I will write a proper trip report soon but wanted to get on here ASAP that my friend left her boots in the parking lot. Please message if you happened to pick them up, they were brand new. I’m using her amazing pic for attention. Thank you, hiker friends!! I’ve always been amazed at what’s been returned to me that I lost on trail, so hoping for the same luck.

Went for a one-day push of the Alpine Lakes High Route on 7/27 with my bf. Trail is snow-free at this point and has ample cairns that show the right direction 90% of the time; we had the map downloaded on Gaia and found it extremely helpful, so I would recommend some kind of gps to save time.

There are plenty of water sources at the beginning and through the middle, but refill before the last 10 miles or so as the sources are lackluster at best after until the river.

We were very worried about the “sketchy” section crossing iron cap — if you stay on the route (gps was helpful) and it’s dry, there is minimal risk. There are a few steps where a slip would be fatal, but the entire sketchier section is a wide(ish) dirt path. If you’re a seasoned hiker, you’ve probably done way more exposed hiking elsewhere.

We were blessed with good weather and partly sunny skies, but I can imagine it gets HOT to hike on the boulder fields at midday without some relief. Wear sunscreen + protective clothes and hydrate well before.

Overall, very peaceful day (shockingly quiet on the necklace valley trail) with amazing views. Bugs only attacked when we stopped to refill so I never had to whip out my bug net.

For anyone else planning to do a one day push but debating it, go for it! Going counter clockwise, you start with the most challenging ups and downs + rocky/root filled trail first and end with a very mellow 4.5 miles. Ending with the easy trail was essential for morale IMO. This was our biggest single day yet and we thoroughly enjoyed.

Garmin watch reported we hiked ~27.2 miles with just under 9k vert (likely more than we actually did). Started at 4 AM and finished in about 14.5 hours with no running. 

This is not a trip about the Alpine Lakes High Route. If you go to my website slowesthiker.com or follow the link, I tell the story of why we didn't do it. Though we did do a little adding on. Things to note here: the camps along the river on the way in are lovely, but you can probably expect competition on weekends. I had NO bugs there, which was shocking. The "stay right" advice on the rock scramble to Tanks is really hard to see on the way up, but you will almost instinctively end up doing it on the way down. We thought the site up on the hill at the end of the lake was the best, and the breeze keeps the bugs tamed. Though I do think bringing wag bags for this area is a necessity, and I was thankful I remembered to bring mine. Also we had fun finding the second Tank Lake, which you just need to keep going up once you make the right turn instead of heading down to the main Tank Lake. The bugs up there were next level though.  

We completed the Alpine Lakes High Route in three days two nights. The final stretch of road is a bit bumpy with potholes but passable for all vehicles. We started at the West Fork Foss River trailhead on Friday and found a parking space at 2:30 pm. There were only a few parking spaces left, but there was plenty of room to park along the side of the road. The bathroom was open and stocked with TP. 

The trail is in great shape all the way to Big Heart Lake. We reached Big Heart Lake after 5 hours 13 minutes of hiking and set up a tent. We chose a spot on the north side of the camping area, but we noted the next day that there are several great spots on the south side, further away from the toilet. 

The next morning, we packed up and started hiking at 7:45 am. Initially, the trail continued to be in great shape, but it gets more scrambly and bushwhacky after Big Heart. We tagged Atrium peak, which is a short class 3 scramble just off the trail leading to some great views. We filtered water at Chetwoot lake.

From here on out, it was boulder hopping and scrambling for quite a ways (scrambling skills and wilderness navigation ability required). We followed cairns to a certain extent, along with some GPS tracks we had downloaded on Gaia. One difficulty was the proliferation of different lines of cairns - at times it was difficult to know which cairn belonged to each line. Grippy shoes were very helpful along with poles. I would not do this route with precipitation in the forecast or any possibility of scrambling on wet rocks.

We decided not to do the "high" high route and try and tag Iron Cap peak, but instead drop down into the basin to skirt the north side of Iron Cap Lake. Just before Iron Cap Lake there is a scrambling section that involves going down dirt and heather with a dropoff below. This is a no-fall zone. We used veggie belay techniques extensively in this section, and it was easily the most nerve-wracking section of the route. It's mercifully short. On the way to Iron Cap lake there is also one small snowfield to cross, but no ice axe or spikes were needed. We filtered water at Iron Cap Lake.

