Took advantage of our early summer to hike into the Necklace Valley. Trail is "as good as it gets" in terms of conditions with just a few blowdowns. From the river crossing up to the lakes, it's a rough trail in the best of times, so take that into consideration. There is one large tree blocking the trail near Opal lake, near the official terminus of the trail, and when I skirted the broken stump there was a strong skunk smell ... so there might be a den. Be aware. Camped one night in the upper valley. I picked up a surprising amount of garbage near the camp site - candy wrappers, freeze dried food packages, etc. Thought we were done doing that to the backcountry. Disappointing. Day hiked up to La Bohn Gap. Lots of snow there, but none below. Nice views. Mobbed by bugs when I returned to camp in the warm afternoon, so cleared out. In my hurry I left a Black Diamond ice axe standing next to a small boulder, at the obvious camp to the West of the climber's trail about 1/4 mile below the base of the scree slopes at the head of the valley. If anyone finds it, and has the heart to carry it out, I'd be most grateful.

We took advantage of Memorial Day to try out the Necklace Valley trail. We day hiked from the trailhead to Jade Lake and back out again. The weather was good with mist on the tops of the mountains and no snow left anywhere on or near the trail. It is a very long day hike, but fairly quiet. Even on Memorial Day we only saw about 6 small groups, all of backpackers heading out after the long weekend. The first few miles along the valley are easy and fairly flat. After crossing the river on the log bridge with handrail, head right across another log and a little ways up a rock slide. Follow the cairns carefully here to skirt a large fallen tree and head left back onto the trail. Then it goes up, up and up until you get to the lake. There are occasional views of the valley and surrounding mountains along the way. Jade Lake is more of a large pond, but it has some nice campsites around it. It was long for a day hike, but would make a nice quiet place to backpack.

My hiking companion and I couldn't decide whether to backpack the East or West fork of the Foss River. So we did both. We started on Saturday and hiked the Necklace Valley Trail (east fork) about 5 miles in. The trail is pretty easy and smooth up to this point. Just a few spots of mud and a bit of brush growing over the trail. Nothing noteworthy. We set up camp at the site near the river, just before the trail starts to really climb. With lighter packs, we headed uphill. Crossing the boulder field was a bit of a challenge, but don't worry. It's short, only about 150 yards and there are cairns to mark your way. From this point on the trail is a slog. It's steep and rough and feels longer than it is. There were no major issues and the trail is over all easy to follow. It's just hard. We reached Jade Lake, which is totally snow free (unless you count a few minuscule patches in shady spots on the hills) and stopped to make dinner. The mist cleared just enough to give us a good view of the cliffs farther up the valley. I really want to come back to explore more up there. There were, blissfully, almost no bugs. I smashed one mosquito the entire time. By the time we were done with dinner, a lot more hikers were arriving. It was clearly a popular spot to visit on Memorial Day weekend. Our plans, however, had us staying lower so we headed back down the trail. The way down was challenging with tired legs, but we made it back to camp before dark for a total of about 11 miles that day. The next morning we packed up and hiked out. Then we drove the few miles to the West Fork Foss Trail. We headed up to Copper Lake. The trail to Trout Lake flew by. It's a fast easy trail. Be sure to admire the GIANT tree along the way. You can't miss it. Trout Lake would be a fabulous family hike or easy backpack trip. There were a few minor obstacles on the trail, but nothing too bad. Past Trout Lake the trail gets rougher, but not as bad as the Necklace Valley Trail. There are a few downed trees and a section of trail that was ripped up when a tree fell over and took its rootball with it. All of these were easily passable, with the tree rootball being the worst. But the old roots offer lots of easy handholds. We made it to Copper Lake with plenty of time for a leisurely evening. There was only one other group at the lake and plenty of nice campsites. Again, there weren't any bugs worth mentioning. No snow at all at Copper Lake. I'll be back here, as well, to explore farther. We hiked out the next day somewhat reluctantly. Both trails have a ton of flowers blooming right now. The Copper Lake Trail will be great for berries later. Salmon berry, thimbleberry and huckleberries were all blooming.

