East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley — Saturday, Jun. 30, 2007

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

This was a beautiful hike and the patches of snow kept most people away. This was our honeymoon Hike and we took along our five year old daughter, who did incredibly well. We backpacked for five days, well two days and basecamped at Emerald Lake for the next three while we explored the lakes. The first five miles are cleared of blowdown and on the way up we encountered a trail crew who had just repaired the bridge at the 5 mile mark. Contrary to the posted conditions, there is no fording required. The climb to Jade Lake has not been cleared out and for the first mile or so there are several blowdowns to traverse and climb across. The mile marker six just seeks to make fun of the progress you think you have made and really haven't. The trail is mostly free of snow until the last climb into Jade Lake. But these patches are easily travesible. There are still patches of snow surrounding all of the Lakes, except Illswoot. There are some great campsites across the drainage at Emerald and most are free of snow. The gnats are really bad, however it's better than the mosquitos that will come. Locket Lake is almost totally free of snow but we didn't make it to Jewel Lake. Our five year old daughter rebelled at the cliff traversing we did trying to get there. We couldn't find a clear trail to Jewel, either it was lost under the snow or didn't exist at all. Opal Lake was easy to get to and so was Cloudy and Illswoot. We hiked up to the Labohn basin below LaBohn gap but it was pretty much snowed in. Someday we will get back to see the LaBohn Lakes. The nice thing about this trip is that we basecamped at Emerald lake and dayhiked to all the other lakes. It was impossible to get lost. IF ANYONE FINDS A CAMERA AT THE TRAILHEAD, PLEASE EMAIL AT ARIALTO@EXCITE.com. IT FELL OFF THE TRUCK IN THE PARKING LOT. PLEASE RETURN. IT HAS PICTURES OF OUR HONEYMOON AND OUR DAUGHTERS FIRST BACKPACKING TRIP.