East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley, La Bohn Gap — Friday, Jul. 8, 2022

Got up early and was walking at 6. Not much to report up to the river crossing except that it's pretty overgrown in places and you'll be wet with an early start. River crossing was fine.

Made Jade lake by 9:15 and then things really slowed down. The trail goes right along the shoreline and with the water level up like it is you have to wade through some of the lake. Not a huge deal but it's awfully cold. The worst is about 2 feet deep. After passing Jade snow starts in earnest. Navigation became difficult as I had to constantly check GPS. This area isn't too steep and the snow was pretty firm. I did fall through a snow bridge however on my decent but fortunately it wasn't too bad. Eventually I made it to the head of the valley. What a beautiful spot! I sat for a bit looking up at La Bohn Gap and it just looked too intimidating. Looking up the waterfall route I could tell there was less snow but I couldn't see a lot of the route. I decided to try this until I didn't like it. Long story short I made it up this route although I definitely didn't like some of it. There are a couple steep snowfields to climb the last one near the top being very steep.

Once on top the scenery was spectacular! Initially I had thought I might try for Hinman but that wasn't happening. I was pretty beat and had a lot work to do just to get out. I walked over to the Gap and checked out a couple other spots before heading back down. Getting down the waterfall route was tedious as expected. Be careful on the boulders towards the bottom as some are loose including large ones. After getting back to Jade it's a long slog back to the car.

For gear I decided to go with trail runners, spikes, and axe. Spikes didn't help much. Boots and crampons would definitely be preferable climbing the steep snow but I just didn't want to wear the boots all day.

A little over 20 miles and ~4500' of climbing. Got back to the car at 6:15. Long day but worth it! Thanks to whoever picked up my hat and hung it so I could find it!!