We did a 3 day 2 night loop up the West Fork Foss, traversed Iron Cap, and out past Tank Lakes and the Necklace Valley from June 24-26th.

ROAD: The road was in good condition to either trailhead, with some avoidable potholes.

WEST FORK FOSS TO BIG HEART: There have been a couple of good reports for the West Fork from this weekend so I won't say much about this section, but the trail was in good shape with inconsequential snow to Big Heart Lake.

BIG HEART TO CHETWOOT: The trail past Big Heart had an abrupt change of pace as it got a lot steeper, more rugged, scrambly in spots, and less defined. There were slightly larger snow patches in places, but nothing difficult to get through. On the way up Atrium there was a small split in the path at one point and we accidentally went left instead of right, but corrected quickly.   

Once we dropped down into the saddle on the ridge after Atrium, we had significantly more snow, but we didn't use traction this day and made it to camp near the small mostly frozen tarn just above Chetwoot Lake. We met a pair who had done the traverse the opposite direction (and climbed a bunch of the surrounding peaks to boot), which boosted our confidence that conditions were passable!

CHETWOOT TO IRON CAP GAP: This day's adventure was almost entirely off-trail, involving navigation through lots of boulders and snowfields. It was a very rugged day, with lots of route-finding through difficult terrain. Don't underestimate this section of the route!

We left camp and descended to the edge of Little Chetwoot (melted out). We scrambled along the bouldery edge and briefly to the shore of Chetwoot (mostly melted), before climbing back up and heading to the lake below Iron Cap (still frozen for the most part). 

We decided to try and head up Iron Cap with hopes of a summit instead of following where the summer trail traverses around the mountain. The route we ended going involved some scrambling, along with a short snow slope traverse that we used crampons and ice axe for. Sadly, by the time we worked our way up to the summit ridge it was fairly late in the afternoon. We saw how much boulder hopping was still involved to attain the summit, and we decided to forego the summit and just drop down in interest of getting to camp at a sane hour.

The descent off the Iron Cap summit ridge started out with some straightforward class two boulders but quickly devolved into some steep, brushy, scrambly trees, and we even crawled under a snow bridge to get into a moat between snow and rock at some point. We eventually popped out into yet another boulder field and made our way along and around another basin before climbing up to Iron Cap Gap where we found a flat spot to call home for the night.

EXIT VIA TANK LAKES/NECKLACE VALLEY: The terrain was significantly more mellow from Iron Cap Gap to Tank Lakes, with mixed easy snow, melted out rock and even patches of trail, which were exciting! More of the same on the descent down the moraine. The section at the base of the moraine through the trees was confusing and we lost it a couple of times. 

The rest of the hike out was fairly straightforward although it felt a little less maintained than the West Fork Foss. There were more trees down with one particularly large area of blowdowns that we worked around, and other "normal" trail obstacles with areas of overgrown brush (the previous trip report before mine goes into a bit more detail about this section, if you need more info).

GPX: Linked below, but my phone died on the exit so I don't have the full loop. We relied pretty heavily on GPS for this route.

BUGS: Were pretty annoying, they weren't the worst I've ever had considering I didn't use any repellent or bug net, but I definitely got a whole bunch of bites.

WATER: Lots of water sources on route.

GEAR USED: Microspikes, crampons, ice axe, poles.

Follow along on instagram for more photos/videos/adventures! @thenomadicartist

I made it up to Jade Lake and back on this damp and cloudy day - my first time hiking Necklace Valley! I plan to visit again in late summer on a backpacking thru-hike, so this is just a small taste. 

ROAD / PEOPLE: The road is in great shape, just a few potholes here and there. Only one car at the TH when I arrived - two backpackers who I met on my way up. Two day hikers pulled in behind me, and two backpackers later in the day. I only came across four people on the entire hike - not bad for an uber-popular area on a Saturday.

TRAIL: This trail is all over the place in terms of conditions. At the beginning it follows an old road bed before entering the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, so it's generally wide and level. After entering the wilderness it gets a lot more "rustic", but the main problem is the brush. The vine maple and occasional other small trees are slowly taking over the trail (or not so slowly, perhaps!) along with all the perennial vegetation. On this wet day, my bottom half was  soaked by the time I got to the river crossing, from all the water on the plants. Sometimes the plants are waist-high, sometimes ankle-high, often right in your face. It was pretty much impossible to stay dry, and the water made everything hang that much lower over the trail.

Along with the brush, there are lots of old puncheon bridges that are very slippery, and occasionally those are almost buried by brush as well, or are quite slanted. In general I would say this is not a great trail for a wet day due to all the brush and the slippery bridges. There is also a sketchy double log bridge over a pond, but one of the logs has broken in two and can't be walked on, so you're left with a single log with no handrail.

Which leads me to the next "interesting" part about the trail - the crossing of the East Fork Foss River. It's doable right now - the bridge is a flattened log over the rushing river, and the handrail that (I am guessing) used to be there is gone. The log is fairly wide, so I crossed it OK without using poles, but there is a deep pool on one end of it with some rocks in it, and I inadvertenly dunked both my boots into that. I had to stop on the other side of the river to wring out my socks and dump the water out of my boots! On the way back, I found you can go around the pool with a sketchy side trail if you are intent on keeping your boots dry.

The real climbing begins once you cross the river, after crossing the Necklace Valley creek on yet another makeshift bridge. Pick up the cairns through the boulder field on the other side and the rest of the trail is pretty easy to follow. I never found that it got all that steep, though it does climb about 2400' over 2.5-3 miles to Jade Lake. The big problem on the climb is one really nasty brushy section, again mostly vine maple. Although rocky at times, the tread of the trail is decent, but there are so many trees getting in the way that it's pretty unpleasant, especially when all the trees are dumping water on you as you try to avoid them!

