I've had the Alpine Lakes High Route and Mt Hinman on my list of trips to knock out at some point, so a buddy of mine and I decided to combine them into one trip and hope for the best. I knew the heat would be a factor, but I didn't realize it would impact me as much as it did! https://youtu.be/nWUSYwndlHM

We started up Necklace Valley and everything was going fine until about mile 7 when I hit the wall. I was way too hot, burning through water and electrolytes like crazy. It was a very slow grind to La Bohn Lakes but eventually we made it. Bugs were not bad all the way from Necklace Valley to La Bohn Lakes.

The next morning we woke up to some fog and a cool breeze which was a life saver for me. We went up Hinman and checked that off the list. Side note, Gaia and Caltopo show 2 different summits as the true summit, so we did both just in case.

We got back down to camp and packed up and continued the route to Chetwoot Lake for the night. Bugs started getting bad before Iron Cap Lake, and then they were horrendous at Chetwoot. Nothing was slowing them down, so good luck. The trail here was pretty well defined, but decently slow going since there is a lot of rock hopping you have to do.

The next day we trekked all the way out through West Fork Foss. Getting from Chetwoot to Big Heart Lake as a process but after that it is pretty clear sailing. Again bugs were pretty good from Big Heart all the way to the trailhead. So they seem to be in that sweet spot between Chetwoot's elevation and La Bohn.

We clocked about 33 miles and 11,200' elevation gain.

Hi, Where the Mountain Goats (Terrence), and today, my friend Thomas and I did an overnight trip with hopes of summiting Mount Hinman. We left the Necklace trailhead on the 8th with plans to spend the night at La Bohn Lakes. 

The first 5 miles are simply a walk through the woods as you follow the East Fork of Foss SE through the valley. Once you cross the river, the hike truly begins. We broke out of the trees as we steeply ascended the valley before ducking back into the shade. The distance from the river crossing to Jade Lakes is approximately 3 miles, with a total elevation gain of 2,600 feet. Luckily, the trail is well-maintained and mostly heads through forests. 

At 4700 feet and approx. 8 miles in, we reached Jade Lake. Jade Lake is an unbelievably beautiful true alpine lake with La Bohn Peak serving as a backdrop to the South. Unfortunately, this is where we encountered the problem that this whole area faces:: mosquitoes and an overwhelming number of them. After taking a dip, putting on bug spray (which did nothing), we headed through the meadows towards La Bohn Gap. We passed by an old cabin and Emerald and Opal Lakes. I have a sneaking suspicion that Emerald and Opal lakes are contributing to the mass mosquito infestation, as neither is a lake. I'd say deep swamps are a more accurate description. 
Once past Opal, the trail gets hard to track as we picked our way through creek beds, rocks, and brush towards the massive boulder field to the Southeast.

Once you're under the boulder field, the trail begins to steepen as you gain about 750 vertical feet in under half a mile. The trail starts with boulder hopping (make sure to follow the cairns) before you cut in towards the waterfall and continue your steep ascent through trees and muddy terrain. 

Once at the top of the ridge (5,800'), we began to head South, traversing the upper meadows past La Bohn Lakes. To our utter surprise and disappointment, the mosquitoes were just awful at the upper meadows. After passing by the biggest of the La Bohn Lakes, we set up camp next to a small tarn. It was unbelievably buggy. 
The highlights of the meadows were easily the views of Bears Breast Mountain, Lemah, and Chimney Rock. Lemah, like always, stole the show and continues to rise to the top of my bucket list. Hinman loomed right above us to the East. 

After fighting off bugs all evening, we climbed into our bivies for some much-needed sleep. Unfortunately, I woke up to blistering winds and overcast skies. After waiting till 8, the skies didn't clear, quite the opposite, visibility went down, and it began to drizzle. So, we made a business decision and began to head back down. The 10 miles back down to camp sucked that is all. 

Overall, this is a really beautiful area, and I'll be back in August to knock off Hinman. I will say the current state of bugs completely ruins the area; I talked to people who camped up at Tank Lakes, and there's no difference. They're terrible everywhere. I'm hoping that the dry climate of the meadows in August will decrease the number of mosquitoes. Until then, Happy Hiking!  

Overall Stats to La Bohn Lakes: 20.5 Miles - 4,400 Elev Gain 

Did a two-night trip to Necklace Valley with a hike up to Tank Lake on our layover day. We headed in on Sunday, the 6th, and counted 50 people heading out of the woods at the end of the 4th of July weekend. Lucky us. The first four miles or so are relatively easy cruising in deep woods - lovely. There are some sections of thick brush with nettles, but these are manageable. Long pants and long sleeves helped.

