With fall season in full swing and a good weather window open for a day, I day-hiked Necklace Valley.

The fall colors along East Fork Foss River are peaking at the moment. Even if you don't intend to head up to Necklace valley, hiking the river valley is worthwhile by itself, especially early in the morning, as the fog is lifting from the golden trees in between the evergreens.

I started at the Necklace Valley trailhead just before 7am, getting on the trail with first light. I reached the bolder field across the river at the beginning of the climb to Necklace Valley before 10am. I made it to Jade Lake before noon. I hiked towards the far end of the valley to where the boot path towards Tank Lakes starts. I hit my turnaround time there at 1pm. On my way back I stopped by Opal, Emerald, Al and Locket Lakes before making my way back down. I crossed the East Fork Foss river by 5pm on my way back and was back at the trailhead by 7:30pm. My Garmin tracked 26.67 miles and 5,023 feet elevation gain. According to Garmin, my moving time was 8 hours, 40 minutes. I dumped the GPX track on CalTopo here.

I was the only person up there the entire day. There was no other car when I arrived and by the time I got back to my car, there were no others either.

There was a fair amount of snow (~4 inches) towards the far end of Necklace Valley from the weekend already. I could see fresh animal tracks in the snow (some smaller cats too, probably bobcats?). There was a lot more snow accumulated towards the ascend to La Bohn and Tank Lakes in the shadow of those ridges.

The trail was wet, slippery and muddy for many sections. Parts of the trail were flooded from snow melt. The log bridge across East Fork Foss River is in a good enough condition, just mind how slippery it is now. Some of the other log bridges were somewhat suspect or partially collapsed already. Many of the wooden boardwalks are unstable and slippery as well. Slow down, use your hiking poles and be careful.

The Necklace Valley cabin is falling apart now. The wood is in such a bad shape that parts of the roof are beginning to cave in. Don't expect to seek shelter in the cabin the next time you go up there.

I was hoping I could push myself to get up to La Bohn Lakes or Tank Lakes before the season ends, but it was a bit too far with how strenuous the trail conditions were already.

With more snow coming in this weekend, I'd say Necklace Valley is probably done for the season even for marathon day hikers now.

 

I first hiked the Necklace Valley trail eight years ago and remembered it being tough — eight years later, I still think it’s a pretty tough hike!

We got to the trailhead around 10:30 a.m. and the (small) lot was already overflowing so we parked just a bit up the road. The first 4.5 miles of trail ramble along the river and are is in nice shape overall. Once you cross the river though… it gets really root-y and rocky. I spent a lot of this trail staring at my feet and trying not to trip. The grade is steeeep and many sections involve lunging up boulders as tall as my hips. Temps were well into the 80s during our ascent which made it all the more brutal.

Once you get the valley, there’s a slight reprieve as it flattens out and travels through fields of delicious blueberries.

This visit, we continued on past the valley and up to Tank Lakes. It’s another mile or so of rock-hopping uphill with a loosely defined ‘trail’ and sporadic carins. It was not actually as bad as it looked on the map aside from the oppressively hot sun.

The Tank Lakes area is absolutely stunning. We were a bit worried about crowds, but there is so much room to spread out that it was not an issue at all. We ran into quite a few groups hiking the full Alpine Lake High Route. Had one of the best sunsets I’ve seen on trail.

The descent the next day was a bit of a slog in the heat, but definitely went a lot faster than the way up. We unfortunately didn’t make it out early enough to beat the Hwy 2 traffic westbound, but overall worth it!

The trail needs brushing before the river crossing, between three and five miles from the trailhead.  After the river crossing, the trail to Jade Lake is rocky, rooted, and it has a few logs to contend with.

Alpine Lakes High Route, counterclockwise. Amazing hike, just be careful of daylight and water supply. Road in and trailhead toilets are all good. 

West Fork Foss Trailhead to Big Heart Lake: Started at West Fork Foss Trailhead at 7, made Trout Lake by 7:30 and Copper by 8:30. Low hanging clouds and fog in the morning made for cool and damp conditions, especially with the brush going up to Copper Lake. There are some blowdowns in this section, some quite large, but all easy to navigate. Slowed a little on descending into Big Heart Lake, made it there by 9:30. Pretty easy terrain on this section, some bits are rocky but overall smooth sailing.

Big Heart Lake to Tank Lakes: Start by moving up to the ridge between Big Heart and Angeline Lakes. Apparently the trail here is harder to find than I imagined, I accidentally ended up just below the summit of Atrium Peak and had to backtrack a little to stay on the safer shoulder. The clouds had started to lift, and I was able to look down onto both lakes as well as the ridge where I was headed. With all the elevation gained and lost, definitely was moving slower on this section. Strava activity shows the pace for each mile well. Stopped at Chetwoot Lake and filtered water, was nice and cool. Leaving Chetwoot, the trail quickly becomes boulder field more than anything. This goes on for a little over three miles, around the shoulder of Iron Cap, through Iron Cap Lake basin (beautiful), before dropping down and immediately back up to Iron Cap Gap. The occasional cairns are helpful, but Gaia is more so. There are sections where it is simultaneously steep, the trail consists of large boulders, no trail marking, and close to a cliff. Definitely benefited from having a hiking pole and trail runners with good cushioning. If it had been sunny out, this entire three miles would have been incredibly exposed and baking on the rocks as well. As it is a rock field, there are many, many pikas. From Iron Cap Gap, the trail is much easier to follow and leads the final bit of elevation up to Tank Lakes. Made it to lunch at Tank Lakes by 1:30 and ran into my parents (they moved the car to East Fork TH and hiked in). 

Tank Lakes to East Fork Foss Trailhead: Just a tiny bit more rock terrain is easy after Iron Cap. Descend along the ridge and then down into the valley, where it takes a little over a mile from the lake to get back to easy to follow trail. Drop down 2000 more feet in short order before taking the Necklace Valley river trail out to the trailhead. The last five miles are by far the nicest, easiest, most relaxing section of trail. For this reason I would recommend doing the high route in one day counterclockwise, to finish with this. For multi-day it probably matters a little less.

Garmin logged 27.5 miles and 8700 feet of elevation gain (2 of these miles were backtracking to carry my parents packs). 10 hours of moving time, 11 hours elapsed time. The elevation is no joke, especially when lots of it is done over rocky terrain. Only ever saw bugs when stopped, a couple at Chetwoot and some more at Tank Lakes. Lots of pikas all over the rocks, some marmots up at Tank Lakes, many birds, butterflies, and frogs across the rest of the trail. Wildflowers all over and some blueberries over by Big Heart Lake and Atrium Peak. Definitely want to go back when it is sunnier. Good amount of people out, but never felt crowded. It's always nice to run into friendly people on the trial (shoutout the three trail runners).

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.