The rest of the route is mostly up, with trail picking up again at Iron Cap gap. We made it to Tank Lakes and should have camped for the night there - there were many groups there swimming and having type 1 fun like normal humans. The mosquitos weren't too bad at Tank Lakes. Foolishly, we pushed onward to try to make it to Jade Lake. After Tank Lakes, there is a very loose gravelly section to descend on that was not very fun on tired legs. In fact, it was a bit treacherous. We went slowly. After this downhill section, we stopped at the next campsite we found which was near a stream and the turnoff to La Bohn Lakes. This area ended up being quite buggy. We had been scrambling for almost 12 hours, so set up our tent and quickly went to bed.

The next morning we slept in and started out on the trail at 9 am. The trail from Jade back to East Fork Foss River is in great shape, with only a few muddy sections. It's a bit overgrown in sections and I was glad I was wearing pants instead of shorts. The hike out took 4 hours 30 minutes with a break to filter water. We hitched a ride with a nice couple back to West Fork Foss Trailhead. 

All in all, this was a very scenic trip. In the future, I would definitely camp at Tank Lakes and/or do the whole loop in the clockwise direction instead, and plan in some extra time for the hike out. 

We hiked the Necklace Valley Loop / Alpine Lakes High Route over three days. We arrived at the Necklace Valley trailhead about 2pm on Friday afternoon. There were 21 cars in the parking lot, and we just squeezed in to the last open space. Bathroom was clean and well-stocked. 

Day 1 - Necklace Valley to Tank Lakes - The trail was smooth and well-maintained all the way up to Jade Lake. One big climb leading in to the lake basin slowed us down a bit, but we still made good time after our late start.  Beautiful scenery with very few bugs until we reached the lake basin - then they came out in force. After a quick stop at Jade, we continued up to Tank Lakes. The terrain became more challenging as we ascended and the dusk settled. The cairns were well-placed, but GPS or some additional navigational tool was definitely needed in this section. We arrived at Tank Lakes just as the last light was fading in the west - about 10pm. There were many parties camping at the lakes, but we were able to find an established site to set up camp. 

Day 2 - Tank Lakes to Big Heart Lake - We awoke to some moving clouds that obscured the views for a while, but we could tell that the weather was going to clear up. After a quick breakfast, we set off for what we knew would be the most challenging section of the trip. The terrain was fairly straightforward coming out of Tank Lakes, but increased in intensity as we continued toward Iron Cap Gap. GPS / route-finding skills were necessary in this section. There are cairns, but sometimes it is hard to pick them out in the midst of the boulder fields. We only got off course one time and did some bushwacking to get back to the trail. As someone who doesn't love navigating boulder fields, this section was a bit of a battle. However, the scenery and expanse of wild spaces surrounding us made it worth the discomfort. The actual crux of this section, for us, came on the spine between Angeline and Chetwoot Lakes. A couple of the trails in this section are quite exposed and a misstep or fall here could be catastrophic. We had read trip reports saying that previous hikers had underestimated the complexity of the spine and we were in the same boat. This section took us longer to navigate than we had anticipated - slightly over an hour to cover 1 mile! Once we got through that part, it was smooth sailing down to Big Heart Lake. Overall, we spent 12 hours covering the terrain on Day 2. 

Day 3 - Big Heart Lake to West Fork Foss River Trailhead - After sleeping well and late at Big Heart Lake, we started the day with a swim. The water was incredible and such a welcome change for me after those boulders! We packed up slowly and headed out of camp about noon. The West Fork Foss River trail is well-maintained and the few obstacles we encountered were easy to navigate. We made good time and drank in the views of the many lakes along the way! I don't know that I will do the High Route again this year, but I am already planning to get back up to Copper Lake and make a visit to Malachite, which we skipped this time around. We made it down to the parking lot about 6pm and started to walk on the road back to our car. Thankfully, we didn't have to walk far before another party came by and offered us a ride. We gladly accepted and made it back to the car in no time. 

Overall, if you have the necessary fitness and back country / route-finding skills, this hike is well worth the effort. Yes, there were lots of bugs in some places. Yes, it was hard and scary sometimes. But the views made it all worthwhile.