East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley — Sunday, Jun. 26, 2016

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

We headed up for an overnight Saturday around 10am - this is a beautiful valley but takes some work to reach. The trail has been logged for the first three miles, but then encounters some blowdown and lots of brush, including a nice stinging nettle section around mile 4. There was no snow until after the lakes. We had planned on trying to get up to La Bohn lakes and maybe try for Hinman Sunday morning, but didn't make it. We headed up the valley and turned left up the snow/talus slope following carins until about 5,400 feet, at which point the route became all snow. We got another 100ft up the snow and got cliffed out (might have been too far right) so decided the safest move was to head back and camp at Opal. The snow was very steep so we downclimbed, thankful for our ice axes and crampons. We found a great campsite, tossed on the bug nets, and enjoyed a good evening. The stars came out overnight and we checked out a few of the other lakes on the way down.