it’s oddly reminiscent of the SE Utah desert, but greys instead of reds, granite instead of sandstone, slickrock sculpted by glaciers instead of wind and water, subalpine fir instead of juniper, stunted by altitude instead of aridity. Ascend to the highest terrace, where you’d least expect it, and poof! a perfectly clear, shallow lake (nobody told it that lakes belong in the bottom of basins). Weird. Please don’t even think of coming up here if you’re going to do stupid stuff like build fires, make toy cairns, camp (or walk) on vegetation, or move rocks around. If you move a rock from where Nature left it, that sticks out like a sore thumb. This is very delicate country. Please don’t even leave footprints. Day 1 6:55 AM Leave Necklace Valley trailhead 7:45 AM Leave W Fk Foss trailhead, 11 cars 8:30 AM Crossed river (very low water, easy) 12:15 PM Leave Copper Lake after break 3:00 PM Leave Big Heart Lake 5:00 PM Chetwoot Lake (bugs fierce). Go east, high up on talus. Bivvy high on ledges, N ridge of Iron Cap Mtn. Day 2 (a leisurely play day) 11:30 AM Leave ridge bivvy after long loitering on Iron Cap summit 1:30 PM Leave Iron Cap Gap after break 2:30 PM Tank Lakes area. Playtime. Day 3 11:00 AM Ready to leave Tank Lakes area in Amble Mode noon Leave Dutch Miller Gap overlook 1:30 PM Leave Tank Lakes area 1:45 PM Really leave Tank Lakes area 2:10 PM Leave Tank Lakes divide (you get the idea) 3:20 PM upper Necklace Valley basin/cirque 4:45 PM Leave Jade Lake 8:20 PM Necklace Valley trailhead

Accompanying me on this trip were Yoyo and Phlemy. The trail to Necklace Valley is pretty much as reported previously, but maybe not as horrendous as some think. There are muddy, rooty, and rocky sections in the last three miles, but there is lots of good trail too. However, it is steep most of the way. The stream crossings are all good with stable logs and handrails. Pretty posh in my opinion! However, we were plagued by clouds of mosquitos! God, will they ever leave this year? The trailhead had many cars and we saw tons of people coming in and only a few going out. Still, we didn't see hardly any camps in the valley. There must be lots of cubby holes to put your tent in. Next day, we moved camp to Tank Lakes. This is an exceptional area. Very scenic and not overused yet. I'll not give any info on how to find it as I'd like to keep it that way. Those who are willing to find the way and trudge up the way trail will no doubt respect it and treat it well. This area is very much like the Enchantments, but without the crowds and fantastic views of Chimney Rock, Overcoat, and Summit Chief, along with lots of other peaks. Phlemy and Yoyo took off to scramble Otter Point and the next day, Hinman, but I had to languish in camp nursing my persistent foot problems. Oh well, I can't think of a better spot to spend the day with the lakes all to myself except for a very curious Pine Marten to keep me company. The report from my buddies was that La Bohn Gap is very tough and somewhat risky to descend. Hinman was a pleasant rock scramble until the summit ridge when it turned into a mess of shifting rock plates. Both were exhausted when they returned, but we managed to stay up late that night looking at the huge sky full of stars while listening to Phlemy play her violin while Yoyo did some contra dancing on the smooth granite slabs. Very nice.