Challenging, rewarding, and disappointing backpack in dense fog conditions. 

Day 1: TH to Little Heart Lake: Drove from Portland to the West Fork Foss Lakes TH and started our hike after a quick lunch at the parking lot picnic table. The ascent to Little Heart Lake was relatively steep on a well-tended trail. There were nice water crossings for cooling off.

Day 2: Little Heart Lake to Chetwood: It was so foggy we could not see Big Heart Lake from the outlet crossing! We were rewarded with misty views of Big Heart Lake and Angeline Lake as we climbed. The maintained trail ends just past Big Heart Lake, but the route along the Atrium Peak Ridge was easy to follow. 

Day 3: Chetwoot to Tank Lakes. Hopped from one boulder to another for much of the day, relying on cairns for direction. We had virtually no views and the clouds were increasingly soaked throughout the day. Back at Copper Lake, a ranger suggested we stay high on the trail past Iron Cap Lake at ~5600' to avoid a cliff ledge. We did but ended up crawling through bushes to get back to the main route and we don’t know if this was the preferable route or not. The descent to the low point west of the Iron Cap Gap was surprisingly steep and we were quite glad we were on a route previously traveled. After the Iron Cap Gap the route was relatively easy to walk and navigate. Photos of Tank Lakes look amazing, but we could barely see the lake from our lake-front campsite and nothing of the surrounding area.

Day 4: Tank Lakes to Iiswoot via La Bohn Lakes: With no views in the morning we packed up our wet gear and navigated by cairns to a very steep, gravelly ridge to descend into Necklace Valley. As the sky had cleared, we ascended to La Bohn Lakes. The route climbs 950' in 0.5 miles along boulders and then a boot path. The difficult climb was worth the effort. We were rewarded with views of Necklace Valley, La Bohn Lakes, Chain Lakes, and surrounding mountains. We camped at lovely Iiswoot Lake.

Day 5: While the descent along the first 3 miles out may be considered steep, it was gentle in comparison to the off-trail segments we had already completed. The Necklace Valley trail was thankfully recently brushed! From the East Foss TH we walked the road back to our car but were able to hitch a ride the last mile or so.

Few mosquitoes, the worst at Iiswoot Lake. Very few other hikers from Big Heart Lake to Emerald Lake. Ripe blueberries, huckleberries and thimbleberries. We hung our food but did not see any bears or other large animals. We did hear and see many pikas. The forecast called for cloudy skies. We didn't grasp we'd be in the clouds, so dense we could see the raindrops and little of the surrounding area.

Friday, Aug 9th

This hike has been on the top of my To-Hike list for some time and the Time was Right!  My hiking buddy and I took off pretty early on Friday morning and drove out to the West Fork Foss River trailhead.  The road was in great shape, and there weren’t too many cars in the parking area and we got a great spot.

We blew into Trout Lake, ate our breakfast snacks, and continued on.  The trail up to the Malachite lake junction had one GIANT tree that had fallen over multiple switchbacks that required significant time delays to work around but no real issues.  The trail grade was a nice a steady 2K grind, but beautiful in the cool of the morning.  We stopped for a minute halfway around Copper Lake to filter water.  I ended up running into some other hiking buddies coming down from their trip and it was fun to hear about their good times, and we were heading up!  Little heat lake looked very cute through the trees, but we continued on to Big Heart Lake and had a sit-down and ate lunch.  There were quite a few folks hanging out and having a great time there. 

Up until this point the trail had been super obvious, well graded, and wide open with the exception of the one large blow down.  Atrium Ridge was a different story with steeper up and downs, and some misleading side boot paths but nothing super complicated.  This section was much more interesting and the number of people on the trail dropped dramatically.  The views and scenery improved drastically as we continued (lots of exposed granite boulder areas and mini alpine meadows everywhere) and our camp spot by Chetwoot Lake was Stunning!! The Mosquitoes were out in force, so we set up our tents pretty quickly and happily ate dinner before snuggling in for the night.  About 9.5 miles

