Headed out of the Necklace Valley parking lot at 8:30am on Tuesday.The plan for the day was to make it to Tank Lakes and back. Trail is snow free and well maintained up to 5 miles. Around mile 5, there is a patch of stinging nettles that overhangs into the trail at your ankles for about .2 but its not too bad.
At 7.5 miles, snow begins. Patchy at first, it picks up as you get closer to the lake. The snow was untouched ahead of me, minus a few spots that showed bear prints. Didn't see any bears, fine by me!
I lost the trail after the first lake, you have to cross the river and continue heading upward. Hopefully my tracks will help the next few people, until new snow :)
After crossing, I continued to lose and find the trail for about 2 more miles. Once I reached the end of Opal lake, I was having trouble finding where to go and it was nearing my turn around time. Instead of continuing to try to find the trail, I called it and turned around. Snow was about 18 inches by Opal.
I saw 3 groups of people on my way back, 2 of those groups with overnight gear planning to stop at Jade.
Sad I made it so close to Tank lakes but didn't get there. Will come back again! 19 miles, 4,600 ft of gain...not a bad day! 8 hours, 45 minutes car to car with some time for route finding along the way.
Comments
Hikerbabe50 on East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley, Tank Lakes
We are doing this hike as an overnighter next weekend. We plan on camping at the first camp area about 5 miles in and day hiking the rest. Any idea if camp fires are allowed at that 5 mile in location?
Posted by:
Hikerbabe50 on Oct 06, 2019 11:18 AM
brian98105 on East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley, Tank Lakes
You made the right choice. Don’t worry if you turned at opal. You were still a long way from tank lakes and it would have been over boulder fields that probably were impossible with snow covering refrigerator size stones with crevices.
Posted by:
brian98105 on Oct 13, 2019 10:48 PM