Snow: The snow level almost dipped down to Tank Lakes but didn't! So if you plan on going this weekend, I imagine it will still be clear.

Water: It's pretty much impossible not to get your boots wet once you get to Emerald lake. To get around Emerald lake you practically have to walk in the lake, and a lot of the trails have turned to creeks.

Navigation: Past Opal Lake it becomes really difficult to navigate, especially once you get to the rock fields! Cairns are few and far between and this was especially concerning on the way back down (going up I pretty much just went up and it was okay). I would recommend recording your track with a GPS on the way up so you can follow on the way back down. Going down, even once you get past the rock field, there are several trails to follow and I ended up getting a little lost and taking a bit of a detour to the other side of the meadow just south of Opal. Route finding skills advised.

Very glad to get one last alpine lake in before the end of the season! If it doesn't rain this or next week you should still be able to do it :)

Hiked up Sunday from East Fork Foss trailhead to Emerald Lake and set camp on a rocky point above the water. Destination this time was Tank Lakes, and I thought I might do it all in one go, but my legs and spirits disagreed. I always find it more relaxing to set up camp with a couple hours of daylight left, especially when hiking solo, so it was an easy decision to make an early camp, let my legs rest, and wander a little.

Jade, Emerald, and Opal lakes were beautiful, as expected. I'd only previously seen them during a winter overnight a few years ago. One couple who left the trailhead around the same time as me later passed by my early camp on their way up to Tank Lakes that evening. About half a dozen trail runners came down not long before sunset, the last of the bunch confirming they'd come from Tank Lakes, after ascending via the West Fork Foss trail. What a run for a single day!

Broke camp the next morning, tent wet with heavy dew, and headed up to Tank Lakes. I ascended the moraine right after skirting around the last forested patch, opting to climb higher sooner rather than stay low and wait.

Tank Lakes and the general table land are a fabulous alpine environment. Lots of places to wander and explore and just take in the sights. Plentiful delicious huckleberries. Only a few other people up there on Monday.

After a few hours of wandering and lunch on the "sandy" shores of one of the lakes, I hike down and out. Just like my last time up there, the worst part was the descent from Jade to the East Foss, which killed my knees. Second worst part was the interminable 5 mile slog along the river back to the car with aching knees.

Hiked up to Tank Lakes on 9/5/20 for two nights over Labor Day Weekend.

Trail: Trail is in good shape but can be difficult to follow past Emerald Lake. We tried to follow the Gaia maps, but got off route and ended up taking a longer path to Tank Lakes.

The Lakes: It seemed like everyone was camped around the southern most Tank Lake, which has easy water access and amazing views of chimney rock. The northern Tank Lake was also very pretty but more difficult to access.

Camping: There are no shortage of camp sites around both Tank Lakes as well as the ridge just south of Tank Lakes. We found a nice spot that was more secluded and quiet. However, even on Saturday night there probably weren't more than 12 groups camping in the area.

Honestly one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever done. There were tons of blueberries around Emerald lake and up by Tank Lakes as well. The hike itself was pretty difficult for my partner and I with full packs, but it was well worth it!

We took a variant of the alpine lakes high route over the course of a four day backpacking trip. Strava route link for GPX track below. Bugs were not too bad - we had treated everything we were wearing with permethrin and that really helped.

Day 1 - W Fork Foss TH to small tarn near Chetwoot Lake

Day 2 - Chetwook Lake to Tank Lake

Day 3 - Tank Lake to small campsite in Necklace Valley

Day 4 - Exit via E Fork Foss TH

Day 1

Trail from W Fork Foss through to Big Heart was unremarkable. Some route-finding getting from Big Heart to Chetwoot, but you can mostly follow cairns & a relatively beaten path the entire way to Chetwoot. Beautiful views looking down on Big Heart and Angeline heading out to Chetwoot. There wasn't any water between Big Heart and Chetwoot except a small tarn (marked on the map), so make sure to stock up on water at Big Heart.

Day 2

This was the tricky day. We knew we had two route alternatives - from Chetwoot we could either head up to Iron Cap Lake, or we could go around Azure and Azurite, find the "key ledge", and then head up Iron Cap Pass. We wanted to minimize exposure, and I'm not a climber, so we decided on the second route. There is no trail from Chetwoot to Iron Cap Pass - it's all bushwhacking and route finding. Bring a GPS, and be very comfortable with route finding. We saw no parties beyond Chetwoot lake, it felt very remote.

