East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley — Friday, May. 7, 2004

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

My brother and I arrived at the trailhead at 8:30 to partly cloudy skies, and on and off sprinkles all day. The trail is in decent shape. I would estimate about twenty blow-downs, all of which you can over or under wthout much effort. Only minor water and mud on the trail, and most of that in one stretch at about 4 miles. The first five miles to the river crossing are not steep at all. The bridge is damaged, but passable. The first mile after the bridge crossing is very steep. The snow begins at the 6th mile. We turned around shortly thereafter. The sun came out for thirty minutes as we began our descent, but from about mile 4 to mile 2 we were downpoured on. The wildflowers are many. The spring foliage is spectacular, especially the last mile or two before the bridge on the way in. The loudest woodpecker on earth lives near the swamp at about 2 miles. We thought someone was pounding large nails on a wooded hillside above the trail. Mosquitos were present, but not thick. The highlight of the day (for my brother anyway) was my postholing, heading back down in about two and a half feet of snow; and then falling, head first. It must have looked pretty funny, especially my pack rolling over my head. We saw no other hikers this day. I'm glad no one else saw that.