January' This is January' It certainly is a low-snow year. The first couple of miles of this trail provided a nice hike in 2 to 6 inches of old snow (snowshoes certainly not needed). One large blow-down at about 1.5 miles, otherwise the trail is in fine shape.

Jade Lake is reachable with care, thought the final 100ft ascent is over a snow field. Jade lake is 50% ice covered and trail beyond mouth of lake is solid snow. First 5 miles are easy & pleasant, and to counter previous report there definitely has been a bunch of brushing done in the latter part. Some good campsites next to river. We camped here and appreciated lighter packs for the next part.After crossing the Fosse the trail gets much steeper and rougher (allow 2 1/2 hours from here to Jade lake). Having crossed the 2nd footbridge over the Fosse, look directly up the boulder field, some cairns slightly to your right, mark the way to the trail. At about 3800ft you cross the memorial footbridge over the side stream. Next 1/2 mile is very muddy, but trail improves after this. At 4200 ft snow patches get more frequent, but are not difficult to cross. Just when you can ""smell"" the lake, the final 100ft ascent is a solid snow field. No turning back at this point! 1 camp/picnic site is snow clear at the mouth of Jade lake. Beyond this point the trail is on solid snow across steepish gradient.

The trail is snow free to 3000', which was as far as I got (about 1 mile past the foot-log over the E Fork Foss River). From the appearance of the trail and vegetation, the trail has been snow-free at 3000' for about 2 to 3 weeks (my estimate). There are a couple of logs across the trail prior to the foot-log. The trail itself is fairly dry, with little mud. However, the story is different after the foot-log. The trail is good at first for about .2 mile, but the following 2 or 3 tenths are very poor. The trail is simply a worn track in the forest (no trail construction whatsoever), and then goes across medium-sized talus marked by small cairns. Afterwards, the trail is better, but has a fair number of blow downs. I don't know what the Forest Service has been doing with our Trail Park Pass fees, but they certainly have NOT done much maintenance on this trail, at least after the foot-log. This appears to me to be another ""Fleecing of America"". Many blooming wildflowers were noted, including Trilliums, Salmonberry, Lady's Slipper, Pioneer Violet, Sandwort, Mountain Lover, Wild Ginger, Bleeding Heart, Vine Maple, and probably others that I overlooked. [Onlineline Editor's note: I'm amazed that so many people think that theTrail Park Pass program means that all our trails would instantly becomeperfect. Congress cut funding for our trails in the late 80's. The TrailPark Pass program didn't get started unitl '97. In the mean time Region 6(Washington and Oregon) accumulated a $50 million backlog of trailwork.The revenue from the Trail Park Pass program isn't even close to whatfunding once was before Congress cut it and the backlog is continuing togrow. Consider this - The Skykomish Ranger District had two trail crewlast year for 280 miles of trail! For information on how your Trail ParkPass dollars were spen last yearclick here]

With fond memories of this trail, same time a few years ago, we planned to hike to the five mile point where the trail crosses the Foss River and enjoy a great variety of wildflowers. Instead, we found occasional snow patches beginning at 2 1/2 miles or 2000 feet and extensive snow in the valley bottom at 3 miles, where we lost the trail and turned around due to relentless rain. Flowers were limited to many trillium and a lovely show of fairy slippers. Occasional blowdown was easy to traverse and the trail was surprisingly not muddy.

The first five miles are a nice hike through the woods -- a bit of a rolling trail -- not bad heading in but a bit tiresome on the way out at the end of a 16 mile dayhike. We had a little trouble locating the trail a little ways after the main creek crossing at 5 miles. There is another fairly well-used log that crosses another creek but at first we didn't see the cairns on the other side and weren't sure if it was the ""designated"" crossing -- there seemed to be other crossing options (incorrect ones as we discovered). The worn log is correct and the indentifiable cairns are to the right up the slope not to the left as we initially had looked. Then it is straight forward up to the lakes. The trail gets a bit muddy and wet at spots but nothing some well placed steps on appropriate logs or in the mud can't accomplish. The first and second lakes were rather low, but the whortleberry bushes are turning that fine shade of russet magenta that turns the slopes into a natural verions of stain glass windows in the late afternoon light. But alas, no berries -- a bad berry year overall as far as I can tell. We reached the first lake in around 5 hours or so give or take a few breaks and returned in 3 hours. A long but pleasant journey. We passed 5 parties of overnighters as we headed in -- none of whom had seen the other while camping in the vicinity.