Foss Lakes Backpacking

Intro

Having never been to Washington, I identified the Alpine Lakes Wilderness as a great destination for backpacking of all types, with great help from climberkyle.com. One trip that jumped out to me was the "Alpine Lakes High Route" which is really just a Foss Lakes Loop. I was excited about it because it seemed like it would offer an incredible caliber of scenery and a taste of raw mountain movement , but it lacked the  sustained off-trail intensity of other high routes. This would allow me to share the experience with people I love who have less of an affinity for hard hiking! 

In early July of 2024, the Cascades still had more snowpack than I was expecting after their somewhat weak winter. Cool and wet spring weather (which included June) had kept much of the high country covered. Because of this, I got the pleasure of making two attempts on the ALHR, the first with Joelle, and the second with my brother, Miles.

July 5th

It was already 2:30pm by the time we were cresting Stevens Pass for our first glimpse of the Washington Cascades, and Joelle was napping in the car to arrive at the trailhead well-rested. As I drove up the Foss River Road I was amazed at the tunnel of green and crystal clear water. We had food shopped in Wenatchee but took some time to pack our backpacks and hit the trail around four.

It was hot in the sun of the parking lot, but cool in the shade, and leaving this late I was hoping the whole trail would be shady. The ethereal songs of thrushes soared through the canopy, my favorite birds! The old growth forest of the West Foss felt delightfully familiar, reminiscent of the days we have spent wandering in Oregon. But Oregon always felt less than inspiring for me, because it generally missed a key ingredient; rock.

Here in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, massive, sheer-walled valleys were etched from the granite by ancient glaciers. Only in the time since then has rainforest been able to grow. The carpentry felt like Oregon, but the foundation was importantly different, more interesting. Sparkling boulders and blueish waters brought back mental images from the Wind River Range.

But the carpentry was stunning here, too. Before even reaching Trout Lake 1.5miles in we came up on the largest tree we had ever seen, a Douglas-fir, perhaps 12ft in diameter. I knew from Kyle's TR that we'd see this tree, but it was a surprise for Joelle. We had already been loving the moss, ferns, and unique flowers, but now we were totally stoked! And I was right about the shade - we hadn't walked in direct light since the parking lot.

At Trout Lake we passed not one, but two pit toilets! I was amazed that this area of the wilderness has the funding to match it's popularity. Beyond there we began to climb, following the stream cascading from the big lakes above. The water slid down nearly continuous granite slabs, and massive trees towered all around. It was awesome, and in the evening shade felt sort of ominous. The trail was rocky, rooty, and decently steep, but we kept a continuous pace and soon crested the top.

Copper Lake was huge, crystal blue, and offered our first expansive view of peaks truly caked in snow. We had glimpsed lower and drier crags today, but this cirque had a complete blanket of white. Tomorrow would be an interesting experiment - I wasn't quite sure which spots on our route would be snow or what that snow would be like.

The bugs weren't too aggressive, but were definitely out, so we set up our tent first and then went for a dip in the creek before eating dinner inside. It was light until nearly 10, but we were glad to go to sleep then! We were hoping to catch up on sleep on this trip, so our shady campsite was a plus.

July 6th

In the warmth and light near the solstice, it is generally hard to get a full eight hours. Even at home we had been getting less than seven for at least a week. Here in the serene shade of the forest I slept nonstop until a Hermit thrush woke me at 4:30, I peed, and slept like a rock again until 8! The temperature only dropped to 53, but we were clean and cozy.

By 10 we were packed up and headed along Copper Lake. Seeing the turquoise of the shallow edges glimmer in broad daylight was truly stunning. Soon we left, and climbed gently through the forest towards Big Heart. Before long, we caught our first view of Glacier Peak to the north - a really amazing sight to see! Dakobed is pretty much like nothing we had ever seen before except maybe Mt Hood. We continued to get views to the north of Dako and the impressive Heineken group, always framed perfectly by firs, hemlocks, and cypress.

