West Fork Foss River and Lakes — Saturday, Aug. 5, 2000

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

My alarm wrestled me from a deep 3-hour sleep at 3 AM Saturday morning. I grumbled aloud at having to get such an early start, but in the end it turned out to be wise move. Phil arrived an hour later, and we were off, both looking forward to the day’s trip. Our destination: the Foss River area. I was along for the ride because I needed to hit a couple lakes I’ve wanted to get to real bad for the last three years (View and Nazanne), and Phil was itchin to hit his last Necklace Valley Lake (Jewel). We packaged the three lakes into an epic day trip and even added a fourth and fifth to complete an unforgettable dual drainage loop. Rolled up to the Necklace Valley trailhead at 5:30 AM. We knew very well that we’d have to blow right through this first 6 miles of trail, for after that it was a full day of brush, thorns, cliffs and boulders. Off we went making good time, Phil led the way in his sneakers and I brought up the rear. Trail was in great shape; bridges were in tact and no problematic blowdowns to speak of. We passed three decent sized campsites before the EF crossing; all were occupied with folks anxious to get up into Necklace Valley later in the day. We made it to the footlog crossing of the EF in just under an hour and a half; once across Phil changed into his boots while I enjoyed a tasty Power Bar and beverage. Continuing on, we went up the trail a bit, hung a right at a large pink flag (still there), walked a fallen tree, and then began the long climb up from the valley bottom. Up, up and up we went gaining roughly 1600’ in the next 1.5 miles. Thoughts of finally attaining View and Nazanne kept my sleep deprived body moving along the well groomed, but steep trail. Eventually, we came to the outlet of Jewel Lake (and others) where we stopped for a quick “what next” moment. As we ate, we looked over the map and debated (typical) over the most efficient x-country route to Jewel. Yet, before long we were in agreement and began what was to be the longest off trail/way trail day hike of my entire life; up, over, down and back to the car… via Trout Lake! We proceeded down the trail about 100 yards then left it for the brush via a right hook up and over a small mound where we came to a large insect infested bog. Heading SW from the bog we fought through moderately thick brush on flat terrain until we came to the first creek crossing. We crossed on a conveniently fallen tree and proceeded WSW up and over another small mound, and across the next creek (almost unnoticeable). After crossing the second creek, the terrain became steeper, but the brush cleared considerably. Now, heading SW again we began to gain the elevation we’d need to get up to the lake, pretty easy travel some big rocks and minor cliff bands, but nothing the experienced hiker can’t work around. Soon, we heard the sounds of the Jewel outlet, which we followed direct to the lake, elevation 4441’. Just a bit tired at this point we decided to flop for about 45 minutes and enjoy the great scenery and some much needed food. Jewel is completely thawed and has a nice population of average size rainbows. As we lounged about, we gazed up to the cliffs surrounding the west and north sides of the lake. Our next destination (View Lake) lie to the west up and over 800’ of cliffs, so we looked for an easy way to gain the ridge top. Of two possible routes to the top, a chute and a shelf to the NW of the outlet, we opted to gain about 200’ to the shelf and ride it to the top. So, on we went heading north around the lake from the outlet. Once on the north side of the lake we started up a talus slope until we came up just below the shelf. We found a short but very steep chute that would take us right up to it. With rocks and dry tree branches flying, up we went; however, just before the shelf things got a bit steep and slick, so Phil headed right through a couple trees perched on a rock ledge. Looking a bit thick, and not wanting to take my ski poles from my pack I opted for a less obtrusive route to the left up some steep rocks with a few trees thrown in for handholds. We both made the shelf with minor difficulty. I popped up about 60 yards west of Phil, so I decided to scout ahead a bit. After only 70 ft I came to that chute we had seen from the lake. It was a strait drop of about 20ft down and the same thing on the other side, so “FORGET IT!” I yelled back to the waiting Phil. Now that the shelf was out, I retreated back to the east to Phil’s position and we found what looked to be a doable rock climb strait up to the top, but after about 60 ft we were again stopped by vertical rock. Phil headed strait east through some more thick trees, while I dropped about 30 ft and traversed upwards on a nice ledge along a 15’ rock wall. Heading NE I soon made it to some open trees and gentler slopes at about 4900’. Decided to break here for a bit and wait for Phil to appear. While I waited, I enjoyed spectacular views to the north, and plotted a future traverse to Bald Eagle Lake. Phil soon came up under my position and we proceeded up the steep but open slopes to the ridge crest at 5600’. Wow! What a beautiful area, and the views, well they just didn’t quit! Bald Eagle Peak, La Bohn Gap, Necklace Valley, Mt. Hinman, Copper Lake--on and on and on, amazing! From here, we hurried down the finger to the SW, but along the way we got glimpses down to the lake that lie 800’ below and were both stopped in our tracks…”Whoa! That’s one cool lookin lake!” I exclaimed. Anyway, we’d hit that one a bit later. On we went down open slopes to View Lake, elevation 5325’. View is completely thawed, and not a single fish was seen in the lake. I was almost knocked off my feet when I saw a guy on a rock casting a Rooster Tail out into the lake. This is the last place I expected to see anyone! Anxious to hear his story, I made my around to the SW side of the lake where Phil and I chatted with the fellow. Turns out he was a TrailBlazer, so I picked his brain a bit trying to get as much information out of him as I could. We exchanged route information and some secret fishing facts about the area—real nice guy, but he did seem a bit shocked at our doing this as a day trip, hmmm.  