East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley, Tank Lakes — Friday, Aug. 16, 2013

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

The trail is absolutely gorgeous right now - mostly clear, plenty of water along the route, wildflowers, and (relatively) few bugs for this time of year. The first 5-6 miles of this trail are quite flat and easy, just going through the forest following the river, but at ~6mi in you cross the river and start a pretty beastly climb: ~2500-3000 vertical over 2-3mi. However, as soon as you reach the top you get greeted by Jade Lake, and it's stunning. The trail then levels off again for another mile or so (although it does start to get overgrown) to the other two lakes before it ends. We actually went past the end of this trail and followed the cairns and scrambled over the granite fields up over a couple more ridgelines (about 3mi (and ~1500 more vertical) beyond the end of the trail) to Tank Lakes, and I highly recommend it - the view from there is breathtaking.