Previous Neclace Valley Report hit the high points of the trails to the lower lakes. The High Route up and over to Otter Lake below Iron Cap Mtn and La Bohn Gap is spectacular. Fully snowed and good walking with minor avalanche debris. Afternoon temps were shirt sleave and the views were unlimited. All the pass lakes are still frozen in, but some heather is showing on the rocky outcrops at the top. The route down to Otter is snowed and the lake looked high. Cross country travel is tough in the afternoon with all the streams up. We spent 4 days playing in the upper meadows and came out on the 24th.

Took an overnight trip to Necklace valley this weekend. A lovely weekend-- for once we had good luck with the weather. The trail is clear of snow to Emerald Lake (OK, maybe one small patch, but it's not long for this world), but has water in places (either mucky or stream-like). The crossing formerly known as ""dangerous"" is no longer so due to a nice log bridge with a railing (thanks, trail crews!). The last 3 miles to the lakes are pretty hot and sweaty in the sun but there are lots of places to stop and refill your water. We saw a nice campsite at Jade lake and lots at Emerald-- all snow-free. After Emerald lake, the trail becomes more and more snowy, until after Opal it's more or less a choice of rock hopping or walking on snow (rotten in places). However, as long as you watch your footing it's definitely passable and we hiked to the valley head and gazed upon LaBohn Gap. Didn't have time to do much more than that. Locket and Iswoot Lakes are easily accessible from Emerald-- about 10 or 15 minutes to get to each one. Didn't see nay obvious campsites on Iswoot but Locket looked like it might have some, is a bit more off the beaten path than Emerald. Emerald and Jade are shallow (but very cold!) lakes with interesting mud colors on the bottom (not swampy, though); Locket and Iswoot are deep, blue lakes which closer match my mental image of an alpine lake. All are beautiful. Even though we were at Emerald, obviously a spot of much camping activity, we saw very few people throughout the weekend. As far as we could tell, there were a total of 4 overnight groups (including us), and we saw 2 day hikers on Saturday and 4 on Sunday. We were quite stunned (in a good way) that such a nice trail, so easy to get to from Seattle, didn't have a million people on it. There were some bugs, but not too many Saturday. We could eat dinner outside the tent in relative peace. The hike back Sunday afternoon seemed much more bug-a-riffic.

We arrived at the trail head at 8am for an overnight hike to Jade lake. The road up was in exceptionally good shape. Total hiking distance up to Jade lake was expected to be about 8 miles. With some breaks, our group of average hikers with full packs took 7 hours to get to Jade Lake. The first 5 miles is relatively flat with about 600’ elevation gain. There is one large group camp at about the ½ mile point and another large camp area at the 5 mile point at the footbridge crossing the river. There were also a few small primitive sites in the 3-5 mile area. There are many areas that could be very brushy, but some good people spend a lot of time cutting brush back so it was not a problem, today. Bugs were a problem on the whole trip. As soon as we got out of our vehicles we were swarmed by mosquitoes and no see em’s. There were muddy areas throughout most of the hike with some very wet areas on the trail around the 7 mile mark, but remember, this year the snow pack was heavy and the melt is late. The crossing over the Foss river is noted as a difficult crossing on most maps, but a new log with railing now spans the crossing making it a great photo spot. From the river to Jade Lake is a little short of 3 miles, 2400’ elevation gain with no switch backs. Lots of roots, rocks, mud, high steps and pain. While hiking up the hill, there was a small creek for water at about 6 miles (3200’) and a larger one at about 7 miles (3600’). Jade Lake is at 4600’. We did not encounter snow on the trail until the last quarter mile, and this was in a chute at about 4500’. There were a couple of sites at the lake that were snow free and the lake had no ice but we did see a few 7-9” trout. Emerald and AI lakes were also Ice free. Locket lake was about 60% covered in Ice. Traveling from Jade to the other lakes was cross country as the trail was 70% hidden by snow, but we did notice a few dry camp spots. This is the entrance hike to a dozen great lakes. With a day to get up and a day out, this is worth an extra whole day to day hike to all the beautiful areas in the necklace valley. The snow will take a couple of more weeks to melt and a couple more weeks for the mud holes to dry up. Have fun and take extra film for the camera.

My daughter was dying to go on a backpack. This was not my first choice but Dorothy and Snoqualamie Lakes were reported to be snowed over. The trail is in excellent shape to the river crossing. There are nine blow-downs, several of which are trivial, and all of which are easily passible with full packs. We discovered that there are no camping sites at the river crossing so backtracked about one quarter mile to a very nice spot by the river. There was one other backpacker there by then, who later was kind enough to share his stove after ours malfunctioned (despite being tested at home before the trip). We were not intending to cross the East Fork of the Foss River, but it is important to note that the log bridge is broken about eight feet from the end of the bridge. There is a small log thrown across but I wouldn't want to try it, especially in the afternoon when there is a higher water level in the river. However at least two backpackers coming back from Necklace Valley had made it over and had not mentioned any problems with the bridge.

I headed in around noon with plans to camp at the lakes that night. The snow is deep, real deep. Wound up camping just before the river crossing at a lovely bend. There were many trees down on the trail. It's still a great hike and beautiful territory, but Necklace Valley is not quite done with winter yet. If you camp, remember to hang your food - three black bears (a momma and two kids) were in the neighborhood.