Next, I proceeded clockwise around the lake to the outlet where I relaxed, ate, and filtered for a good half hour. Phil made his way around, and then decicded to gain the ridge to the west while I dropped 700’ to Nazanne below. Huge rocks all the way down. The rocks coupled with the steepness of the terrain and my knees were really starting to talk. Picked my way down to the inlet where I was treated to one of the most beautiful alpine settings I’ve ever witnessed. The lake we had marveled at from the ridge top was equally spectacular at lake elevation. Nazanne is completely thawed, but I saw just one fish during my stay. At the inlet, before me lie 20 yards of waist deep water then a really neat looking island. What to do, what to do' With little hesitation, I stripped down to my shorts and bare feet and waded across to the small island. A few trees here and there, but for the most part it’s was a pretty easy walk to the other side. No need to wade here, the west side of the lake is attained via a simple rock hop from the island. I lounged about and explored the lake basin for a good 2.5 hours while Phil tooled about on the ridge high above. Around 4:30 Phil arrived at the lake and took some time to recover and rest up before we began the long, steep descent to Delta Lake. Regrettably, we had to leave Nazanne at just after 5 PM, but we both vowed to be back again someday. Down we went hugging the north side of the outlet through very steep open forest to about 4500’. Here we crossed over the outlet and capped the finger to the south at about 4400’. Rode the finger down steep and increasingly brush infested slopes to 3700’. Next, we headed SW trying to avoid the worst of the brush but ran into impassable bands of cliffs and were forced back towards the Nazanne outlet. At this point the brush became so bad that it was difficult to get 20 ft a minute. Time and time again we would try and get out of the brush but were always forced back by cliffs. The brush was the thick stuff, the kind you can’t push out of the way or walk over—we had to crawl through it! Needless to say it took forever to reach the outlet of Delta, from 3700’ it was took us close to 2 hours to get down to lake elevation, sad, but true. Just after 8 PM we made the Foss River just 100’ or so north of Delta Lake. Thinking there was no one for a mile or two, when I saw the lake I let out a loud “Woo!” and almost scared a dazed backpacker right off the logjam and into the water. For some reason he wasn’t much for talking and retreated back to his camp. Phil followed me on to the logjam and we plopped down for a quick rest before struggling down the final leg of the trip. We exited from Delta around 8:30 and quickly picked up the old trail on the west side of the Foss. The trail was nearly the same as I remembered it from the year before, well hidden in brush, but if you thought this thing was difficult to follow during the day, try it in complete darkness, wow! I knew there were sveral spots about mid-way down that were difficult to follow in daylight, so we hurried our way down the trail in hopes of getting past these before dark. Unfortunately, complete darkness came too quick and we came to the spot in the trail that I was dreading—where the Foss is actually under the trail--that at this point skips on top of boulders and old root balls. With our headlamps shining we stumbled about to pick up the trail, and after a few misguided turns we eventually did. From here, we followed the trail as it turned and meandered its way down to and along the Foss, but about half way to the Copper Lake outlet Phil’s headlamp conked out on him, and our pace slowed way down. I led the way with Phil close behind. Over the more technical sections of the trail I would go on ahead then turn to give Phil the light he needed to move. We continued this “slinky” style of movement all the way to the Copper outlet, finally arriving at 10 PM. We crossed the low flowing water without difficulty and proceeded up the hill to the main trail from Trout Lake. Now that we were on a nicely groomed trail, Phil took the lead while I provided ample light for the both of us. The blowdowns that existed along the trail in June have all been removed, and the trail appears to be in great shape. As we came to the shores and camps around Trout Lake we surprised a couple of campers, that seemed very curious about what we were doing out and about so late. When we told them where we had been, a strange silence came over the camp then one of them broke out with a “What'” then an “Oh, whoa!” He then asked us how the fishing was in Copper Lake and if we had been up as far as Little Heart Lake…”OK'” was my silent reaction, I then procceded to tell him all about both  After a few more laughs, we were off down the trail finally reaching the parking lot at 11:30. From the cars it was a painful 45 minute road walk back to the Necklace Valley parking area where Phil’s car was waiting. The time was 12:30 on Sunday morning (18.5 hours of walking) and we were completely thrashed. Both somewhat delerious from lack of sleep and tired bones we struggled into the car and began a most interesting drive back to Seattle…..Phil did a pretty nice job driving considering the shape he was in and we made it back safely around 2:30, hooray!!