I never know if you are supposed to put trip date as the first day you start a trip, or the day you return. Oh well. I got on the trail late, at about 12:20pm on Friday. This is one of the best trails I have been on lately. It starts in flat, deep forest. The trail bobs up and down 500 feet or so, but stays flat for about 5 miles. During this time you are in lush forest, cross small creeks, some thickly overgrown areas and some arid forest floor. A wonderful site along this trail are some of the old growth trees you can find, one that toppeled over was hollow inside and so large I could stand inside with room to spare! The trail along here is mainly in great shape, with some age starting to show in the rotting boardwalks in the marshy areas. At about 5 miles you come to a river crossing over a long and stable log bridge. It is flattened on top and easy to cross. Follow the trail to another log bridge, much older, which leads to an old slide slope. Look for the cairns, but if none are found, head up to your right and you will run into the existing trail. Here you start to climb, and steep. I believe the books say about 2k feet in about 2 miles. It feels like it, but again, the beauty makes it bareable. Also, some of the scrub oak are changing color already, so you get a few short patches of beautiful color. By hitting this trail in the afternoon you also miss some of the sun, which helps to keep it cool. Upon reaching the top, you will happen upon Jade Lake first. The trail is nice and skirts the narrow edge to another short climb into the Emerald Lake area. here you find quite a few campsites and blueberries. Continue on for Opal Lake. When the trail comes to a largeish junction, continue on for the trail towards Tank Lakes. If you are not up to the last climb, there are plenty of good spots here. The trip up to Tank Lakes can be frustrating if the sun is setting and you are tired. Follow the water up into the canyon, staying to the right. Scramble through some boulders until you come to the top of the washout where it has cut through the sediment. To your right is a large boulder ridge. There are large cairns on top, get to the top and follow it up to a saddle that leads to the Tank Lakes, about 1000 feet above Opal Lake I believe. Once over that saddle, I was AMAZED at the views. Fabulous peaks, smoothed and creviced granite on a massive scale. Beautiful and empty! Seems not nearly as many people come up there. It has a different feel to it and there are endless opportunties for day hikes, scrambles, peaks or just exploring. It can get windy up there though, so bring the fly or a decent sleeping bag. On hte whole, the trails have a few muddy spots, but not enough for me to flag it. Also, very few bugs on the entire trip. When there are (morn & even) they are mainly mosquitos that are repelled easily with DEET. If there is a breeze they stay away. There are some snow patches up top, but nothing posing an issue on any trails. Enjoyable and perfect for a 3 day, 2 night trip with a whole day in the middle for exploring. More photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/noel.hastings

Someone dear to me said that those around us can be a reflection of ourselves. I wonder if the same can be said of landscape. I sincerely would like to believe such a thing, especially given the beautiful and peaceful place I visited this weekend. It is a ready match for the warmest smile on the loveliest face; enough to evoke that sweet sense of belonging. Though worthwhile, this place requires considerable effort. The Necklace Valley trail always gives me a spanking; nearly half of its length is an obstacle course of rocks, roots, and mud holes. Plus it dallies about between contour lines for the first 6 miles, sneaking at least 500’ more elevation gain into the trip. The route from Necklace to Tank lakes starts at the head of the valley; follow the last stream upward where periodic cairns lend re-assurance through shifting slabs of granite. Foehn lake is about as inviting as a tarn can be, nestled amidst what could be described a rock quarry. The area is really just a raw jumble of terminal and lateral moraines. Once ridgeline is obtained the landscape eases into welcoming domes of bright rock and tiny tarns with grassy margins. South Tank has a cozy bedroom feel that invites one to quietly shuffle about in slippers, gazing at the views to Summit Chief, Overcoat, and Chimney. Tumbled blocks of granite gave the place an ancient aire, a-la Greek ruins. The serenity was shattered repeatedly on Friday by hot-dogging fighter jets, testing their mettle on a mountain obstacle course. My poor hound ran with a look of doom at every shrieking pass less than 200m overhead. They eventually saw us and seemed to make a point of passing even closer. I saluted them dutifully with fingers extended, god bless America. Mosquitoes were another nuisance, but they were easily repelled with a constant coating of DEET. It is not yet time to forego a tent for the tarp. This is the kind of place that reminded me that solo wilderness exploration can be as much an internal process as external. They are both rife with hurt and uncertainty, but in the end worthwhile. I plan on getting further into the unknowns while the opportunity allows; life is too short.

