[contour5]

Slogged up Middle Fork with a heavy load of food and gear. What a horror! The BUGS! Blackflies kept getting trapped in my ears, clouds of mosquitos flew directly into my mouth. Oppressive heat all the way to Williams Lake, then thirty hours of rain. Finally, sun, and a scramble up the west side of the valley. (From the East side of Williams Lake, look west- two seperate talus slopes drop toward the west shore. You want the one on the left. Notice the diagonal strip of talus that ascends west-southwest, from about half way up this talus field- This is the magic staircase). 500 feet above the lake, I left the talus field on the diagonal strip. Within 50 yards I was making my way up a gently sloping, open gully composed of stepped granite slabs. The gully widens to a broad shelf as it contours up and around the mountain. Incredible views of Summit Chief, Chimney and Overcoat peaks. This is outstanding hiking terrain. Easy slabs all the way to Iron Cap pass. Yep, missed the turnoff to Tank Lakes. (A small pass barely 50 feet above the bench, maybe half a mile before the bench dwindles out at the pass below Iron Cap).Backtracked, and went over the little pass onto the bench which holds tank lakes. WoWzers! Another mile of open granite ledges, small lakes, tarns and little streams cutting through the rock. lots of snow remnants. The upper lake and many small tarns are still melting out. More slabs out to Foehn Lake, then a huge glissade down into Necklace valley. No bugs at Opal Lake!

[-lol-]

[Backpacker Joe]

It took Dante and me around two and a half hours I think to get up there from Williams. We were packing relatively light. I'd prefer going up from Williams to going up from the Neckless. Turbo humble opinion. TB

[Dayhike Mike]

I'm trying to revise my three-day, two-night trip plans for this summer...wondering if y'all might have some thoughts on the following. Day One: In via W. Fork Foss...camp near the tarn north of Chetwoot. Day Two: Down to Chetwoot, up onto the shoulder of Iron Cap Peak, and around to the lake due north of the summit. Continue the traverse into Iron Cap Pass. Cache the packs, take day packs out for a relaxing tour of Tank, Tahl, and Foehn. Return to packs and continue across the bench and up at the end to reach Chain Lakes. Camp at either Chain or La Bohn. Day Three: Dink around up on Hinman with day packs or less, then pick up camp / packs and head down into the Necklace valley. Spend lots of time at the lakes (perhaps caching the packs if we want to visit Al, Locket, and Jewel) and then head out the E. Fork Foss to the second, awaiting car. Sound reasonable? I'm thinking there's got to be a route over the saddle from the bench into the Chain Lakes, but Beckey doesn't indicate anything but the descent to Williams...I'm trying to avoid that loss of elevation if possible. Anyone know if it's doable? How about for timing...? Anything in the above that will likely slow us to a snail's pace? For examples: The terrain between Chetwoot and Gold was pretty reasonable (just a lot of work) with the exception of the shoreline around Chetwoot, and that was mainly because of the amount of melt and mud (ooh, alliteration). Anything truly sketchy in the above mentioned routes that you'd like to share? The route from Gold and out was a slow-moving bushwhack. But I think that most of my route is going to be keeping me above the brushy crap. What say ye? Am I only deluding myself?

[contour5]

Yeah, you can get from Williams to the Tanks in a few hours. The thing is- this is magnificent terrain all the way- there are exceptional camping, resting and viewing opportunities every 100 yards. This area deserves a bit of time. If you walk out to the edge of the shelf, you can look way, way down into Bonnie, Azurite and Otter Lakes. There are 2 beautiful stepped granite cirques on the way up the ledge, before you cross the tiny pass/corner into the Tank bench. I spent 3 days walking from Williams to upper Tank. I could easily have spent a week, but I started running low on cigs and reefer. Heh. Also, a big cheeseburger was calling my name, from somewhere down near Zeke's sleazy caboose diner. I have to agree with BP Joe- Necklace would be a tough climb- 4500 ft. vertical. Still a tough call though- the bugs are HELL right now on the Midle Fork.

[Dayhike Mike]

[Backpacker Joe]

Michael, you are a ambitious bastard for sure. I would consider going in via the Dutch Miller and up to Crawford. From there continue your trek as planned. Dante and I left the car at I think 5am and found ourselves at Crawford by 9am. From there you can skirt anywhere! We could do this together. Dante and I want to do this in early august! TB

[Dayhike Mike]

[Backpacker Joe]

Yes more than likely it wouold be. We can taylor our trip to you. Talking 3-4 days. You'll dig Crawford! TB

[Dayhike Mike]

[Backpacker Joe]

Dane and I are working on just that. Ill keep you posted. TB