East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley — Wednesday, May. 25, 2016

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

Full Disclaimer, this trail isn't technically 'difficult or impossible' to navigate, the obstacles after E Fork Foss River ( about 5 miles) are just rather.. challenging. It's totally doable and I made it to Jade Lake, it's just HARD as a day hike right now The lower section of this trail was very brushy, with several blowdowns. This wasn't really a problem, you can just look for the reroutes, or climb over them. From around 1 or 2 miles in the trail is pretty brushy. Watch out for devil's club as well as loose/slippery puncheon in spots. There was a place where you have to scoot/traverse up a log, or take a couple steps through knee-high water. The water was flowing fast and starting to undercut the near side of the footbridge here. This was at about 5.2 miles (the first waypoint on the greentrails map), just after a stretch of brushy meadow. There were wildflowers blooming here, and nice views (although on the way up it was all socked in). If you aren't up for a fairly challenging, scrambly hike, I would reccomend just staying at the campground and having lunch, the raging river is oddly soothing, and the views aren't too bad. There is also a bridge 1-2 miles further up where you could break and turn around, as an intermediate alternative (The Michael A. Nesby Memorial Footbridge), but it requires a little bit of routefinding. After you cross the river, you have to cross ANOTHER river or large creek. Head upstream for ~50 ft after the crossing, and follow the obvious trail, looking for some small cairns that aren't too easy to spot. IF you go up a gulley full of Devil's club, you've gone too far >< This is what i did, and it took me a few minutes to figure out I was going the wrong way. The greentrails map I had didn't show this crossing, so be careful. I think the Foss River washed out a section of trail at some point (not really too surprising). You'll cross a rotting log after the cairns, and then scramble up some boulders before resuming the trail. After this, the trail becomes steep, rocky, and wet with some blowdowns in spots. If you are feeling ambitious, by all means continue on; It's totally passible, it just takes a lot of work. It took me 4 1/2 hours to get to Jade Lake, and it's not as if I'm a slow hiker, but "obstacles on trail" seemed too tame a description for this particular trail. The snow started intermittently near the lake (perhaps ~1/2 mile) The snow was pretty solid, but there was some postholing near the lake and it was steep, so take your time and be careful. As mentioned in previous reports, the lakes are still largely covered in snow. Additionally, I was unable to navigate around Jade Lake. I made it halfway around the left side of the lake, and then there was snow that looked to be possibly on top of water, up against a cliff face, and I didn't really fancy falling into cold water. However, Alexlim in the comments section has told me that you can hug the rock on the left side. Go ahead and try this approach if you'd like. I got to the trail around 7:30 am, took me till about noon to get to Jade Lake, left Jade lake about 12:30, and took me about 3:45 back down. If you are looking for solitude right now, this is a great place to get it. I didn't see another Human on trail the entire day, though I did see a garter snake sunning himself on the trail in the meadows, and the views were nice (although not as nice as W. Fork Foss). The road is in excellent condition too, no washouts to contend with. W. Fork Foss is possibly an easier approach to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness right now, but this is a great trail, I really hope WTA/USFS/ whoever else wants to help can find the resources to come clear some of the blowdowns and brush. I was told also that conditions should improve later, but I'm not sure I've ever seen such a mess on trail even early season. Maybe this is normal for this area.