Picked this as my first backpacking trip of the season, and quickly realized how out of shape I am... The first five miles of this hike are deceptively easy, until you come to a brutal 2 mile, 2,000+ foot rocky climb to the first lake. I questioned my life choices at several points during this hike. BUT I think seeing the lakes at the end were worth the feeling of death in my quads.
Overall, this trail is in fairly decent condition right now, but is very overgrown in sections and has a lot of questionably stable bridges. My only real complaint regards the three unbelievably loud US Air Force planes that flew overhead during the first section of our hike, definitely harshed our wilderness vibes.
After you reach the first lake (and cry tears of joy), the area becomes a mess of social trails. It's pretty much a choose-your-own-adventure at this point. My group stumbled across Lake Ilswoot after some exploring, and decided it was by far the most scenic of the lakes for camping. There are only about 2-3 available camp sites around Lake Ilswoot at the moment (some fellow campers informed us that there are usually more, but the water level is so high that the other sites are currently submerged), I would definitely recommend snagging one if you can!
The mosquitoes are vicious right now, I recommend bringing along some heavy-duty bug repellent unless you want to come home with a few dozen bites (still battling a few casualties as I type this).
If you're planning an overnight trip up to Necklace Valley, I would strongly encourage trying to go on a weekday. We totally lucked out on our Friday night trip and only saw 5 other people at the top. During our hike out on Saturday afternoon we passed about 30 people headed up for the night (including one group of 12), so I imagine camping spots are at a premium for Saturday night campers.
Comments