Big Heart Lake was yet another incredible sight, and we stopped for lunch at an overlook that sat 200ft above the water, separated by sheer cliffs. Joelle decided to take a nap, and the route down looked improbable but I was strongly motivated to swim. I managed to walk down steep grass and heather almost all the way to the bottom, then I had to descend by stepping on sequential cypress trees growing out of a cliff, like a staircase. Very cool! At the water's edge I found a nice spot to dive in. The water felt lovely!

When I reached the top again Joelle was ready to go. Beyond Big Heart, the trail is no longer constructed and is just a worn-in path through the tundra and rocks. As we wrapped around the north face of Atrium Peak, we began crossing some snowfields until we reached a great view of Lake Angeline. Here, we could finally see Iron Cap and the imposing Overcoat Glacier peaks behind. We continued upwards on rough trail and some snow, cresting the ridge and catching views of both lakes at once.

On a large granite slab, we stopped before descending. Joelle was having a worse time traveling through the snow and rougher terrain. We knew our south-facing descent would be snow-free, but our first view of the following climb adjacent to Tourmaline revealed that it was completely snowpacked. It became clear that anything above 5k could have snow, and if it was north-facing, it would have snow, especially near the crest. The bulk of our off-trail section was all three of those things. Eventually Joelle decided that she would probably have less fun if we had to go through that much snow, so we turned around.

My hope was to camp near or above Lake Angeline, but it was super steep everywhere. My map showed a faint route would lead down to cross the outlet. I walked for about a minute on this path to feel it out, and immediately found an amazing perched campsite. We decided to use it for the novelty and solitude, knowing we would have to descend a steep 300ft to get water and hopefully swim.

After rigging the tent, we dropped down the wild and unlikely trail to the water. Unlike the other lakes which have broad outflow platforms, Lake Angeline is forced through a narrow gorge filled with massive chockstones that have created a logjam behind them. The water flows under the boulders for 200 vertical feet, then emerges suddenly. This was a difficult to access and dramatic spot. It was very loud and in deep shade. Nonetheless, we managed to fill our water and find a place to submerge ourselves amongst the cascading torrent.

The climb back up to camp was just as steep as the descent, and unfortunately the breeze had stopped so there were bugs at our site. We enjoyed the view while boiling water and then climbed into the tent to eat at 7:30, where we would stay for many hours. As dusk fell, the faint roar of waterfalls in the distance was punctuated occasionally by the rocks they carried with them, and by the piercing song of a Hermit thrush, close and crisp.

July 7th

In my excitement about the perched camp I had failed to think of morning shade (not that there was another option). We didn't get blasted until about 7am, but at that time I was immediately awake and hot. Joelle managed to stay sound asleep in her down bag for another hour, which was totally insane to me.

After casually packing up we began snaking our way down the rough and snowy trail to Big Heart Lake. There, we found a nice little nook to dove into the gorgeous water with our clothes on before beginning a short but sunny climb. We were moving faster now that the trail was more real and we quickly made it to Copper, where we stopped for lunch and another swim. These lakes were totally glorious for swimming! They were definitely too cold to linger in for long, but far from freezing.

But soon, we left, and began the hot descent to the bottom of the West Foss valley. We both experieced some heat stress; Joelle was hiking more cautiously than normal and I began to feel a little queasy. It was strange and annoying to be feeling bad on the easiest terrain of a casual trip. No problem, we made it to the parking lot shortly.

With everything around seeming hot, we drove back towards the highway but stopped after the Skykomish confluence at an amazing swim spot. The contrast of crystal clear water, granite sand, and mossy rainforest was totally unreal. This third swim of the day was refreshing and made me feel a bit better

July 15th

Miles and I had slept at a that same swim spot by the Sky along the Foss road. We packed up and got to the East Fork TH around 10 and started hiking. The road doesn't go up the East Fork at all like it does in the West so the valley bottom hiking is much longer. I was amazed at how many intentional logs were along the trail to prevent mud pits. It was really nice! The map shows the trail threading between small lakes and a steep hillside, but we never really saw either. It was just nice forest, mostly shady. We did 5 miles in a little under two hours. We passed some guys who had camped at Tank Lakes and said it was pretty, but covered in snow and getting up there was "living hell”. I had to ask, “Why? It's just super brushy?” “No…” “Super sunny and hot then?” “No, it's just a lot of uphill!” Hmm, okay, well I knew that. 