Getting from Chetwoot to Azure was the more straightforward section of the route. Lots of boulder fields to traverse. Finding the "key ledge" was also relatively straightforward - on our GPS track you can see what we believe is the "key ledge" at the little loop above Azurite. When you are above Azurite, you'll reach a very distinctive overturned tree at about 1390m (the roots are entirely facing you). If you want to avoid anything that feels like a ledge or exposed, head up to your right at this point and you can go above the "key ledge". After the "key ledge" from Azurite to Iron Cap Pass was the crux of the day. Very steep, pine-needle covered forest. Thankfully there were a lot of blueberry bushes we could hold onto. No exposure, but definitely not fun. It certainly felt at places that if you let go of the blueberry you could easily slip about 20 feet down into the forest. Thankfully no devils club. The forest alternates with boulder fields to traverse. Once you've reached the base of Iron Cap Pass you are home free all the way to Tank - heading up Iron Cap Pass is significantly less steep than Aasgard or Headlee Pass & the rocks are very secure. Would recommend filling up water both at Azurite and at one of the little tarns at the base of Iron Cap Pass. After Iron Cap Pass all the streams marked on the map all the way to Tank were either dry or very out of the way of the trail. Stunning views of Summit Chief/ Chimney Rock will greet you at the top of Iron Cap Pass as you head to Tank Lake. 

Day 3

We hung out at Tank most of the day, then the smoke blew in around 6 PM and we decided to head a little lower for hopefully less smoke. We had Tank to ourselves the entire day - amazing swimming. We saw quite a few tadpoles in the lake and a couple marmots. The solitude was nice, and we would have been the only one's camping there Monday night.

We headed down Necklace Valley and passed Opal, Emerald, and Jade lakes. We continued down and camping along the trail at a small campsite about 5 miles from the E Foss trailhead. Heading down from Tank to reach Opal was the most difficult part of the day - it's steep boulder fields with difficult to follow cairns that often dead end. You'll still need to be on your route finding game for this section. Once you hit Opal, it's trail all the way out. 

Day 4

Not much to remark here - walking out on trail from our campsite all the way out to the E Foss TH, then walking 2 miles along the road to the W Foss TH. The last couple miles in the forest are thankfully flat and pass quickly. 

Side note: We found a lost tarp that had been folded and placed under some rocks next to Chetwoot Lake trail between Big Heart and Angeline Lakes that we picked up because we hadn't encountered any campers that could have dropped it as we were coming out of Chetwoot. If you believe this to be yours, please send identifying information to agthrowaway62 at gmail dot com to arrange a handoff. 

We completed the alpine lakes high route, clockwise, 8/29-8/30, with an overnight camp at Tank lakes and a short shuttle between the East and West fork trailheads. Bugs were never enough of an issue to warrant spray. The weather evening of 8/29 was chilly and windy, but otherwise partly cloudy and mild. There were at least a half dozen other parties camped in the Tank lakes area.

The hike up to Tank lakes 8/29 was straightforward and uneventful. We got a late start from camp on 8/30, with wheels up around 9am. The east face of Iron Cap looked intimidating as we approached, but proved more passable than expected. We traversed on/around the mapped snowfields, and took what I believe to be the less used but still obviously trafficked route up a grassy ramp and up through some heather and wooded slopes to the talus field on the east side of Iron Cap's north ridge. As we emerged onto the gentler talus, I noted a cairn marking the way back down. The lower and I believe more popular route is probably preferable, it just appeared steep on the map, so we opted for what we could see.

We encountered two other parties on top of iron cap who had both come from Chetwoot and took the lower route around iron cap lake. We were tempted by iron cap's west ridge, but took the safe bet and descended the north ridge, down to the lake, and around to the boulder field descent to Chetwoot. We started on the trail at Chetwoot around 4pm, and wouldn't make it back to the west fork trailhead until 11:30pm. We moved continuously through this section and took very few breaks, but my partner was in some pain, which definitely slowed our pace on the fairly rough and rocky trail.

Unless you're quite pressed for time or looking to push yourself, I would recommend taking three days to enjoy the route. It might have been a bit easier completing the 2-day route counter-clockwise, but tank lakes make for a superior camp to Chetwoot