Friend and I hiked in the first 5 miles and chilled out at the campsite for an hour. Our plan was get into the first campsite and then make a decision on whether to go up or not. The hike from the trail head was muddy, but it had been raining intermittently for a few days. Saw a deer by the baby lake about 3 miles in and that was pretty much the only wildlife we saw the entire time. One toad, a horsefly, a few skeeters, and heard some birds. Some downed trees but nothing impassable. 

Tended to blisters and ate a bit before pressing on at 2:30 pm. Crossed the river and the second creek and headed up the rock debris to catch the ascent. Major blowdowns after mile 6.25 or so. Several times had to pass/drag our packs and crawl under/over a dozen or more trees/large branches. My pack is covered in sap.

This being our first time on this trail -- when the snow did start at about 3300 ft, we were able to follow the trail for maybe another .33 - .5 of a mile before it became obscured to us. Post-holed several times - kept going until I fell into a downed tree burl and my leg went between two branches. Was able to get out after freeing myself from the pack (totally fine--- just really bruised) and we decided to turn around at 6:15 pm. Almost 3.5 hours to go 1.75 miles. Even more fun dragging packs under the branches going down. Made it back down to the campsite around 8:30.

Made a fire at the river campground with almost all wet wood and dead pine branches but my Stetson and my buddy's crazy creek were great fire fans and it was hot enough to partially dry our boots before we slept. Hung our food and the river put us right to sleep. 

5 miles out in the morning was uneventful. We'll try later after the snow has melted and trail has had some maintenance.

We got to the trailhead around 11 am and there were a few parking spots left. We hiked only for about 2 hours. Trail was in good condition, lovely. Crossed a few streams easily but poles and waterproof boots helped. Picture is of the bridge that crosses the raging spring river. 

Road getting to trailhead was pretty good, just some potholes. 

Only saw 2 parties on the trail; one party had dogs. 

Arrived at an empty trailhead at around 9am. The trail is in great, if muddy, condition up to about two miles. The smaller creek crossings are a bit higher. Poles are helpful to keep your feet dry, but not necessary with good balance/a long stride. It looks like someone has cleared blowdowns up to about the two mile mark. After that there was a significant number of trees across the trail. Some are easy to go under/around/over, some are a bit trickier and pose the potential to punch through small matted branches if you don't step carefully. Mud and high creek crossings also get worse, along with picking up intermittent snow and adding some minor post holing. If you're willing to work at it and get dirty, it's all passable. If that's not your thing, you may end up turning around.

Intermittent snow, mud, and blowdowns continue to get worse/more frequent as you go along. We turned around about four miles in. It looked like it continued to be manageable, but we were tired of slogging through the snow and mud, so we called it. I suspect you can get at least to the river crossing a mile later.

We only met two people for the four hours we were out and everyone was appropriately masked and considerate.

Went out for a Christmas eve backpack to camp out on the East fork of the Foss river. The road up is passable -- large potholes can be dodged, and while there's a large tree down, it only covers half the road; lots of people have made it around it. For now, at least, the road had no snow until the Necklace Valley trailhead, which had a light dusting.

I carried snowshoes but never took them off my back. The trail was muddy, and the various creek crossings were swollen enough that I was grateful for poles. A few downed trees to duck under or hop over. Perhaps three miles in, the snow starts to kick in on the trail; the trail was still clearly marked and easy to follow, even in the meadows.

Lovely views of the river and ponds; and amazing ice formations dripping off downed trees.

The meadow areas are heavily overgrown. What are damp brush in the fall and summer are now frozen whips, snow-covered branches, so that pushing past them gets you both dumped with snow and tangled in their frozen slush. A few times a bootpath tries to go around them; other times, you just duck under. Dayhikers seemed fine with that; with a backpack and strapped-on snowshoes, it was a little more difficult.

Camped about five miles in; the next morning, climbed up across the stream crossing to take a look at the climb up to the lakes. With avalanche danger fairly high from the recent snows, I decided today wasn't the day for that further adventure.

Four in our party and a dog started at 11am, with only 2 other cars in the parking lot. Privy is closed. The trail is very navigable for the first couple of miles, through forest made lighter by snow on the ground. Beyond the first couple of miles there are many sections of windfall over the trail which are tough to navigate.   We passed one party of 4 (who belonged to the 2 cars in the lot) who had decided to stop for lunch along the trail for that reason, and we ended up doing the same about 5 minutes further, at about 3 miles.  Some of the trail crosses small streams which are easy to cross with poles, and further up the trail several trail sections are mud mixed with a couple of inches of snow. 

Today's relatively light snow on the trail will no doubt be added to significantly in the next few days with forecast rain/snow.  Today was definitely a cold winter hike experience, with warm gloves/mittens, waterproof boots, gaiters and trekking poles highly recommended.