Trailhead was mostly full when we arrived around noon, probably should’ve started earlier given how hot it was though. There was broken glass at the trailhead so keep valuables out of your car. The first five miles along the river are pretty much flat and shady; couple good camping/lunch spots by the river as you go and the bugs weren’t too bad. Once you leave the forest and start climbing it gets hotter, steeper, rockier, and waay buggier. The river crossings are all pretty straightforward, doable without poles. The first few miles to Jade Lake have some pretty exposed and overgrown sections that are a pain especially when it’s hot out. It climbs pretty relentlessly up to the lake and there are a few blowdowns that took some effort to climb over. The bugs were definitely worse but still not as bad as it gets up top. Ranger had left a report noting bears (including mom and cub) on the trail and I ended up seeing a bear cub maybe six feet in front me on the trail about half a mile from Jade Lake. Bring a bear bag if you’re camping at Jade. It was buggy at the lake and saw a few campers but we kept going up. It levels out a bit past Jade and after Emerald route finding becomes tricky as there are multiple “routes” up to Tank. The rock field before Tank Lakes which you climb up is steep but navigation is really difficult given half the cairns aren’t placed on the actual trail so have maps downloaded. Bugs were horrendous on the ridge and wouldn’t let up all the way to Tank. Some snow patches but all on flat ground so easy to navigate. Tank Lakes were stunning, views were amazing but the bugs were something else. Get a mosquito head net if you don’t have one because they would swarm so badly in the evenings and morning. Couple of people camping and most camp sites were melted out with a little snow on the lakes still. It was otherworldly up there, totally worth the effort. Left the next morning around 8:30 AM and arrived at the parking lot around 2:30 PM. Took us about 7 hours to get up.

A lovely run and scramble up Hinman via East Foss and the Necklace Valley. Despite the bugs and the heatwave, conditions were perfect. Given the lingering snow, there is plenty of water available. The snow is very supportable, which made the direct route up La Bohn easier. There were also opportunities for a handful of glissades, which sped up the descent. As long as the snow holds, I would hang to the north side of the west ridge so as to make the best use of the snowfields. Hiking the mostly dry ridge (I did that on the ascent) was pretty and blissfully bug free due to the wind, but it was slower going than putting on spikes and sticking to the snow. Scrambling along/over some of the false summits exposed me to a decent amount of loose rock and made me wish I had been down in the snowfield/glacier. 

Overnight backpack to Opal Lake. As promised, first 5 miles are very mild in terms of elevation. There are some sections that are very overgrown (and a few sections that look like they’ve recently been cutback), so I was glad to be wearing long pants.

Crossing the river was a bit sporty. The log across the river (no intact railing, although it looks like there once was one) was separated from the trail by a shin-deep pool. I put on sandals, but some other hikers were able to climb climb up and over an embankment to reach the log without getting their feet wet.

Shortly you across another arm of the river, and then the trail starts getting tough. Immediately you are on a talus slope that has no discernible trail or easier path up - only cairns show you where to go, climbing up huge boulders. Then, sections of the trail are really overgrown but have large rocks, making it difficult to see your footing and important to take it slow.

The trail keeps climbing up steep sections with tricky footing all the way to Jade Lake. After the creek crossing (bridge is in good shape), you still have 0.5-1 miles to Jade Lake- I made the mistake of thinking it was right around the corner :)

Perhaps because this was my first overnight of the year and I’m not in pack shape yet, but this entire section of the hike, both up and down, really kicked my butt. The challenging footing and large steps made for very sore muscles and the talus slopes and hidden rocks made for beat up and achy feet.

Jade Lake made for a pretty late-lunch spot, albeit with lots of mosquitoes. The lake level is still high, so the trail around Jade lake is submerged in places and required top notch balance or just wading to get around.

Browsed around at campsites at Jade Lake, Opal Lake, and beyond Opal Lake but everywhere was massively buggy so I picked a pretty spot at Opal Lake and spent most of the evening in the protection of my tent as swarms of mosquitoes tried to get inside. I saw only a handful of other groups, so maybe the other nearby lakes were less buggy and everyone was congregated there.

Overall, a pleasant hike and nice to be away from the crowds, but don’t underestimate the second half of the hike if you’re carrying a pack, be prepared to get your feet wet, and be prepared for swarms of mosquitoes.

