East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley — Tuesday, Jul. 10, 2012

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

Beautiful, sunny weather melted snow quickly even over the three days we spent camping at Opal Lake. When we arrived Jade, Emerald, Opal and Cloudy Lakes were mostly frozen and that had changed dramatically on the way home. East Fork Foss River crossing was wet as the water is high. The trail up to Jade Lake is snow-free. Past Jade Lake there was a significant amount of snow with tiny sections of trail few and far between. Use caution as it is easy to find yourself standing on a snow-bridge over a creek without realizing. We found Necklace Shelter, Emerald Lake and finally Opal Lake fairly easily using our GPS to keep near the trail. We saw a few Pikas, a couple tiny fish, and lots of bugs. We camped between Opal and Cloudy Lakes for two nights and only saw one other backpacker.