East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley — Thursday, May. 24, 2018

Heavy spring snowmelt has transformed this lovely if somewhat stiff hike in to a bit of a test.

For the first 5.2 miles along the east fork of the Foss the trail is in great shape. Only very slightly overgrown in places, I was able to run most of it. It is very much alive through here - it was wonderful to see so many frogs - yet very few bugs still.

Upon reaching the crossing, I found the bridge awash and partially washed out. I dragged some logs just downstream to build a simple bridge, enough to cross to the main one on, but it probably won't last long.

Beyond that and the second crossing, the cairn trail is in great shape. Views across the valley towards Terrace mountain are stunning. The snow starts at around 3200', initially thin, hard and icy enough to simply walk over. As you ascend, the area covered by snow extends to maybe a quarter mile at a stretch, so you will have to do some non-trivial routefinding.

In addition to the usual spring blowdowns over the trail, there are two avalanche areas to cross. The lower one is simple, just a matter of finding the trail on the far side. The second carried a lot more debris, so will involve a bit of scrambling, but nothing you can't handle.

By the time you reach 4400', most of the ground is snow covered. Depth up to maybe 5' at the highest, most of it less. It's softer here, and easy to punch through, especially when it has been undermined by snowmelt. The trail proper is basically a small brook through here, so you'll want to avoid it and travel just to one side, otherwise you'll just be post-holing.

Past Jade Lake, the snow was soft, slowing travel considerably; beyond Emerald I couldn't proceed without snowshoes. Camping in this area was lovely, with overnight lows in the low 40s and no bugs, and fairly small patches of dry earth, so cowboy camping works well here.