Did a two-night trip to Necklace Valley with a hike up to Tank Lake on our layover day. We headed in on Sunday, the 6th, and counted 50 people heading out of the woods at the end of the 4th of July weekend. Lucky us. The first four miles or so are relatively easy cruising in deep woods - lovely. There are some sections of thick brush with nettles, but these are manageable. Long pants and long sleeves helped.
After crossing the river, the trail gets...unpleasant, starting immediately with a steep climb on a talus slope, followed by more steep climbing through woods. Mosquitos distract from the climbing. Jade Lake is nice enough, but we opted to keep going to Emerald Lake, which has a nice camp area at the North end. Mosquitos drove us into our tents on arrival, where we napped until 9 then got up and made dinner. Bugs were active from 6am to 9pm every day.
Day 2 we hiked up to Tank Lake. The trail isn't worthy of being called a trail. Various cairns gave hints to where others went, and the two miles felt more like five. One section is big rocks to clamber over and leap along. Kind of fun, but a bit of work. We were sad to discover Tank Lake had just as many bugs, but the views were incredible. There were still a few sections of snow to cross, but they were easy and no spikes were needed. Tank Lake was icy cold.
The evening of day 2 we cooked dinner by sticking our hands out the door of the tent since the mosquitoes made being outside unpleasant.
We only saw 5 people on Monday and Tuesday. So if you want some solitude from people, go on a weekday. The bugs will keep you company, so you won't be too lonely.
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