Saturday, Aug 10^th

We woke up early so there wasn’t any rush navigating through the route finding section.  I’d spend many fun hours pouring over maps and other hiker’s tracks of where to go and felt well prepared to find out way.  BUT surprisingly, the boot path/route was Much MUCH easier to follow than I’d expected!  I feel like so many people are doing this loop now that it has taken much of the questions and trickiness out of the whole thing!  There were accurate stone cairns everywhere and between that, our foreknowledge of the where to go, and Gaia’s gps software, we felt very secure about staying on the correct route the whole time!  There was one bit of trail after passing Iron Cap Lake where it descended sharply down some very steep dirt steps along a rocky outcropping and then almost immediately go back up the other side.  This bit was straight forward navigation wise, but you sure wouldn’t want to accidentally fall down off the hillside!  The rest was easy to follow.  [we took the lower route by the lake not over Iron Cap peak]

I had figured that it would take us a significant amount of time to make it from Chetwoot to Tank Lakes, and while the route was slow going because of all the boulders we needed to carefully navigate to avoid a twisted ankle etc, It cruised right along!  By the time we arrive at Tank Lakes, we were ready for a bite to eat, took some pictures, and instead of setting up camp as was the original plan, we decided to keep going.  Once we made our way down through all the slide-y gravely bits coming down from the Tank Lakes, the trail was nice and cruisy!  The cabin was a blast to see.  We were aiming for the camp site by the East Fork Foss River, but it was full by the time we reached the valley so we kept trucking!  

 My feet were complaining for sure by the time we made it out to the road!  Then it was only a couple more miles back to the car at the West Fork TH to complete our loop!  About 17miles

The plan was to do the Alpine Lakes High Route starting at West Fork and finishing at East Fork. We hiked in late Thursday night and camped at Trout Lake. We got up early Friday morning, took a morning swim (water temp of 64°), ate and packed out towards Copper Lake. I was glad to be doing the climb early in the day since a lot of this section is in direct sunlight. We did encounter that large tree down across the trail. It took a minute to figure out how to get over it, but someone has chopped some foot holds into it so it's not too bad. And it only covers one switch back now - the upper section has been cleared.

We were hot and sticky after the climb so we stopped for a break at Copper Lake and took another swim (water temp of 64°). Then we made the next climb to Big Heart Lake. Of course we had to take another swim (water temp 62°). After fueling up and filtering more water, we continued up the ridge since our objective for the day was to make it to Chetwoot Lake. The trail is still pretty good in this area for maybe up to half a mile, but it starts to get kind of rough after that. It took us much longer to hike with the boulders to climb around and with the steeper-at-times incline. About a mile from Big Heart, just past Atrium Peak, we were skirting around a large boulder by stepping on some other rocks. I made it around fine, but my friend slipped off and landed wrong on her right foot. It was maybe only a 3-foot drop to the ground, but with a heavy pack on, it was enough to break her leg.

She was quickly in a lot of pain so I used my Garmin inReach to call for SAR. We were connected to the King County Sheriff's office and they were ultimately able to get a Navy helicopter from Whidbey island to come get her. We only had to wait about 3 hours for them to arrive. While we waited, I crudely splinted her leg as best I could. A group of 3 hikers (all with WFR training) came upon us shortly after the fall and were able to help us get her into a more comfortable spot while we waited (initially we thought we might have to spend the night out there).

It was about 6pm when the SAR team arrived and it took about 30 minutes from them to do their assessments, get her some pain meds, and lift her via litter into the chopper. Once she was on her way to Harborview, I hiked back down to Big Heart and camped for the night. I've never hiked more carefully than on that mile back to the lake. As soon as it was light the next day, I hiked out to the trailhead as fast as I could, only taking breaks to let uphill hikers go by.

It was a very challenging experience, but it truly couldn't have gone any better, with having help from experienced hikers, and the quick arrival of the SAR team. Words cannot express the gratitude I have for the sheriff's office, the Navy SAR team, and our fellow hikers.

We did a two-night loop of the Upper Foss valleys, starting from the Necklace Valley trailhead and ending up at West Fork Foss Lakes trailhead. We were lucky enough to get a ride to the start, so we could leave a car at our endpoint and avoid the 2.5-mile walk along the road between trailheads.

