Started at the necklace valley trailhead and headed up the valley towards jade lake. Very pretty lake, only 1 person camped here. Trail was very straightforward to get there, some elevation at the end but nothing too steep. We continued past jade lake, the trail stayed good where more people were camped at the next lake which was much marshier than jade lake. Continuing past this we stashed our overnight stuff at the fork to La Bohn Gap and Tank lakes and headed up towards the former. Trail became less from this point forward as we steeply climbed up to La Bohn Lakes and Gap. These lakes were gorgeous and reminded us of the enchantments. Great views of Chimney, Summit Chief, and Overcoat with their glaciers exposed. Continuing up from here we crossed many boulder fields on the way to the summit of Hinman. Definitely no false summits on this route. The summit marked on maps isnt the high point of the mountain, not sure where this came from. The Hinman Glacier is not longer a glacier, looked icy but it was very easy to go around with no crevasses visible. The Foss glacier we did cross but it was very mellow, we didnt feel like we were in any danger, only used microspikes and poles. To get to the actual summit you wouldnt need to walk on any snow, it is above the foss glacier on the ridge. You could also use this route to get to the map's summit but walking across the glacier is certainly faster and easier. Coming back down we followed the same route across boulder fields and back down to where we stashed our overnight stuff. We reloaded our packs and headed up towards tank lakes. We eventually reached our campsite at the end of tank lakes with a view across the valley towards the glaciated spires i mentioned earlier. We were able watch a crazy thunderstorm from here before it eventually ran into us but we were in the tent by then. Total stats for first day were just shy of 8k ft up, 3k down, 15 miles, 12 hours. 

Second day we woke up and donned our rain gear as our beautiful views had disappeared and we were in a cloud of mist for the first half of the day. We followed a loose trail and cairns across boulder fields eventually making our way to Iron Cap lake. This was probably the longest in terms of mileage section of off trail this day. Continuing past Iron cap lake we reached Chetwoot, which also had lots of cairn following and boulder field hopping. Past chetwoot to the outflow of big heart lake was a section that we heavily underestimated. It took us 100 minutes to traverse the brutal ups and down of this section. I'm sure it would have been faster without everything being wet and us already being tired but this section takes longer than you think. Once we reached Big Heart Lake, we were finally back on the trail, so with 9 miles to our car we decided to eat the rest of our food and continue to Little Heart lake. The rest of the trail was fairly uneventful and I'm sure others will write more detailed trip reports for this area. Total stats for second day were around 3k ft up, 7.5k ft down, 15 miles, 11 hours.

Much of this was 'off trail' and steep but very do able for good route finders and strong hikers. Very pretty, i will be back to this area soon. 

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.

• 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

Found a pair of corrective glasses along Dutch Miller trail. Comment with contact info if they're yours!

We used the July 4 weekend for a 3-night trip from Dingford Creek trailhead to Williams lake, including an evening jaunt to Chain Lakes.

Not much to add on top of MeLuckyTarns's report from a few days ago:

• Chain Lakes basin is ~75% melted out.
• Bugs were most annoying from Pedro Camp to Williams Lake. Not too bad in the forest below.
• Wildflowers: Tiger Lilies and Columbines are the most prominent, but also saw some blooming Bear Grass in the meadows, as well as Pinesap and Pacific Coralroot in the forest.
• The last section of the Middle Fork Trail before Hardscrabble horse camp is quite brushy, but blowdowns have been cleared.

A hike I've wanted to do for years is finally in the bag!

Three of us and a relatively new-to-hiking dog did this traverse over Labor Day weekend, with the help of a friend who shuttled us from the west side to the east side.

Day 1 - Waptus River Trail to Lake Ivanhoe

Because we spent the morning dropping a car at the Middle Fork TH and meeting up with our shuttle, we didn't hit the trail until 11am. Luckily it was fairly cool and we made really good time for the first few miles, cruising to Waptus Lake quite quickly. Along the way we noted some really glorious looking campsites that would have been great if they matched our itinerary.  The river crossing just before Waptus lake was very calm and easy, though deep enough that we took our shoes off for it.

The campsites at Waptus were all full! Of course, we were there at 2pmish on the first day of Labor Day weekend so I'm not too surprised. I suppose the thing to do is get there early.

Past Waptus the trail kicks up a bit and links up with the PCT for a bit, then gets even more steep once it leaves the PCT, being a little merciful with switchbacks for the last two miles to Ivanhoe.

We reached Ivanhoe at about 6pm. It was a gorgeous time to be there; the light was lovely and made for a very dramatic reveal when we finally got to the lake. The half mile before the lake is gorgeous, too. Overall the trail was in great shape on this day; the only notable exception is the bridge across the outflow from Ivanhoe, which is collapsed, but still pretty sturdy. (first photo)

It was really windy at the lake for most of the evening. Not sure how common this is, but it was enough we contemplated pushing on. We didn't and I'm glad we decided to stay. We were pretty tuckered out and all slept soundly. The wind died down a bit once it got dark.