The climb to Necklace Valley began and it was definitely steep at first! Miles was worried about the amount of vert we would have to climb but we just went really slow and it felt fine to me. The climb is a bit longer than the climb to Copper because Jade Lake is higher, but there is a nice flat section in the middle of it. We had lunch there and Miles accidentally left his phone behind so after 500 more feet he had to run back down and get it!

Jade Lake is a pretty deep green color, because the bottom has more dirt than other lakes and there are trees all around. The trail along the shore is really cool, just barely squeezing between a cliff and the water! We found a nice rock to dive into the clear water fully clothed minus shoes to cool us down. It was hot! After a few more minutes on the rock we put our shoes back on and kept moving. Soon our clothes were dry

The meandering trail through Necklace Valley had followed some really pretty little streams and passed by the base of small waterfalls. I love calm streams like these that are deeply entrenched in tussock banks. This was something that I hadn't gotten to see on the other half of the loop so it was a nice treat. 

We probably should've checked out Ilswoot or Lockett Lakes but didn't feel like spending a lot of extra energy so we continued straight past the cabin. Emerald and Opal were remarkably shallow and not great for swimming so we continued on to a campsite near the trail that leads up to La Bohn. 

The mosquitos really intensified in this section and would swarm whenever we stopped. It was crazy how much worse they got when we had just been sitting in peace at Jade, but the Jade sites were occupied. It was only 5pm and we thought about continuing up to Tank Lakes but Miles was pretty tired and the thought of another 1000ft of climbing to maybe camp in snow didn't appeal. So we set up the tent in the only site around, which was sunny for a while longer, so we walked around trying to avoid mosquitoes until eventually crawling in for dinner. 

Happy with our 10 mile first day, we ate and relaxed in the safety of the tent. We had filled my CNOC water bag to use for drinking and dinner, but it kept leaking all over the tent. Eventually I realized that the o-ring from my gravity hose has finally disappeared. Luckily I had already known that you can't trust o-rings, and knew that I could just screw the HydroBlu filter straight to the bag for squeeze mode. Why do they still use o-rings for things like this when the technology is available to do without them??

We got to the steep cruz section on the north face of Iron Cap where the trail squeezes between large cliffs above and below. I followed the line on the map too low and across a really stupid steep gully. Miles stayed higher, basically right at the base of the upper cliff and that was nicer. Being past that part was nice because it meant we were pretty much guaranteed to complete the route!

We passed Iron Cap Lake which was still almost completely snowpacked. The little pass beyond that was fun and then all the traversing to the point overlooking Chetwoot was fun too! From there we descended towards the lake on a pretty identifiable path. It felt super hot now and had been for a while, so we were eager to swim. Luckily we found a tent site in the shade of some trees where we were just barely able to fit the tent. Then we went down to the lake and dove in. 

After sitting on the rocky shore for a while the bugs rediscovered us, so we took shelter in the tent and shared a freeze dried meal. But it was only 5:15. After scrolling around on the map a bit I was noticing how the route would take us to a point where the summit of Tourmaline was only 900ft away. It looked like that peak would have a pretty great view for being so attainable. With so much extra time on our hands that seemed irresistible! I thought about saving it for the morning as a side trip, but then the climb would be in full sun and would make for an extra big day. We decided to move our camp 400ft up and then go up the mountain tonight!

The lake that would serve as our new home for the night turned out to be mostly snowpacked. But we found a perfect spot to set up the tent and then started up Tourmaline. The route up was nice: mostly stable boulders and slabs with a short scramble section. We were charging up pretty fast and Miles was redlining, but we made it to the summit in only 35 minutes!