Summary: Alpine Lakes High Route 7/16-17/2022 with InReach, Ice Axes and Spikes

Full report:

We set out to attempt the Alpine Lakes High Route (West Fork Foss River TH → Big Heart Lake → Necklace Valley TH) from Seattle on Saturday morning 7/16. It was unclear whether snow conditions would allow us to do the loop. Parked at Necklace Valley (our exit point) at 9:30am. Began walking the ~2.5 miles up Road 68 and 1064 toward West Fork Foss River TH but our hitchhiking thumbs caught us a ride most of the way! Climbed up to Malachite Lake in 2 hours and after a refreshing swim continued to Big Heart Lake, arriving at 3:30pm. Plenty of time for another swim, sunbathing, and looking for the iridescent, spotted purple trout swimming beneath the logs!

After a solid 10 hours of sleep, we began ascending the spine between Big Heart and Angeline Lakes at 7:30am the next morning 7/17. We carried 1.5L of water each plus 1L Nalgene to share. This was sufficient to get us to the river valley on the Necklace Valley side. We enjoyed almost completely snow free terrain and faint dirt trails all the way to Chetwood Lake, which was still completely frozen. We took a brief accidental detour to lower Chetwood lake, but corrected our course. Chetwood Lake’s river outlet crossing was doable over sturdy logs.

Beyond Chetwood Lake, we picked up on helpful crampon footprints in the snow that appeared to be following our GPX track closely. This single track proved extremely helpful throughout the long day on the snow. Snow depth was typically at least several feet, quite sturdy except at the edges. 

We assessed the snowy slopes for holes or soft spots but found the only sketchy parts to be the small cornices and ice bridges at the edges where snow meets rock.

**Warning: In a few weeks/days this route may become much more treacherous as the snowfields become too thin, risking falls between the boulders beneath. By our estimation, less snow doesn’t necessarily mean safer until it’s fully melted out. We were aware this may have been one of the narrow windows to safely complete this route this summer due to the high snowfall last winter.**

We avoided the notoriously ridgeline section included in the Becky Guides –– do not attempt this; people have fallen and died. Instead, skirt in front and traverse the front of Iron Cap. This  modification is now much more common but worth stressing.

We traversed relatively steep grades beneath Iron Cap (assisted by microspikes and ice axes), high boulder fields with helpful cairns and a difficult bushwhacking section (the debris from some  big blowdowns obliterated the weak trails) here and below Tank Lakes later on.

 A few chutes up Iron Cap Gap looked viable –but this may become dicey. 

We envisioned smoother sailing after Iron Cap Gap, but climbed around various features on snow for several more miles until below Tank Lake. We connected with established trails only after descending to the Necklace valley floor near the base of a long waterfall around 4pm.

The water level in the Necklace Valley was clearly higher than usual, and many massive trees were downed and made the lakeshore trails difficult. Jade Lake required walking through the water at mid-calf. From this point we made quick progress down several thousand feet and the remaining 7 miles on easy trails- sweet relief after 7 hours of routefinding on snow. We ran most of this section despite our packs. 

Back at the car by 8pm, achy legs but happy! Sunday stats (Big Heart Lake to Necklace Valley TH): 13 hours, 21 miles

Necessary gear: GPS navigation (we had Garmin InReach and Gaia iPhone app both with downloaded GPX file, microspikes, ice ax, could maybe get by with trekking poles)

Highlight: Completed a run/day hike that connected Necklace Valley and the West Foss trail using a route route that gained the ridge up to Iron Cap and traversed that ridge before coming down (and up and down again) to join the West Foss Trail at Big Heart Lake. Lots of routefinding, snow travel, and scarmbling. Gear was running vests, ice axes, and microspikes.

Necklace Valley was beautifully serene with the only thing of note really being the mosquitos and the overgrown brush including devil's club and stinging nettle on certain parts of the trail. After getting past Al Lake we continued up the snowfields towards Tank Lakes navigating generally towards Iron Cap mountain. The snow was generally good to travel up. Once we could see Iron Cap we noticed the ridge approach looked a little complicated and the GPX track we were following suggested dropping down to the the base of Iron Cap before ascending again. We descended the snow slope carefully assessing which direction would avoid cliff drop offs. Once at the base of Iron Cap we started up again ascending up snow slopes and looking for any signs of a faint trail. Any sign we did find soon disappeared in the snow coverage. Once on the summit we turned our attention to the ridge traverse. Immediately leaving the summit on a faint loose exposed trail soon gave way to a more solid traverse on rocks that required class four and sometimes five moves. The difficulty of the travel was most likely heightened due to the snow coverage on the north side of the ridge. After finding a solid slope to descend down towards an area that was shouldered by a still frozen Chetwood Lake, we could again find our way up towards the route that would eventually lead us up before finally heading down to Big Heart Lake and finding solid trail again. 

Stats: 15.5 hours, 27.6 miles, and 8,400 feet of elevation gain