East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley — Saturday, May. 26, 2007

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

With so many trails in the Mt. Baker-Sno National Forest down for the count the first five miles of the Necklace Valley trail leaps to near the front of the pack as an enjoyable (if not dramatic) spring hiking experience. There are significant blow-downs and some bridges out, but under the current conditions if you can drive to it and walk through it it's a keeper. The blow-downs are not fun but they are all walk-aroundable, slither-underable, or climb-overable without unreasonable effort. They tend to be clustered between 2-3 mile mark and one nasty one nearer the end. A NFS contractor was cutting on them today but by hand he is going to be busy for awhile. The bridge is out at the four mile mark but the creek is easily crossed by a solid logjam a few feet upstream of the trail. There are several ways to safely cross the creek at the 4 1/2 mile mark at the camping area. I did not go beyond that point today, and though the other side is a twisted mass of downed trees for a bit, a backpacker told me that the river is crossable by a large log. On a positive note (we could use any good news in these dark days) the flood did create a open gravel beach area along the river north of the camping area that I do not recall being there before. Other than these problems the trail is actually in excellent condition...no standing water issues. Lots of beautiful spring flowers, particularly in the more open areas beyond the three mile mark. Salmonberry, bleeding heart, trillium...all the usual suspects. And more Hooker's fairy bells than I've ever seen before. I got soaked from the wet vegetation but that was my own fault for not wearing rain pants on an obviously suspect day. Just a few other people on trail today.