Day 1:

We started Friday morning at quarter-past nine. The sky was overcast and cool and there were few cars in the parking lot. The trail is excellently maintained up through the Necklace Valley and water is plentiful along its length. The first several miles are easy and meandering, but the steepness ramps up with the turn east up Necklace Creek. The sky began to clear as we climbed out of the forest, leaving the clearly marked trail behind and following cairns across boulder fields toward Tank Lakes.

We reached Tank Lake South at 4:45 and set up camp on the south side of the lake. This area is pure alpine bliss, and the view south across the Middle Snoqualmie Valley of Summit Chief Mountain and the Chimney Rocks is stunning. We shared the lake with two other parties, but campsites are plentiful. Used the final slivers of daylight to attempt to trace our route across the east flank of Iron Cap Mountain the following day.

Day 2:

We'd been told by a couple backpackers coming in the opposite direction that the stretch between Chetwoot and Tank Lakes had taken them around seven hours, given the scrambling, gradient, and pathfinding difficulties. With rain forecasted for the afternoon, we made sure to get up and go in the morning as soon as it was light, hitting the trail just after 8 o'clock. From the valley below Iron Cap Gap to approximately halfway across the east face of Iron Cap Mountain, we saw no trail nor cairns. The CalTopo app proved to be invaluable on this day. We referred to it constantly to keep us on the optimal path as we zigzagged up and down around the mountain, avoiding cliffs and subsequent backtracking. The scrambling itself was very manageable, though we were frequently using all four limbs to clamber up and down rocks and ledges. We got to Iron Cap Lake around 11 am and had lunch. This was the only water source we came across until we got to Chetwoot Lake, so we were happy to have filled up our bottles fully at Tank Lake before we left.

The section between Iron Cap Lake and Chetwoot was easier, and we arrived there sometime between 1 and 2 pm. This was where we had planned to camp, but we had so much daylight left that after an hour rest along the lakeshore, we decided to continue on and spend the night at Big Heart Lake instead. Just as we began hiking again, the rain started. The trudge up and down the deceptively challenging ridgeline between Big Heart and Angeline Lakes was somewhat miserable, but fortune was on our side again when the rain decided to stop just as we arrived at the Big Heart Lake campsites around 4:45. There were a couple other camping parties already set up around the lake. We were luckily able to set up our tent under a rain-free sky, but the rain returned soon enough, and there wasn't much more to do other than eat and sleep.

Day 3:

We had a relaxed morning, as we had gone further than we planned on Day 2. The hike from Big Heart out is 90% downhill and in excellent condition. We were grateful for the switchbacks after the near-vertical straight ups and downs of the prior day's route. Lots of lakes, lots of accessible water, and we were back at the trailhead before 2.

This is a great route, and I'd strongly recommend it to anyone with some backpacking experience and a decent GPS/pathfinding app.

• Big Snow to Chetwoot is definitely 'wilderness' no-trail backcountry
• Chetwoot onwards is more 'established' backcountry routes
• Middle portion follows Foss/Necklace Alpine Lakes High route (ALHR)
  • This part is fairly popular so won't cover too much here
• This is a backpacking high route, with some scrambles
  • Rather then a true "crest" mountaineering HR

• Big Snow Mountain / Gold Lake is a beautiful area,
  • You definitely feel 'out there'
  •  In character with the place, will just list critical waypoints
• Tried Chetwoot south shore option to avoid the infamous bushwhack
• Route 100% snow free, except Hinman Glacier ( what's left of it )
• Summited Iron Cap ( standard route )
• Summited eastern peak of Mt Hinman ( see bottom for discussion of which might be the "true" summit )
• Blueberries in full force, typically 4300-5000', but is transitioning 
• Body scratch total for trip: 62
• Great wx first day, then was inside the smoke filled ping-pong ball
• Only met/passed a dozen folks the whole trip, but all super cool, including:
  
  • Catherine, heading out to climb Overcoat ( looked amazing from Big Snow )
  • Carly, shared a blood red sunset & stories at La Bohn
  • M & S, high on Mt. Hinman, doing an amazing bike/hike/climb adventure through the region

