Challenging, rewarding, and disappointing backpack in dense fog conditions.
Day 1: TH to Little Heart Lake: Drove from Portland to the West Fork Foss Lakes TH and started our hike after a quick lunch at the parking lot picnic table. The ascent to Little Heart Lake was relatively steep on a well-tended trail. There were nice water crossings for cooling off.
Day 2: Little Heart Lake to Chetwood: It was so foggy we could not see Big Heart Lake from the outlet crossing! We were rewarded with misty views of Big Heart Lake and Angeline Lake as we climbed. The maintained trail ends just past Big Heart Lake, but the route along the Atrium Peak Ridge was easy to follow.
Day 3: Chetwoot to Tank Lakes. Hopped from one boulder to another for much of the day, relying on cairns for direction. We had virtually no views and the clouds were increasingly soaked throughout the day. Back at Copper Lake, a ranger suggested we stay high on the trail past Iron Cap Lake at ~5600' to avoid a cliff ledge. We did but ended up crawling through bushes to get back to the main route and we don’t know if this was the preferable route or not. The descent to the low point west of the Iron Cap Gap was surprisingly steep and we were quite glad we were on a route previously traveled. After the Iron Cap Gap the route was relatively easy to walk and navigate. Photos of Tank Lakes look amazing, but we could barely see the lake from our lake-front campsite and nothing of the surrounding area.
Day 4: Tank Lakes to Iiswoot via La Bohn Lakes: With no views in the morning we packed up our wet gear and navigated by cairns to a very steep, gravelly ridge to descend into Necklace Valley. As the sky had cleared, we ascended to La Bohn Lakes. The route climbs 950' in 0.5 miles along boulders and then a boot path. The difficult climb was worth the effort. We were rewarded with views of Necklace Valley, La Bohn Lakes, Chain Lakes, and surrounding mountains. We camped at lovely Iiswoot Lake.
Day 5: While the descent along the first 3 miles out may be considered steep, it was gentle in comparison to the off-trail segments we had already completed. The Necklace Valley trail was thankfully recently brushed! From the East Foss TH we walked the road back to our car but were able to hitch a ride the last mile or so.
Few mosquitoes, the worst at Iiswoot Lake. Very few other hikers from Big Heart Lake to Emerald Lake. Ripe blueberries, huckleberries and thimbleberries. We hung our food but did not see any bears or other large animals. We did hear and see many pikas. The forecast called for cloudy skies. We didn't grasp we'd be in the clouds, so dense we could see the raindrops and little of the surrounding area.
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