Tank Lakes — Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020

A spectacular, memorable, difficult hike with a full pack.  The East Fork Foss River portion of the trail is absolutely gorgeous and is in great condition and not crowded.  Crossing the river the hike changes to a steep, several mile climb, also beautiful with mountain and stream views.  I reached Jade Lake and passed several parties who found wonderful sites, but it was buggy and I was after a breezy alpine experience, so I kept going.  The Necklace Valley lakes are progressively more beautiful, and I was tempted to camp there, but kept going to the end of Necklace Valley where the route finding becomes more difficult.  (Stay generally left at forks so you remain in the valley until to reach the stream draining Foehn Lake.)  You leave the valley and parallel that stream up a lateral moraine, which is difficult for route finding, footing, and for the exertion required (for me anyway; I'm in my 60s).  1000' above Necklace Valley it begins to flatten on glacier-scoured rock and you are truly in the alpine with views in all directions.  It was breezy as I'd hoped, and mosquitoes were much less of a problem.  I was by myself so did not traverse Iron Cap Mountain, but I saw 2 other parties that did, often as a day hike.  I'm a little hesitant to file this report because Tank Lakes are so beautiful, and so uncrowded!  Be very careful on the descent to Necklace Valley since rock on the moraine ridge is unstable.  Interestingly, the majority of hikers I encountered in the Necklace Valley portion were wearing masks and followed WTA recommendations for hiking in the Covid era.  This is in contrast to some other, more popular hikes I've taken this summer.