East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley — Sunday, Jun. 23, 2013

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

Hot days = find some snow! We headed out with an ambitious goal of making it to tank lakes if snow levels were accommodating. They weren't :) Less than 10 cars in the parking lot and the trail seemed surprisingly empty. There was a WTA work party in progress (Thanks, guys!) working on some retread (?) and clearing brush. The first five miles were gentle, if warm, and bugs were not an issue. The log bridge was partially submerged in the river (near mile 5 or so), which was a first for me (though coming here this early in the year is a first for me too). The climb up to Jade was HOT and seemed longer than I always try to remember it. Started hitting patchy snow around the final half-mile before the lake and had one steep wall of snow to climb before popping down into Jade. Jade was mostly frozen over and it was dicey navigating the snow to get to the far end of the lake (I made it about halfway to the far end before calling it quits while Rob and Cooper went the whole way). Set up camp on "Jade Island" and settled in for the night - it was surprisingly warm and we woke to the lake having melted out more during the night instead of re-freezing. Mind blown. Assuming we have another week or so of warm weather, Jade should be melted out soon! Will have to return to make the trek up to Tank.