East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley — Saturday, Jun. 24, 2017

Although primarily a backpackers trail, this makes a nice day hike to 5 mile camp. It is a nice walk thru a very green forest right now with a gentle up and down grade. The old rickety puncheon bridge is still there and seems to be sturdy enought to hold hikers, although some of the timbers are starting to rot. The trail stays in the forest high above the river until about 3 miles in. Then as it goes thru a rocky avalanche shute it is a fern, nettle and thimbleberry mess of overgrown trail. Keep your zip ons zipped on unless you thrill to the electric like tingling of nettles. How do I know this? I was hiking in shorts and my lets are still tingling. A couple of brush whips and a trail crew could take care of this in a day. Once you drop down and head to the river you reenter forest again. When we stopped at the campground we had been the only people on trail all day. Suddenly we were innudated with groups of backpackers, big groups. Within an hour all the spots had been taken. So if you intend to backpack to 5 mile and day hike to the lakes, better get there early.