After crossing the river, the trail gets...unpleasant, starting immediately with a steep climb on a talus slope, followed by more steep climbing through woods. Mosquitos distract from the climbing. Jade Lake is nice enough, but we opted to keep going to Emerald Lake, which has a nice camp area at the North end. Mosquitos drove us into our tents on arrival, where we napped until 9 then got up and made dinner. Bugs were active from 6am to 9pm every day. 

Day 2 we hiked up to Tank Lake. The trail isn't worthy of being called a trail. Various cairns gave hints to where others went, and the two miles felt more like five. One section is big rocks to clamber over and leap along. Kind of fun, but a bit of work. We were sad to discover Tank Lake had just as many bugs, but the views were incredible. There were still a few sections of snow to cross, but they were easy and no spikes were needed. Tank Lake was icy cold. 

The evening of day 2 we cooked dinner by sticking our hands out the door of the tent since the mosquitoes made being outside unpleasant.

We only saw 5 people on Monday and Tuesday.  So if you want some solitude from people, go on a weekday. The bugs will keep you company, so you won't be too lonely. 

1st time hiking this trail & we arrived to the trailhead around 4:30 PM (later than planned due to holiday traffic on Hwy 2) for a 1-night backpacking excursion. Very grateful to previous trip reports for noting the overgrowth and tip to wear long sleeved & pants - an absolute MUST, especially with all the stinging nettle & other thorny undergrowth. Also, BIG trees down that required difficult crossing, I always opted to remove the backpack and go under wherever possible. Personally, I couldn’t have made it up without poles.

To the nice lady with the cute golden retriever who warned us we would be hiking after dark to get to Jade Lake, you were 100% right and I don’t recommend this to anyone! After a very difficult, slow, slog up the rocky terrain we pitched our tent at Jade Lake and were completely rewarded in the morning by the beautiful views. We explored some lakes (Emerald, Al, Locket & Opal) before heading back down the trail, passing lots of folks hiking in on the 4th - most heading to Tank Lakes. Hope to come back out again for a 2-night backpacking excursion on a non-holiday weekend! Thank you WTA for all the work on this trail maintaining bridges & placing stones to aid with stream crossings.

We set out to do the Alpine Lakes High Route as a multi-day backpacking trip starting July 1. We shuttled on the front end with an old mountain bike, so we were able to leave the car at the Necklace Valley Trailhead without much additional effort. 

West Fork Foss trail is in great shape, save for one very large downed tree other hikers have mentioned. It is easy to climb over, even with packs—just look for the foot and handholds carved into the trunk towards the downhill side of the trail. 

We saw our first snow patch at Little Heart Lake (but didn't end up having to navigate snow until after Chetwoot Lake, which is completely melted out). The trail began to peter out as we ascended to the ridge between Big Heart and Angeline and routefinding would have been a bit of a challenge without good maps and a GPX of the route. We made our way to Chetwoot and had the place to ourselves that night—in fact, we didn't see anyone for the vast majority of this trip. 

We traversed between Chetwoot and Necklace Valley the following morning. Maybe 20% of our travel was on snowfields, which were largely helpful and offered a relief from boulder-hopping. We had to be thoughtful about our entrances and exits from the snowfields but had no issues with postholing, and never needed to use the axes/crampons we'd brought along just in case. Snow was melting fast, though, and we were lucky with temperatures: cool enough to be solid, not cold enough to be scary firm.

There are ample cairns throughout this stretch that were typically helpful, though under Iron Cap peak several routes are marked by cairns which could get confusing. We climbed a bit higher than what I believe to be the standard route, crossing above an obvious cliff-band to avoid traversing a steep slope that ended in a cliff. This route was nice—no major exposure, easy and interesting travel. 

Descending from Iron Cap is an honest bushwhack, then travel got easy once we dropped closer to the valley bottom. Seems to be a fairly obvious footpath through here, and ample cairns. Once we hit Iron Cap Gap, we were able to consistently follow an obvious trail.

Tank Lakes were maybe 50% melted out and swimmable, and there are clear, dry campsites available there. We descended into the valley (with the help of a few last snowfields) and camped among the lakes, then hiked out the next morning. Necklace Valley trail is in good shape. Maybe 5 downed trees but none that posed a big problem, and some slightly overgrown spots that might be a bother in early morning dew. Saw just a handful of hikers once we hit valley bottom. 

Bugs were bad enough throughout the trip that we were grateful for the deet and headnets we'd brought along.