East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley — Monday, Jun. 23, 2025

Headliner, though I know budget cuts are a crisis – miles 2-5 need a little love or a lot of traffic to keep them from being swallowed up! The footing itself is in excellent shape there, but in many stretches you’re getting brushed head to toe by undergrowth, feeling your way along the path below the plants.

Thank you to previous reports for recommending pants and long sleeves. If you’re going early, make them waterproof! Thanks to the dew, I was quite wet by the time I passed mile 5 and started climbing. After that point, the undergrowth is gone and you can concentrate on the steep rocks and roots!

Road: last 3 miles unpaved; first 2 in great shape, last 1 has some (mostly avoidable) potholes. Close to the trailhead, you’ll come to a fork; stay right.
Bathroom: clean and stocked.
Bugs: come prepared. They’re everywhere.
Crossings: my feet got wet, but only because of the dewy undergrowth! No tricky crossings.
Climb: hard, but not as bad as I thought. The ridiculously steep sections leave room for some short but mercifully flat ones in between.
Lakes: Jade was jade, Emerald was orange (didn’t look healthy), and Ilswoot was turquoise! So close and so completely different. Ilswoot was stunning, but had yellow residue on the shore.
Navigation: between lakes, the many boot paths really were a maze. Even with Gaia, which showed some but not all of them, it got confusing.

Snow: none on the trail. I realized I’d forgotten my phone charger, I so turned around after those three lakes, just to play it safe.
People: ran into people four times. Two cars at 7:20 AM; six when I got back at 5:15 PM.

Flat, overgrown 5 miles: 2 hours
Climb to Jade: 2.5 hours
Rested and explored between lakes: 2 hours.
Descent: 2 hours
The 5 miles again: 1.5 hours.

I just got back and I already can’t wait to visit this trail again! Hoping to make it to La Bohn Gap next time, or somewhere near there.