East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley, Tank Lakes & La Bohn Gap — Friday, Aug. 2, 2019

We just had a fantastic 3-day, 2-night family backpacking weekend up in the Necklace Valley, with side excursions up to the Tank Lakes and La Bohn Lakes. There were 4 of us, with 2 kids ages 10 and 12. We got started on Friday 8/2 around 11:30 at the trailhead. We opted for a bit of a later start due to the mild rain showers rolling through on Friday into the mid afternoon. There were about 10 cars in the parking lot, so it wasn't too crowded and we only encountered a handful of people on the trail. As reported elsewhere, the first 5 miles are mostly flat until you cross the river. The ascent starts at about the 5.5 mile mark, and is a good 3 mile climb up to Jade Lake. Yes, it was a tough climb, as expected. We hiked further to the cabin at Emerald Lake, which is where you can branch off to Locket Lake to the right (a side trail heading west just before the cabin), or to Ilswoot Lake to the left (skirting Emerald Lake to the east, crossing the outlet creek, and then descending a short hill to the south end of Ilswoot). We opted to set up camp at Ilswoot, which was isolated, quiet, and a beautiful large lake. There are really only 2 campsites that we could find at Ilswoot, and both are adjacent to one another at the bottom of the trail down from Emerald. However, we did not see a single person come down to Ilswoot over the 3 days we were there. It was a great spot with excellent lake access. Overall, it was approx 9.5 miles from the trailhead. We arrived at approx 6:30, just in time for dinner, and we were all starving after the hike in! 

On Saturday 8/3, we got up and spent the morning fishing at Ilswoot, having breakfast, and taking it easy. The 10-year old caught a number of cutthroats and rainbows on various flies in sizes ranging from 8" to 14". We released all fish. The mosquitoes were not as bad as we had expected (based on other trail reports), although we did use our mosquito nets at times. We left camp at 10:00 Saturday morning, and hiked past Emerald and Opal to the end of the Necklace Valley, which was about a mile from the cabin. We encountered a trio of backpackers coming down from La Bohn Gap who explained the routes both to the La Bohn Lakes and the Tank Lakes. We chose to head up to the Tank Lakes for lunch, and hiked up the long boulder field to the right (southwest) of the valley. The hike is not too steep, but is probably about 2 miles from the end of the valley to the Tank Lakes. There were a few cairns here and there to help with navigation. We got up to the top at around 12:00, and spent a good hour having lunch, soaking our feet, and enjoying the view of Summit Chief and Chimney Rock over the lake. We left at about 1:00, and got down within an hour to the end of the Necklace Valley. The 10-year old and mom went back to camp, and the 12-year old and I decided to head up to the La Bohn lakes. Without the help of the group we had seen earlier, I doubt that we would have figured out the trail. When at the end of the Necklace Valley, on the left (east) side, you can see a small waterfall, which is the outlet creek from the La Bohns. We ascended the boulder field to the right of the waterfall until we reached a rock wall. At that point, you can see a cairn to your left, which is the start of a trail that zig zags straight up, roughly adjacent to (and to the right of) the La Bohn outlet creek. It's probably only about a mile up, but it is extremely strenuous and vertical! We were gassed once we got to the top, but it only took around 30 minutes from the bottom of the valley. We wandered around, and found all 3 La Bohn lakes, only seeing one other guy up at the top. It was extremely rewarding and the views looking back out towards the Necklace Valley were breathtaking. All in all, we were up at the La Bohn Lakes for about an hour, then headed back down. The descent wasn't as hard as we were expecting, and we got down in no time, and then headed back to camp, arriving at around 5:00. We ate dinner by the lake, and then hiked over to Locket, and then to Jade to do a bit of fishing, but the fish were all pretty small there.

On Sunday morning, the 12-year old caught her first Alpine Lakes trout, a nice 10" rainbow, and I also caught a large 15"-16" rainbow on a parachute adams dry fly. We packed up and left camp around 11:00, arriving at the trailhead at 5:00. Overall, it was an awesome weekend!