Day 2 - Lake Ivanhoe to Middle Fork River Trail with side trip to Chain lakes/La bohn Gap

After a quick breakfast and packup, we headed out from Lake Ivanhoe bound for Dutch Miller Gap, Williams Lake, La Bohn Gap and ultimately a backcountry campsite on the Middle Fork Trail.

We didn't get far out of camp though before a very cool waterfall stopped us for a while. We poked around the falls for a bit, then started climbing to the Gap.

Dutch Miller Gap is treed with some meadows; it reminded me of a section of the Wonderland Trail I did a few years ago. It was prettier than I expected, but also with many more trees. Someone we encountered said there were campsites in the gap, but I wouldn't camp anywhere up there -- it all looked pretty meadow-y and hard to find a site that wouldn't be impacted.

Continuing down from the Gap it's pretty steep to the turnoff to Williams Lake but the mountains back here are super dramatic and make for great scenery. The turnoff for Williams is well signed, and has a couple rusty artifacts enhancing it.

About 0.4 miles up from the turnoff from Williams Lake we saw a bear! He (?) looked like a big subadult and was foraging for berries alone a couple hundred feet off the trail. We started talking fairly loudly to remind him we were there, but he seemed completely unbothered by us and the dog we were with was remarkably chill as well, thankfully. After passing through his chomping grounds we had no further interaction with him.

At Williams Lake, one of our group stuck around with the dog while myself and my other friend headed up towards La Bohn Gap. We scrambled up the boulder field to the gully that is obvious from the lake, though there is a (pretty bad) trail you can follow through the trees -- if you're referencing Gaia or Caltopo, the trail shown on those maps is the one through the trees. We thought scrambling up and coming down the crap trail was a good way to do it.

We only ended up getting to Chain Lakes before we needed to be heading back. The lakes are fine, but not quite as scenic as we'd both hoped. Of course, it was pretty incredible, so take our underwhelm with a grain of salt; it was still spectacular.

Just before getting back to the lake, the trail we took popped out at an old mine! This was super cool. There's a track set into the ground coming out of the mine, and a lot of equipment around it. It's really remarkable. And also very creepy.

Our side trip to Chain Lakes took two hours, so we didn't start the bulk of our miles until 1pm. This made for a really long day that generally was a trudge-fest.

Some notable stuff along this section of trail:

• really nice views
• plenty of water access
• Pablo camp (I think) a few miles away from the William Lake turnoff is very scenic
• the Middle Fork Trail has been brushed just before Hardscrabble Horse Camp (thanks, Mountains to Sound Greenway!)
• Random section of (surprisingly good) road walk from Hardscrabble camp to the junction with the Middle Fork Trail
• Annoying crossing just outside of Goldmyer across Burntboot Creek. This crossing was pretty demoralizing because we were whupped and still had ~3-4 miles to go. Taking our shoes off and doing a river crossing that late in the day kind of sucked. Also, this bridge has been out for almost 8 years, maybe 9 at least. Would be REAL nice to have a bridge in there.

But we did it, and trekked on, finally finding a site at 6 30pm. It wasn't anything to write home about but it did the job and was close to a water source. Clutch.

Day 3 - Middle Fork Trail to Middle Fork Trailhead

We still had ~9+ miles to go to get out from our campsite, and we wanted to get home relatively early, so we got up at 6 30am and headed out by 7am. Really not a lot to report for this day. Fairly flat former roadbed made for fast hiking. Plenty of people on trail as we got closer to the trailhead, including bikers, hikers, backpackers, and trail runners. No horses though. Everyone friendly and yielding to each other.

Made it to the trailhead by 10 30am, and headed out to reclaim my vehicle! I stopped in North Bend at Pioneer Coffee (Er, Vintage Baristas now?) for two doughnuts and a piece of quiche and coffee. YUM. Def get those lil' maple bar bites and the espresso is great, there.

Quick Takeaways

• On this hike, we had two instances where off-leash dogs ran up to our on-leash dog. The dog we were hiking with is dog-reactive and it was really frustrating to be doing the most we could to reduce dog encounters, only to have it all go out the window when an off-leash dog approached us. Please consider that if you're hiking somewhere where you might encounter other dogs, the leash rules are partially in place for keeping your dog safe and all dogs minimally stressed.
• The entire length of this trail is in way better shape than any of us expected. Maybe a little brushy but otherwise not.
• There are campsites dotted all along this route, but most of the trails involved are fairly popular, so don't count on one in particular being available. Stop early if you see one or plan on having to hike a few extra miles to find another site.
• Chain Lakes as a side trip is fine, but it's not the sparkling alpine lake basin you might expect.
• La Bohn Gap is probably pretty cool but we didn't make it all the way there.
• The Middle Fork River trail undulates a lot -- we did ~2000+ feet of elevation gain from Dutch Miller Gap despite basically trending downhill from Williams Lake.