We decided to escape Ski to Sea hubbub this holiday weekend (Memorial Day) and wanted a quiet and secluded place to spend a few nights in the mountains. But this time of year doesn’t usually afford many backcountry options. Surprise! We were stunned to discover that the Necklace Valley is free of snow so early in the year. We reached the trailhead around 9:30 a.m., braced for a parking lot full of cars, but only found ~8. On the hike up, we passed at least 2 parties headed down, so we knew our odds of finding a campsite were good. Reached Jade Lake around 3 p.m. (those last 3 miles are grueling!). From Jade Lake onward, the trail is very mucky, sometimes with mud 4 in. deep. Please practice good trail etiquette and go through it, rather than widening the trail by stepping around the edges. The lakes were completely socked in by clouds when we arrived, and stayed that way all 3 days. Although it never rained, it did “cloud” on us several times, covering the brush and our tent in a fine damp mist. On Saturday we had a brief 15 min window when the clouds lifted and we could see blue sky and the surrounding cliffs (oh my!), and on Sunday the clouds lifted (but didn’t clear) for about 1.5 hours, so we could see up valley. Otherwise gray and low clouds, so we missed much of the grandeur of this area. But it was quiet, and the lakes were lovely all on their own. The cool damp weather kept the mosquitos subdued, but we could see them everywhere. If it had been warm and sunny, I think they would have been a serious nuisance. Most people had set up camp near the cabin between Jade and Emerald. We saw 4-5 campsites here, and all were in use, and none very private. We hike with dogs and prefer secluded spots, so we kept looking, and had a tentative plan to find a campsite at Jewel, which we assumed would be less frequented. After crossing the inflow to Jade, we followed a trail that felt westward, and we thought we were headed toward Al/Locket/Jewel. It was only when we reached the meadows/marshes at the end of Opal Lake and saw that the trail continued up valley rather than down, that we realized we were still on the main trail and had missed the turnoff for Al/Locket/Jewel a long time ago. The low cloud cover made it impossible to see surrounding features and left us a bit disoriented. No matter, we found a stunning campsite on a ledge between Opal and Cloudy lakes, and not a single person passed our camp during the 3 days we spent there. On day 2, we day hiked around the valley and finally found the trail for Al and Locket. Once we found it, this trail was easy to follow around Al (where there are 2 stunning campsites), and partway around Locket (where we only saw 1 campsite), but we lost it against some cliffs halfway around Locket. We never found Jewel Lake. It’s a rare day that we give up on a destination, so point for Jewel! If anyone knows how to get there, I’d like to hear how you did it. In the afternoon the clouds were higher, so we headed back up valley on the main trail (after a brief stop at Ilswoot for good measure), and then climbed up through the beautiful talus and boulder fields toward Foehn Lakes. Note, there’s a meadow above Opal Lake on the way up to Foehn, and there are a couple of good campsites. After the meadow, the route climbs steeply up the slope and is clearly marked by cairns. There was a lot of avalanche debris on the route, which had JUST melted out. One hard rain will wash off much of the slippery sand and debris that covers the boulders. We stopped our ascent at a saddle around 5400 feet, where we noted the sketchy route up to La Bohn lakes and decided we might not need to ever go there. Looking up the slope toward Foehn Lakes, we could see a snow field about 100 feet above, but I think you could have reached the lakes without much trouble. In 2 more weeks, the snow will be completely gone. I’ve never been to Necklace Valley before, so there were a few things that surprised me that might be worth noting: 1. From looking at a topo map, you might expect to find campsites everywhere. This is not so. Although there are large areas that a topo map would consider flat, they are in reality very lumpy and rolling. If this area is as popular in the summer as I suspect, I’m not sure where everyone camps. You might have to get cozy with your neighbor. 2. The “official” trail isn’t signed beyond Jade Lake, and social trails split and reunite with it for miles up valley. It was hard to believe it was the main trail. 3. The trail splits west to go to Al/Locket/Jewel right by the cabin. It’s not signed.

A friend and I decided to take our talents to the Necklace Valley on Saturday 5/16/2015. 'The Decision' attracted minimal fanfare : we arrived at the trail head around 11:15 and were greeted by a pleasingly small fleet of vehicles (anything less than a baker's dozen). The trail was in great shape - the first 5 miles were like Lebron's 4-year tromp through the Eastern conference - no hiccups. There were plenty of sturdy-stalked fiddleheads, a speckling of wildflowers, and even some real live non-human creatures. According to my friend, a bird-nerd on the level of Chris Bosh, we saw a flicker and a nuthatch. Before the trail goes vertical, there are a couple really wonderful and spacious campsites along the East Fork Foss. If you have children or a bigger group with gourmet aspirations, consider making this your final destination. The trail is easy to follow all the way up to Jade Lake. It was foggy when we got there, but we found a snacking rock that was probably more impressive than the lake itself (at least it appeared so in the fog). I apologize for not documenting the rock, but I am sure that if you walk along along Jade Lake you will be struck by an incredibly inviting and well shaped snacking rock and will find yourself compelled to rest and engage in prandial matters upon it. From Jade Lake, we continued up to Emerald Lake. The trail was still pretty easy to follow, though we went astray a few times. We continued up past Emerald, looking for Locket with the WTA trip description ringing in our ears: "...you will be amply rewarded." At this point, I am convinced we totally lost the trail. Instead of following the trail, we ended up walking along the river and doing some amateur clambering when the bank got steep / overgrown with greenery. This felt a little like the Heat's loss to the Mavs. Was this whole thing a big mistake? But don't be afraid! The going is not too treacherous and we made it safely up to Locket. Up at Locket we encountered our first fellow camper (we had seen 5 people along the trail headed back to the trail head). There were at least 3 solid campsites at Locket. We settled down in the fog and awoke to a crisp blue championship-caliber morning. The sun came out too. Another note: Locket was marshy, but luckily the cold -ish weather seemed to dampen any potential bug problem. Could definitely see it being a problem later in the summer, so don't forget the b-spray. Overall, highly recommend. Cheers.