Headed out today with a friend with the intention (succesful!) of making an early season trip up Necklace Valley to the Tank Lakes. I'd heard that the area was pretty nice and the countour lines seemed pretty far apart on the map, so seemed like it would make a good trip. And wow. up.gif Easily my best day out in a year, maybe the best out in two. After an obligatory stop at the Sultan Bakery (blueberry scones are so good) we reached the trailhead and started hiking around 9 am. Foss River Road has been regravelled at the start, which cuts down on the fishtailing in the mud that I encountered last time I was out there. The first 4+ miles of the trail are basically rolling/flat, paralleling the river. We heard an amazing number of frogs from the marshes, but decided not to investigate. After crossing the river (my legs hurt too much to go downstairs and get the map to look up the name), the trail ascends rapidly up to the Necklace Valley through forest and open slopes. Spectacular views to the east of near vertical rock faces. Past mile 6, the snow starts and the trail condition degrades. Lots of water on the trail above this point. Slippery old puncheon, mossy rocks, and mud. All covered by a thin layer of concealing snow. Gotta love early season. Reached Jade Lake around 11:30. The lake's starting to melt out around the edges, but is still completely snow covered. Crossed a very sketchy snowbridge at the southern inlet and quickly climbed towards Emerald Lake. Here we broke off from the trail and contoured up gentle slopes, aiming for the low gradient approach to Tank Lakes. Amazing views of La Bohn gap to the south. A little before 3 we crested the ridge looking down on the Tank Lakes (totally snow covered) and just couldn't stop grinning. 360 degree panorama of snow capped peaks and ice covered lakes. A quick class 2 scramble brought us to a local peak above the lakes and we hung out for a while, soaking in the views (and the sun). Glacier, Iron Gap, Azurite Lake, and Angeline Lake all visible. Dropped down from the summit around 3:20 and made short work of the glissade. Back to the car (and pretty tired) around 7:00. ~17 miles, 4500 ft gain.

Miki the Border/Springer and I headed up the Necklace Valley for three days. Campsites are noted at 3,4,5,6 and 7 miles with the sites at 4 and 5 miles situated attractively near the river. The trail is in very poor condition between 3300' and 4000' elevation, about 6 to 7 1/2 miles in. It is rooty, rocky and muddy with many potential ankle twisting spots and must be even worse early in the season. It was the same way on my last visit 4 years ago. I'm not sure why it has not been repaired or re-routed. Passing by Jade Lake, which has two marginally attractive camp spots right on the trail, I went on another 5 minutes to set up camp at Emerald. Emerald Lake still has the log cabin shelter which is perfectly habitable although I've never seen anyone use it. It has built in bunks and would sleep 4-6 folks in comfort. Nearby is a privy, which is also a comfort. There are three or four sites at Emerald plus sites at Locket, Al's, Ilswoot and Opal. Cloudy is supposed to have a site also but I haven't seen it. The next morning we hiked to near the valley head along a way trail and took the right fork towards the Tank Lakes plateau. This route initially follows a stream which drains snow fields below Iron Cap Peak. There are a few cairns to follow as tread is intermittant. Eventually most vegetation is left behind and you just scramble up the rubble along the stream. You then exit the stream to the right to attain a hogback about a 100' above with more cairns, rubble and semblance of tread. There are numerous tiny tarns. To reach South Tank Lake you actually go over the top of the ridge ahead where a shoulder of Iron Cap drops down to meet it. The area is not as flat as your map might seem to suggest and is quite bouldery so it's not exactly like strolling around. I visited North Tank, very bouldery. I looked down on Foehn but did not visit it's shores. I didn't see any camp sites anywhere although I can't say I looked everywhere. I intended to visit Otter Point but saw a lot more boulder hopping ahead and decided to head back. It is very interesting to see how much less snow is in La Bohn gap than in years past. In a few more years there may not be any more. People I met along the way had descended the snow but they and others were curious about the trail route to La Bohn Lakes. It does exist and this is how it's done- When you reach the head of the Valley and the gap is right in front of you, look to your left. You will see the waterfall from Lower La Bohn Lake. To the right of the waterfall is a tongue of vegetation on a minor hogback that looks like it has a trail at the bottom. This is not the way, it peters out, but has been created by generations of hikers going the wrong way. To the right of the vegetation is a talus slope. Climb this several hundred feet until you pick up a skinny way trail along it's left side that takes you precipitously but neatly to Lower La Bohn (good camping). From here you can easily reach the other La Bohn Lakes and the very beautiful Chain Lakes. Chain Lakes have a nice campsite on a knoll and a very neat site carved like a niche at the top of a small cliff near the bottom of the chain of lakes. Enjoy!