I believe WTA is working on this upper section this year - it really needs it! I hope they have a chance to brush out some of the lower sections too. If I had one word to describe this trail, "overgrown" would definitely be it.

Continuing on to the lake, the rest of the trail is rather primitive, rooty, and rocky in a number of places, but overall it's not as bad as I was expecting. It's generally not muddy or wet. However, getting to Jade Lake took a lot longer than I thought it would - every time I thought I was almost there, I had to climb again! It took me about as much time to get from the river to Jade Lake as it did from the car to the river - about 4:25 to the lake from the car.

WATERFALLS: There are quite a few waterfalls to enjoy along the way, though I would say the West Fork Foss River Trail is better with more waterfalls and less effort. About a mile in, there is a nice wide bridge (no railings) over a roaring waterfall. Then at about 3 miles in, there is a riverside camp on the right with some excellent rapids and huge boulders in the river. The water is a cool bluish green color. The best waterfall of the hike is next to the trail on your left, about halfway between the river and Jade Lake, where the creek from Necklace Valley drops about 150' through some slabby rock. See video below. Then, you can see the raging waters right below you as you cross that creek on the Michael Nesby bridge, about 1/4 mile farther up the trail. This bridge also has no handrail - a recurring theme for this trail! 

BLOWDOWNS: There are quite a few. I counted 18 before crossing the river, and 9 after. Many of the ones before the river crossing are small and could be handled with a trail saw, but several are much larger and will require a crosscut saw. Most are step-overs but there are at least a couple that require a detour off trail. Almost all of the blowdowns past the river on the climb to Jade Lake are quite large and will require crosscut work.

About halfway up the climb to the lake, one massive blowdown covers the trail almost entirely where it dips down to cross a small rocky creek bed. The trail starts out on the right side of the huge log, then crosses under the log to the left, then curves back to the right past the root end of the blowdown. I found it worked well to just walk straight up the log and pick up the trail on the other end. You can also climb up a creek to the left and pick up the trail that way, but the creek has quite a bit of water in it so it's hard to stay dry.

Farther up, a bit past the Michael Nesby Bridge (look for the plaque on your right), there is a massive double-tree blowdown that has fallen right on top of the trail, covering it for about 100'. Again, you can walk the log(s) and find the trail at the root end. Or you can detour around the whole mess in the brush, just know the trail continues at the uphill end of the logs.

SNOW: There is only one very small snow patch over the trail just as you are climbing a rock field right below the lake. It's a bit tricky and might require kicking a few steps in, but it's not bad. Certainly not worth putting spikes on. Jade Lake is entirely melted and the shore is mostly snow-free.

STATS: This is a bit of a guessing game. The trail sign at the start says Jade Lake is only 7 miles. Green Trails has it at closer to 8 miles, and my Garmin said over 9! I think the 8 mile distance feels about right. Total hiking time for me was about 8:45, with about 25 minutes for lunch and lots of time taking pictures and videos on the way up. The elevation difference between the TH and Jade Lake is only 3000', however with all the ups and downs in the trail it may amount to about 3400'.

Took this trail as an overnighter with my buddy.
The furthest we went on the trail was about half-way around the west side of Jade Lake but decided to stop for the night at the outlet of Jade Lake due to frequent post-holing following the trail around the snowy west side of the lake along the steep bank. The north side of the lake is more melted and we found a dry spot for a tent. The trail up is in good condition other than 2 large downed trees that hide the trail in spots. The only significant snow field before Jade Lake was just before the lake coming up the last boulder field. The snow was unavoidable here and the hardpack on top is hollowing out. We both broke through 1-2 times post-holing up past our knees. The next day we clambered up the ridge to the east of Jade Lake to get some views of the surrounding peaks and lakes. It looks like both Lake Ilswoot and Locket Lake are almost completely melted. If we had another day, these would be worth spending more time at. Though the banks were very snowy from our vantage point so I can't say whether or not there would be a good spot for a tent.
While the conditions aren't the best yet up at elevation, we thoroughly enjoyed our solitude in such a stunning area. The other perk this time of year is that the bugs aren't bad yet. We wore bug spray, but overall weren't harassed much by bugs and had no mosquito bites after trip.

Overnight trip to jade lake. Foss river was easy to cross on footbridge. Then relentless uphill with moderate amt of debris. Two areas with large Douglas firs covering trail and had to reference all trails to find it again. Probably about 30-40 snow patches to cross. Posthole warning as it's thinning fast. Final climb before lake is shown in pics. Once I reached Jade lake it was a no go for me as a slip of footing would end in an icy cold lake bath. Camped at the outlet...watch your footing on the unstable logs to access it, but great spot for a small tent or hammock. 

Left the TH at 8:30 am. One other car at the parking lot. Broken window glass near the outhouse, but all windows intact when we returned. Passed a group of 3 overnighters returning to their car in the morning and 4 other parties heading in as we hiked out. 

The trail is completely snow free. There is some debris on the trail. Some stretches are a bit overgrown, but the route is pretty obvious. Numerous small creeks to rock hop across. A few trees require climbing over. One log crossing over a side creek requires balanced footing but you could sit and scoot if you wanted to.

We made it as far as the footbridge over the East Fork of the Foss River. That was our planned turnaround, but not sure I would have crossed the foot log today. The river is high due to snow melt. The hand railing is gone. The river has crested part of the log and a misstep would be unforgiving in the icy, fast moving water.

Pacer logged 12.2 miles round trip and 1,275 ft elevation gain with all the ups and downs. A very pretty trail which was thankfully mostly shaded on this very warm day. Lots of creeks to help you cool down and pretty places to take a break. I've never seen so many trillium! Some were almost knee high.