• Started/Ended at Dingford TH ( middle fork )
• Garfield potholes have been filled
• Dingford road is legendary in it's roughness, 
  • Not sure why it gets so little love given the popularity of the middle fork
• 4WD may not be needed, but wouldn't do without high clearance
• TH toilet clean, and stocked
• Spruce mine was active based on cars/noise ( old link below )
• Used bike as far base of Hardscrabble TH:
  • Road with full pack was ~95% bike-able uphill, 98% downhill
  • Surface varies from smooth to bouldery
  • Was quite tiring on my old non-suspension bike, but still was worth it

Hardscrabble TH to Upper Hardscrabble:

• TH not marked, but obvious up short rutted slope
• Trail to lower Hardscrabble pretty good shape, little overgrown in places
  • Bit scrappy at 4000' near the 'bivy' rock
  • Big Snow's massive East prominence looms ominously above
• Lower to upper Hardscrabble goes climbers left of nice falls
  • Look for ribbon after couple big boulders
  • Didn't see obvious camps, but know people do camp there

Upper Hardscrabble to Big Snow Mountain:

• Trail starts out easy/obvious, but then unsure what to recommend
  • Went climbers rightward, but ended in a hellish bushwhack 
  • Including a 12' slide on ball bearing pine needles :)
  • Suspect climbers left may be better, but don't know for sure
  • Try to find the most 'open' path, aiming for ~47.53492, -121.34390 @4948
• Big Snow Gap Gully
  • Once you get to the talus, the rest is easy boulder hopping
  • Gully Snow free
  • Exiting the gully is a wow moment, with great views of Gold basin, and back across the valley
• Big Snow Summit
  • Follow the famous slabs upward towards summit
  • Tarn at 5850' is currently dry
  • Path to summit is straightforward, but quite long
  • Amazing views all around, especially across to Overcoat/Chimney/Lemah/Chiefs
  • Saw campers down at Big Snow Lake ( Myrtle lake approach )
  • Thanks to whoever built the fun quartz summit cairn :)

• Some folks take the 'western' drainage which would be a more direct to camp
• But since my pack was near the gap, I took the 'eastern' drainage
• Note, if you drop directly, you will get cliffed out
  • Instead from the gap start towards the two ~5500' tarns, looking for cairns
  • Then follow cairns down a gully to lower shelf
• From there pleasant rambling to lake
• Was getting twilight, saw blueberry scat, and black bear paw prints
  • Don't normally take bear spray in ALW, but glad I did for this trip
• 1x site SE lake, then a up/down route around lake to get to...
• Several great sites on the peninsula/bay

• Several options, none easy
• Most folks acquire the NW ridge Wild Goat somewhere around 5300-5500'
• I probed a couple early gullies, but didn't commit as couldn't see the way ahead
• Instead chose a cairned gully further north:
  • Starting ~47.55717,-121.34657
  • Topping out at ~47.55836,-121.34561 @5240 ( cairn )
• From here some folks drop down quickly, but weary of more bushwhacking...
• Did a little up, then sidling descent towards main Wild Goat talus ~47.55684,-121.34256
• From there dropped heather slopes, then talus, to turn the corner ~47.55846,-121.33215
• Ascend, tending climbers right, some cairns, some faint boot paths, some talus, some bushwhacking
• Eventually arrive at small tarn ( more bear prints ), and the col above Chetwoot
• Next the expected "crux" of the day, which way around Chetwoot?
  • Most reports describe a hellish bushwhack following NW shore
  • Certainly could feel the pull, as offers fastest bird-fly way round
• But chose to try the South shore, which worked well, except for final talus
  • From col, sidling descent to above the SW bay ~47.55443,-121.32225
  • Ascend easy slope just enough to clear the chossy gully  
  • Traverse really enjoyable heather benches with great views, then easy talus
  • To avoid the last cliff, you will have to ascend 100-200'
  • Then descend, aiming for NW corner of lake
  • The talus in this section is steep/loose enough to be slow going
  • In the end, not sure which way is 'best', but without more knowledge would probably go the same way next time as prefer talus over bushwhacking

Chetwoot to Iron Cap Lake ( Camp II ):