This is a report of a July 17, 2004, one-day, 25-mile loop hike connecting the West Fork Foss River trail #1064 through Trout, Copper and Big Heart lakes with Chetwoot lakes, Tank lakes, and back down the Jewel lakes, Necklace valley East Fork Foss River Trail #1062. Take Hwy 2 east past Skykomish, then up the Foss river FS road to the trailheads. Many thanks to Meadow Man who wrote a trip report on this loop on Aug 14, 2003 that gave me great guidance during this epic 18 hour trek. I will leave off some details which you can get from his report. I have about 40 pictures of the hike you can see at: http://www.whitefamily.bankslake.com/archives/2004/2004-07-17- kirk-big-heart-lake-loop-hike/index.htm The attached pictures show us at Copper lake and then Joel above Angeline lake almost reaching Little Chetwoot lake. As a scoutmaster in recent years I have led scouts backpacking up to Copper and Big Heart Lake several times, as well as up into the Necklace valley to Jade and Emerald lakes. But I always wanted to complete a single loop hike connecting these two great lake areas. I tried once from each direction from Foehn lake heading west, and Big Heart heading east, but was always stopped by snow too deep to trudge through. Now though the conditions are ideal this summer with the snow level at 5,400-5,600 feet or higher and good weather. Here is the Report: I went with a 25 year old friend Joel, who would be the safety buddy for my 47 year old body. Our goal was to train our legs for a Mt Rainier summit climb in 3 weeks, of which I have completed 5 successfully and Joel none yet. We camped Friday night at the Trout lake Trailhead of #1064, and awakened to a beautiful blue sky on Saturday. We parked the car in the lot, not finding anyone to hitch a ride to park it at our destination lot at the foot of trail #1062, East Fork Foss. I would later pay the 2.5 mile price for that mistake. We did not get started till 8 AM, but only carrying daypacks with food, water, ice axes, and rain gear, so the 1.5 mile hike past Trout Lake (2,100 ft) was easy and lovely, but the always sweaty 2.0 mile, 1800 ft climb up to Copper lake, exposed to the morning direct sun, was quite warm bordering on brutal. Copper Lake (3,961 ft) was beautiful, and despite a few bugs, was a nice picture postcard place to take a snack break. Mosquitoes were all over this hike and we used plenty of repellent to keep them at bay. No obvious bites, but they got me 40 times through my shirt at the shoulders I came to find later. Spray there too next time. We then headed up the easy 1.5 m trail to Little Heart Lake (4,204 ft), and then the 1.8 mile 700 ft elevation up and around the ridge and down a bit to Big Heart at 4,545 feet. The time from the car all the way (6.5 miles) to Big Heart took about 4 hours. No snow anywhere and the trail in great shape. We ate lunch at the logjam outlet with the thundering falls singing in the background. Big Heart is one of the best short backpack trips in the Alpine Lakes as it does not attract large numbers of campers due to the effort to climb there, and the lake is large and excellent for views, day hikes to nearby peaks, as well as rock jumping and log rafting. Our next destination was Chetwoot lake and I had heard several descriptions of how you could just climb straight south over the 5,400 ft ridge between Big Heart and Angeline Lakes to get to Chetwoot. I had done this partway to some degree on past hikes but never found a distinct trail. This time we hiked straight south until rock cairns and a well worn small trail took us east clockwise around the ridge, then south on the eastern ridge side to an Angeline Lake lookout and cliffs, then a quick switchback west up to the saddle in the middle of this ridge between Big Heart and Angeline. From there scattered cairns and some trail led us south towards Chetwoot. From Big Heart onward to Tank Lakes this is steep, scrambling and ducking type hiking which would be laborious with a pack on, but doable I suppose. Hiking straight south we hiked up random snow patches and rock in a lovely area with views of Big Heart's south end, until we ended up passing a small lake on its west side. From here we were unsure what a now visible lake to the east was: had to be either Chetwoot or Angeline still, but it was bordered on the east by steep cliffs so looked like Angeline to us. Our GPS and maps helped greatly to determine finally what it was by size and by our hiking direction on the GPS . We had to hike toward it to determine it had a north end outlet and thus was Chetwoot (4,900 ft). The hiking time from Big Heart to Chetwoot was 3+ hours for only about 2+ miles - it was THAT rough with day packs. Note to self: ALWAYS have a good GPS receiver when doing bushwhacking hiking where the trails are not on the map. At the minimum have good maps and an altimeter. We had all of them to cross check each tool. It literally saved us hours of wrong-way hiking and probably was the key thing we needed to complete this hike safely. Crossing the exit stream out of Chetwoot (very scenic camp site) we headed straight east and up toward what the map and GPS said would be Little Chetwoot lake. Unfortunately there is a ridge guarding Little Chet which is in a NE opened glacial bowl. We ignored Mountain Man's directions that were vague on this point and climbed straight east and up to the ridge crest, through rock and some snow patches ( Ice Axes were used here for added snow traction and safety though not too technical or dangerous), to 6,000 ft and the ridge top. There we saw Little Chet way down below at about 5,400 ft. We scurried down a fairly etchy descent into a perfect glacial bowl and side traverse to the outlet of LC in very loose