While most of my hikes are primarily to look up and around me at scenery, this time most of us spent more time looking down instead of up. Our leader organized a trip to admire and possibly collect mushrooms along the first few miles of this trail. And we were not disappointed. 

Paying closer attention to the sides and areas adjacent to the trail yielded a colorful and interesting variety of mushrooms, several sizes and colors. None of our group claimed to be mushroom experts but one member knew which ones she often collected for eating. We picked some of those but left the others she was not sure of. It was an interesting, educational and fun trip along a really nice trail. We turned back at just over 3 miles for a RT distance of about 6.4 miles. 

The trail is in good shape, a bit muddy and brushy in some of the lower sections but not bad. This part of the trail alternates in gentles rising slopes and descents, crossing some wet areas...with glimpses of the valley walls with nice fall colors. There was one car in the lot on our arrival and a couple more on return. We passed a half dozen or so hikers on our way out, two of which were also looking for mushrooms.

A nice, fun day out with a reward of some fresh mushrooms. I now know I want to educate myself more on how to identify them. 

There is a toilet at the trailhead.

We did a two-night loop of the Upper Foss valleys, starting from the Necklace Valley trailhead and ending up at West Fork Foss Lakes trailhead. We were lucky enough to get a ride to the start, so we could leave a car at our endpoint and avoid the 2.5-mile walk along the road between trailheads.

Day 1:

We started Friday morning at quarter-past nine. The sky was overcast and cool and there were few cars in the parking lot. The trail is excellently maintained up through the Necklace Valley and water is plentiful along its length. The first several miles are easy and meandering, but the steepness ramps up with the turn east up Necklace Creek. The sky began to clear as we climbed out of the forest, leaving the clearly marked trail behind and following cairns across boulder fields toward Tank Lakes.

We reached Tank Lake South at 4:45 and set up camp on the south side of the lake. This area is pure alpine bliss, and the view south across the Middle Snoqualmie Valley of Summit Chief Mountain and the Chimney Rocks is stunning. We shared the lake with two other parties, but campsites are plentiful. Used the final slivers of daylight to attempt to trace our route across the east flank of Iron Cap Mountain the following day.

Day 2:

We'd been told by a couple backpackers coming in the opposite direction that the stretch between Chetwoot and Tank Lakes had taken them around seven hours, given the scrambling, gradient, and pathfinding difficulties. With rain forecasted for the afternoon, we made sure to get up and go in the morning as soon as it was light, hitting the trail just after 8 o'clock. From the valley below Iron Cap Gap to approximately halfway across the east face of Iron Cap Mountain, we saw no trail nor cairns. The CalTopo app proved to be invaluable on this day. We referred to it constantly to keep us on the optimal path as we zigzagged up and down around the mountain, avoiding cliffs and subsequent backtracking. The scrambling itself was very manageable, though we were frequently using all four limbs to clamber up and down rocks and ledges. We got to Iron Cap Lake around 11 am and had lunch. This was the only water source we came across until we got to Chetwoot Lake, so we were happy to have filled up our bottles fully at Tank Lake before we left.

The section between Iron Cap Lake and Chetwoot was easier, and we arrived there sometime between 1 and 2 pm. This was where we had planned to camp, but we had so much daylight left that after an hour rest along the lakeshore, we decided to continue on and spend the night at Big Heart Lake instead. Just as we began hiking again, the rain started. The trudge up and down the deceptively challenging ridgeline between Big Heart and Angeline Lakes was somewhat miserable, but fortune was on our side again when the rain decided to stop just as we arrived at the Big Heart Lake campsites around 4:45. There were a couple other camping parties already set up around the lake. We were luckily able to set up our tent under a rain-free sky, but the rain returned soon enough, and there wasn't much more to do other than eat and sleep.

Day 3:

We had a relaxed morning, as we had gone further than we planned on Day 2. The hike from Big Heart out is 90% downhill and in excellent condition. We were grateful for the switchbacks after the near-vertical straight ups and downs of the prior day's route. Lots of lakes, lots of accessible water, and we were back at the trailhead before 2.

This is a great route, and I'd strongly recommend it to anyone with some backpacking experience and a decent GPS/pathfinding app.

Did the loop from the West Fork Foss trailhead to the Necklace Valley trailhead as a 2 night backpack over the weekend. We started in the early afternoon on Friday and easily made it up to Big Heart Lake to camp for the first night. As other reports have mentioned, there IS a bee's nest directly in the center of the trail shortly after the turnoff to Malachite Lake. Our group crossed one at a time, quickly and purposefully, and no one got stung

Day 2 was an adventure! We took the low route (opting not to go over Iron Cap) from Big Heart to Tank Lakes. About 5 miles is technically off trail, and although there are some cairns for most of the way, GPS and route finding experience proved extremely helpful. Going was SLOW across endless boulder fields and a few very steep spots - plan more time than you think you need. Word of caution - if camping at Tank Lakes (and you should, it's beautiful), there are several mice at the large campsite overlooking the lake, and they are not shy. A few of our group felt them run across their feet while cooking dinner and one unlucky member had their tent chewed on due to accidentally leaving m&ms in a pocket.

Getting down the moraine the first mile from Tank is slow going, but after that the trail is easy to follow. The descending is pretty much done after 5.5 miles, and you can fly down the remaining miles to the car. 

My brother and I arrived at parking lot on a Tuesday with just a few cars in the lot.  There’s a trash can and vault toilet here.  Due to reviews regarding break ins, I made certain car was empty of anything and left everything open to reveal nothing of interest and fortunately no break in.  There was glass on the ground, evidence of previous break ins. There were mouse droppings inside car, however, so someone was curious.

The WTA profile is very accurate for the last 3 miles to Jade Lake.  Rocky, rooty, steep, and hot in the sun.  Thanks to logout volunteers, as there were no trees to clamber over.  We camped at Jade Lake and noticed there are several campsites near where we were and if one continues another quarter mile or so, there are a few at the Foss River crossing, then not too far up a short climb on other side, there are a few really nice, grassy campsites also.

Using Jade as basecamp, we hiked further up the valley passing Emerald and Opal lake.  At the cabin, there was an apparent bear sighting; we only heard it in the grasses.  Lots of berries.

Both on the way to Jade Lake and beyond, the trail is very brushy in sections but not difficult to navigate.  There are several rock scrambles, all marked with carins. 

Bugs were not as bad as they could have been and evenings were cool. A huge rock slide on far side of Jade lake, of course in the middle of the night.  It sounded like a freight train was going to mow us down. Plenty of water along the way even during this dry time.

Did the Foss / Iron Cap traverse as a single-day hike/run, though honestly there was a lot more hiking then running!

Conditions were largely the same as in Wanderlust Wookies' report from 7/7. Where there is trail, the trail was well-maintained, but the traverse from Tank to Chetwoot is something else entirely. Navigation skills and GPS definitely recommended for this section, and expect slow going - it's a combination of bushwhack, low-class scramble, and boulder traverse with limited/no cairns to follow.  (Note that we took the low route, clockwise from Tank to Chetwoot via Iron Cap Lake.  High route may be very different.)

The lakes were all stunning, and seemed to have abundant campsites, though I've been here before on weekends and it seems to fill up quickly. Either fork of the Foss would be an amazing destination for a weekday overnight!