West Fork Foss River and Lakes, East Fork Foss - Necklace Valley — Friday, Jul. 1, 2016

Central Cascades > Stevens Pass - West

A repeat of a trip we did 4 years ago. Up the W. Fork trail to Big Heart lake, then cross-country to Chetwoot Lake, north to Azure and Azurite lakes, Iron Cap Pass, Tank Lakes, then down to Necklace Valley and the E fork trail. Day 1 camped just below the final rise to Chetwoot Lake. A good bit of snow above BH lake but an easy to follow track until near the top of the ridge where we initially went past the cutoff to Chetwoot. The track to Angeline is much more distinct. Look for a small cairn on the RHS of the track. 4 years ago we completely missed this and went almost all the way to Angeline before realizing the mistake. Day 2 goal was to climb Big Snow mountain and explore the alpine table land nearby. WE moved camp up to Chetwoot in the morning and set off. As it turned out "skirting" the N side of Chetwoot was anything but simple and we decided to leave BS for another day and instead decided to head up the unnamed peak (6200) just W of Chetwoot. Views from the top were stupendous, particularly down the middle fork valley and peaks. On our return we decided to go around the S side of Chetwoot. This route was open rather than buswacking as on the N side, but was considerable longer in distance and mostly on snow (ice axe needed). Day 3 we followed the alpine lakes high route description to Azure Lake (easy to follow track), then Azurite Lake (not so easy). We finally found a track down to Azurite just a little way S of the cliffs at the W side of the lake (SW corner of lake). The ledge at the SE part of the lake was easy to negotiate - we did not have to use the handline I brought. We also could not find the track from Azurite so decided to head generally SE (gnarly bushwhacking)until we reached S of Otter lake (this was after passing through a swampy area not shown on the map and climbing a couple hundred feet. Glory be we spotted a cairn above us on the rock slide and we able to pick up the track again! This brought us to the 2 small lakes S of Iron Cap pass and easy step kicking up the snow to the pass. Camped just on the S side of the pass that night. Day 4 woke to light rain. There was not nearly as much snow up high as 4 years ago so we were able to more or less follow the track from the pass to tank lakes (just starting to show through the snow), and then down to the head of Necklace valley. We had intended to spend a night in upper Necklace valley but with the worsening weather decided to continue down the trail to the E Fork crossing. Camped at the crossing that night. Day 5 an easy walk out the last 5 miles! Synopsis: An exciting cross country route that lets you experience the best of the Foss Lakes/Necklace valley area, with many opportunities for side trips. Big Snow is still in my sights. Hinman is another great scramble from this area that we did on another trip.