rock scree all the way (no snow at all - was sun exposed) and then to the far east side of the lake. We went up to 5,700 feet and headed around the north ridge of Iron Cap mtn, until we had to decide to chance the rocky cliff advance or handclimb up and through a small light-colored rocky gully to get some tree and heather covered terrain to continue on. We chose the gully, and despite risk of knocking small rock down on each other we were up it quickly and had a safer, though still steep, cliff traverse around the ridge. The trees and heather were obstacles but comforting to hang onto and hike through with the slope being steep and cliffs awaiting any stupid moves. We continued through this southerly traverse, finally descending to about 5,300 ft and a ridge running south to east then to NE that we kept on the top of. Huge open snow fields to hike through at this point but fairly flat, and solid: no post-holing at all. Excellent views east of a huge rocky bowl, and Otter lake way below to the NE and North, and waterfalls coming off the opposing ridge from Bonnie and Tank Lakes. From the ridge we hiked on you can also see clearly the Middle fork Snoqualmie river way down south at 3,800 feet as well as the magnificent spires of Chimney Rock, Overcoat Peak and Summit Chief Mtn all about 7,400 ft tall across the river valley. We even saw real people on the trail way below which was comforting to know we could have bailed out on the loop hike and descended to a well traveled route if ever in real trouble. Staying on the high point of the ridge we hiked N-NE up gradual slopes (no trail or markers anywhere) until we finally saw some cairns at about 5,600 feet that were not much help as they led us, then disappeared. But they did confirm we were close, so we used the GPS to guide us almost straight north from that point climbing on rock till we found the lowest Tank lake at about 5,850 ft. That was a big relief to confirm (by an excellent GPS on-screen map) that we were walking gradually uphill past Tank to the other Tank lakes. By this time it was after 7 PM and we tried to motor NE starting downhill to 5,700 ft Foehn lake which is very small, like the Tanks, then spotting an occasional cairn and randomly climbing down to Opal lake at 4,800 ft. There is no real trail here and it is very much hit and miss where it is hikable due to streams running everywhere. This was about 7.5 miles from Big Heart over some very rough and minor risky, but outstanding view-filled ground. It took us about 4 hours to hike from Chetwoot to Tanks/Foehn lakes. We found what we thought was Opal Lake (it was really Crown lake)and our green trail map said the trail was right on its west shore, where we found nothing, so assuming stupidly the lake had risen over the trail, we bushwhacked through rock and tree to the end of the small lake. There we found no trail so searched in vain, and finding nothing, just plowed ahead north watching GPS and looking for tread. We should have headed west just 50-150 yards and would have found a well beaten path along the west side of Emerald Lake, an old log cabin I recalled from years earlier, and the clear trail to Jade lake, then down and out. But instead we mistakenly got too far east, mistook Crown Lake for Opal, and our Topo and GPS maps being incomplete, we could not self-correct early on. Instead we found rockslides and trees, clear enough to pass through and ended up on the south shore of Ilswoot lake at 4,590 ft. Much to our dismay we were far from the main trail and being 8:30 PM it was getting dark. So we trudged back west uphill and over a ridge, spotted some campers already snug in their beds, asked where we were and how to get to the main trail. They directed us to the east shore of Emerald lake, where more snuggy tenters told us how to get out to the trail and down to Jade Lake. I've rarely been more envious of backpackers who had their beds all made and were headed to sleepy land, while Joel and I had 3,000 vertical feet to descend and almost 8 miles to get to the East Fork Foss parking lot... IN THE DARK. Luckily we were smart enough to pack headlamps that lit the way, though the trail lost itself a few times from us, but we just had to keep putting one boot in front of the other for several thousand steps. Much of this trail down to the East Foss is in creekbed so very steep and awkward. After crossing the Foss River it is a flat 4.5 mile out but we saw nothing in the dark to report. We started down from Jade lake at 9 PM and arrived at the trail end at 2 AM (8 miles in 5 hours with few breaks), 23 miles from the morning start- Bushed, beaten and angry at biting off more than we should have maybe chewed, and at getting lost in the Necklace Valley lakes which wasted time, energy and precious daylight. From here I told Joel to take a nap while I trudged from 2-3 AM over to the West Fork trailhead to get the car and get us out of there. We called our wives once in Cell range on Hwy 2, and they forgave us our lateness and the delayed calling. My wife knows the drill and told Joel's wife to not panic till after 3 AM as I am always later than planned. Driving home was totally impossible so I stopped at a park-n ride in Kirkland to sleep 45 minutes before safely returning to Tacoma, where I crawled into Bed at 6 AM. Then up at 10 AM for church to say thanks for all the Divine protection as well as the fantastic sites we witnessed in the proceeding 24 hours. All in all a spectacular hike if one is up for it. Recommend starting VERY early in the AM (it was daylight at 5:30 AM) and bring GPS, Axes, repellent, headlamps, and a good camera. The sights are astounding. Better yet, pack overnight gear and take it slow and enjoy the experience longer.