• Joined the Foss/Necklace ALHR
  • Wow, civilization, complete with humanoids and regular cairns!
• Considered doing iron cap via W ridge...
  • But was a long route with full pack, and timing didn't work
• Trail to Iron Cap Lake is pretty, and fairly straightforward, albeit you will still lose the trail briefly in places
• Really neat views turning the corner at ~47.56092,-121.29518
• Warm night at Iron Cap Lake due to smoke,
  • Hard to sleep with the Eurovision Pika/Marmot contest reverbing off the cirque
  • Real 'alpine' feel
  • 1-3x sloping sites

Iron Cap Summit:

• Forgot to research this, but apparently guessed right on NE ridge route:
• At flat area on main trail ~47.55799,-121.28288
• Look up, and follow climbers rightward talus finger, with cairn at apex
• Follow scrub/bolder cairn trail until break out of bush
• Aim for summit following easy heather/talus
• Great views of Overcoat/Chimney, worthy side trip, easy class 2 if on-route
• When descending stay above line of trees that mark the eastern cliffs

• Continue the meandering Foss/Necklace ALHR trail to Tank Lake slabs
  • Was last at Tank lakes several decades ago and is still super pretty
  • Smaller tarns dry, so even nicer a month or so a go
• Trail drops fast down towards the Necklace Valley
• Nearing the bottom decided to traverse talus towards La Bohn
  • But suspect it wasn't worth the trouble vs. just going down to meadows and back up
• Ascent to La Bohn Lakes: 
  • Gully route half melted.  Spoke with Carly who said it wasn't fun
  • Anyway the water fall route has always appealed to me, so went that way
  • Steep and clambery, but felt safe, with periodic views of falls
  • Topping out is abrupt and delightful, right at the bench tarns
• Whole area from here to chain lakes is stunning

• Had a long way to go, so just planned to go up "just a little" to get a view, but you know how that goes...
• Route up to 7200' was snow free, straightforward and quite enjoyable, although it is a long way
• The first obstacle is a short ice/snow patch, sure easy when soft, but at the time was icy, so...
  • Tried first to skirt on rock above ice, but...
  • Was that horrible teetering unconsolidated glacier talus
  • Took the ice/snow on return, no worries with softening ice
• Traverse/ascend to reaching the N ridge corner at the edge of the main upper glacier
  • Sad to see how much glacial retreat there's been
  • Lots of cute LBBs ( little brown birds ) feasting on ice bugs
• I did carry some ancient instep spikes with me, but the ice was  still morning-hard 
  
  • So didn't fancy the direct ascent up the "bulge", with a long run-out on gritty ice
  • Instead traversed low angle ice to the rock rib on the far "eastern" peak
  • Followed easy rock up to ridge prominence at the eastern end, with views down towards Daniel
• There seems to be a lot of confusion over where the "true" summit is, see discussion at end
• Without better gear, or waiting for softer ice, the risk/reward of getting to the middle summit wasn't worth it for me on this day
  • Probably could have followed the rock moat, but concerned it was that crappy rock as earlier
• So playing it safe, called it good, and enjoyed the amazing near views ( far views shrouded by smoke )
• Then started the almost 6000' 17mi descent to car...

• Descent to Chain Lakes is quick and easy
  • Chain Lakes stunning, worthy of spending time
  • Some waterfalls still running, but would amazing a month or so ago
  • Cool mining cabin ruins and "display" at S end
• Then, you guessed it, yet more talus...
• At the constriction I think was on auto-pilot and messed up...
• Followed cairns down a gully that dumped me out at the top of the talus field
  • From there it was slow going through talus
  • Many cairns placed all over the place, suspect many were old mining folk ones
  • Instead watch the GPS, and look for what looks like the 'new' trail
  • At the bottom joined what appears to be said trail at...
  • The mine tailings with rusty rails, visible from the lake
• Followed scrappy boot paths around Williams lake
  
  • Lake is pretty, and reeded, quite different from the alpine ones
• Crossed outlet, then descended to Dutch Miller Gap junction
• From there smooth sailing to horse camp, then Dingford TH
• Nice river slab/slides at 47.54511,-121.27567, and 47.51590,-121.33426
• Was getting near dusk, so felt a bit like a cat toy for cougars
• A few short rises along the way getting between you and French fries