The view was truly remarkable. We could see all of the Alpine Lakes Crest from Snoqualmie to Daniel. We were directly between Dakobed and Tahoma, both beacons in the horizon. And looking through a notch in the jagged peaks west of Dako, was the faint shimmer of Baker, 87 miles away. The air wasn't super clear in any direction, making Adams a bit out of range. We had good service on top and I called Joelle!

At around 8pm with plenty of light remaining, we started down. I was able to shoe ski almost all of the vert by trending left and linking snowfields! It was the most fun I've had in WA yet. I love summer snow! Shortly above camp I found a small pond that was snow-filled to form a deep trench, and decided to go for a dip to get rinsed before bed. No surprise, it was the coldest water I have ever been in!

Soon we were in the tent enjoying dinner. I put on some music to drown out the loud hum of mosquitoes. It was nice to go a whole day in a place with decent bug pressure and not really be bothered by them. We were either moving, breaking in select breezy spots, or in the tent.

July 17th

We again had a lazy morning and awoke to some hikers passing our camp around 8. It was totally overcast outside making for the first clouds I had seen in Washington! (besides ocean fog) The mosquitoes were still awful so we had breakfast inside and broke camp quickly. The shade was nice for the steep climb up Atrium Peak. The big lakes were a beautiful deep blue color. Eventually we made it down to the Big Heart outlet where we got some water and relaxed.

The short climb and descent to Copper started to get super hot and had a lot of gnats, so we were relieved when the outlet was actually bug-free enough for a snack break. Knowing the coming steep descent would be sunny and hot I suggested we get out clothes wet here, which really paid off. On the way down I was surprised to see that the fresh rockslide from last time was much bigger now, and also a huge tree had fallen across the trail. Since there hadn’t been any interesting weather I was beginning to wonder if the damage was related to an earthquake warning we had received last week, but some people said the tree wasn't there yesterday! Wow!

We were actually speeding down the steep trail at a great pace and made it to Trout Lake in good time. Just as a view of it opened up, the searing roar of a fighter jet arced through the valley. I looked up and managed to catch a video of the next one. That was the closest and most technical flying I had ever seen them do! I have a funny relationship with these stupid jets: I hate that they exist, but I’m always super stoked to see them.

We made it to the trailhead quickly, but still had a 2 mile roadwalk to get back to the East Fork TH. Fortunately we started talking to a two other hikers who had attempted to do the loop in the reverse direction, but bailed near Chetwoot because of uncertainty around snow. I told them I understood, because that's exactly what had happened to Joelle and ten days prior! (although there was a lot more snow at that time).  They did their road walk preemptively, so unfortunately they did not have a car there to give us a ride and they had to do it twice! But they walked with us and talking made the time pass quickly.

Notes

• I was correct in my assumption that the Foss Lakes Loop is a great option for sharing an adventurous trip with people who prefer to keep the intensity a bit lower! The off-trail travel was short and high quality.

• On both trips I brought an ice axe for each person, and one pair of crampons (all I have, microspikes do nothing in soft now). I did not really believe that these tools would be necessary but I wanted to maximize our chances of success if we were to encounter steeper snow.

• Whether there is snow or not, the ALHR route can be navigated to avoid steep (30+ degree) slopes. So, even if you did the route in late June with full snow coverage it is completely doable without axes and crampons.

• Compacted summer snow is amazing for travel, with the right mindset and a little practice. It reduces boulder-hopping. It makes descents faster, less strenuous, and more fun. It is not cold, even in breathable shoes. In places like Washington, local experts try to time some routes early in the season to purposefully have more snow coverage for boulders or glaciers.

• If you want to get a better understanding of how much snow coverage your route will have, or how steep the snow travel will be, use Sentinel imagery in Caltopo. It can't predict the future, but you can look at how quickly the snow is melting in the weeks leading up to your trip, or look at previous years for comparison.