East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley — Thursday, Jun. 30, 2011

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

Did an overnight trip on the Necklace Valley Trail that started on a soaking Thursday. The first 5 miles of the trail are relatively gentle and well maintained. I met the US Forest Service Trial Crew out working on clearing blowdowns. As of Friday they only had 1 left to clear before the 5 mile camp. Once you get past the 5 mile camp however, the trail becomes quite a bit more challenging. Right after the camp there is a log over the water that the trail crew has turned into a bridge and attached a handrail to. In order to reach the bridge you have to step into thigh deep, and very cold, water. The bridge itself is pretty sturdy, but can be slippery. After a short walk there is another log bridge followed by a rock scramble. It can be tough to find the route here, look for the stacked rocks and follow those. The trail emerges at the top of the rocks and then becomes very steep, and in some parts overgrown. There are a number of large blowdowns on the trial as well. I turned back just before the final bridge due to the snow. It was quite soft and I had some problems with postholing. Made camp for the night at the 5 mile camp. On Wednesday night someone had left bacon in their tent and were greeted in the middle of the night by a black bear who destroyed their tent. There were obvious signs of bear activity in the area including tracks, scat, and bear trails so be careful with your bear precautions.