[ree]

For my birthday trip, I wanted to take a few friends who have never been to my favorite alpine lake, Tank Lakes. I was secretly on a mission to show some peakbaggers the pleasure of lakebagging, so I knew I'd have to throw in at least a few good peaks for enticement. Hinman and La Bohn were our peaks to bag, with Eileen and Jim wanting to go do their own thing on Little Chief. I haven't been to this area in 8 or 9 years, and since then, it's gained much popularity, despite the Dutch Miller Gap road closure. Now access is through Necklace Valley, or Neckless Valley, as Steve and I joked. Eileen and I have never done Necklace Valley, so it was a first for us. Everybody talks about the bugs being bad there, but we lucked out... Sort of. The mosquitoes awaited higher up at our camp spots.

Jade Lake, in the Neckless Valley

old shelter, Neckless Valley

old cable at the head of Necklace Valley

The first day, we did 9+ miles to the head of Neckless Valley, then scrambled the bootpath near the outlet of La Bohn Lakes. It was hot and muggy all day, with the biggest, steepest climb saved for last (with full packs). I'm glad Galadriel and Eileen are still my friends after putting them through that! But once they saw how beautiful La Bohn Lakes are (and a nice cool off at a warm tarn), all was forgotten, and happiness ensued.

heading up La Bohn outlet

view of Locket Lake - from outlet

Lower La Bohn Lake

slabs of La Bohn

camp at La Bohn

sunset at La Bohn Peak

The next day, we headed off to climb Mt. Hinman. What a FUN peak. It's nice to climb a peak and not worry about killing yourself. We used our crampons and ice axes, but the gentle slopes of Hinman were quite nice. I loved seeing Mt. Daniel and Pea Soup Lake across the way. Pea Soup looked pretty blue to me.

Upper La Bohn Lake

Middle Fork Snoqualmie in bg

heading up to Hinman

Pea Soup Lake

looking west from Mt. Hinman, down the MFK drainage

Rainier and Bear's Breast

nameless lake

Eileen heads down Mt. Hinman

looking south towards Cle Elum ( you can see the fire)

La Bohn Lakes with Locket in the distance

When we got back to La Bohn Gap, Eileen and Galadriel went off to climb La Bohn Peak, while Steve and I went down to Chain Lakes to poke around. Steve is really into all that mining stuff, and I didn't want him to go alone. I mean, he might fall into a vertical shaft or something, and I wanted to make sure that I was there. It is silly, but I can't help but worry sometimes! The next day was ambitiously planned, but the heat made us change plans. We broke camp at La Bohn Lakes, then headed down to Chain Lakes, and then down to Williams Lake. Going from Chain Lakes to Williams Lake was tedious. Snow that had hardened to slick ice covered the talus. We were really grateful for our crampons then. Lots talus and a bit of brush later then we were finally down at Williams Lake. Even though we started early, the heat quickly became quite oppressive. Jim and Eileen took off for Little Chief, while the rest of us went off to explore Dutch Miller Gap and Ivanhoe Lake, instead of heading to Crawford Lake, (which would have involved climbing 1,200'+ of baking hot talus.) We found a nice pool and waterfall above Ivanhoe to hang out during the heat of the day. Back at Williams Lake, we paddled around on my Curtis Raft, which Steve surprised me with. He pulled it out of his pack like a magic rabbit, and we took a pleasure cruise on the lake. It helped cool us off, and temporarily escape the bugs.

Steve inspects an adit at Chain Lakes

Chain Lakes

adit at Chain Lakes

vertical shaft at Chain Lakes

old engine, Chain Lakes

old pulley - Chain Lakes

Chain Lakes

Chain Lakes

mossy snow - Chain Lakes

Bear's Breast

trail junction

Williams Lake

Steve paddles at Williams Lake

sunset - Alpine Lakes Wilderness

Jim and Eileen met us back at Williams Lake quite late, and the next day, we started our trek to Tanks Lakes. Morning was quite smoky from the forest fires and again, the heat started early. We headed up the talus field on Williams' west shore to "the Magic Staircase", a lovely alpine bench that wrapped around La Bohn Peak's south side. When we finally arrived, we had Tank Lakes and the area to ourselves, which surprised me. We dropped packs at an excellent campsite at lower Tank, then headed off exploring the granite plateau. We climbed up a big knob behind upper Tank, and got a bird's eye view of the area, which though hazy, was delightful. It was very hot and buggy, but hard not to be pleased with this gorgeous area. Later, we all dispersed to find our own private chill area at one of the many tarns dotting the granite plateau, then met for a beautiful sunset at our camp.

mosquitoes await us in the morning.

heading up the talus from Williams

The Magic Staircase

"Magic Staircase"

old bootpath, with Overcoat and Chimney on the right

water texture

beautiful upper Tanks

one of many tarns in the area

Iron Cap and Bonnie Lake

Tahl Lake and Itswoot

Tanks Lake

climbing the peak next to Tanks

penis rock

Sandra and La Bohn Pk

alpenglow on Hinman

tarn and dusk

The next day, we started down the talus draw of Tanks to upper Necklace Valley about 7am. It was even hotter on our exit, but we were back at our cars by 2pm.

antique graffiti

I had done a hard sell on Tank Lakes, telling everyone I liked it better than Image Lake's view, blah, blah, blah, Tanks, Tanks, Tanks. I was so grateful that everyone enjoyed it so much, and I got to share this very special area with my nearest and dearest who had never been there. They reassured me that I didn't oversell it, and that they enjoyed it as much as I do.

[RichP]

[reststep]

Sounds like a great loop. Great pictures and thanks for sharing. Galadriel, I am glad you got to spend more time in the area this time.

[GaliWalker]

Great trip and report. Cool photos too! The lower Necklace Valley isn't my favorite, but the upper reaches are superb. Personally, I found La Bohn Lakes to be on par with the Tanks; especially Upper La Bohn Lake, with its rock 'fist' sticking into the lake.

[Snowdog]

I obviously need to become one of your nearest and dearest! I have been to Chain lakes via middle fork (years ago- I vowed NEVER to drive that road again) and to La Bohn lakes via necklace valley. But never Tank Lakes……….. Still not sure why you dropped all the way to Williams lake? Do you have a gps tract? Well done young lady!

[Don]

Awesome trip! I too love the views from Hinman, especially looking over to Daniel and Pea Sup Lake. I could hang all day up there enjoying that view (above the bugs!). Admittedly, Necklace Valley has never impressed me, and I have usually found it very buggy. Congratulations on a great trip, and a presumed happy birthday.

[ree]

Omg... getting this trip report posted was a chore. I really had troubles connecting to nwhookers. Anyway Snowdog... our plans included exploring some upper reaches of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie, even though the heat deflated those plans. That is why we went to Williams. Also the Little Chief climb J & E did. It was all good, cos getting to Tanks via "the Magic Staircase" was challenging, but gorgeous wandering. You can only do that via Williams. If you don't want to do Neckless or Middle Fork drive (which isn't even an option at this point), you can get to Tanks via Iron Cap/Chetwoot. Plan on a day of talus and circumnavigating cliffs. It'll be slow going. You gotta pay if you wanna play.

[Doppelganger]

[mbtigger]

I keep saying I need to do this. This will be my September trip next year. Unless I go to Blodgett Canyon in Montana. Or my hiking partner insists on going to Eagle Creek.... Too many hikes, too little time. MB

[puzzlr]

[joker]

Nice report on a great trip choice (other than that slog to/from the first Necklace lake ). Isn't it fun to turn folks on to a trip that may not be their typical style of outing? And timely report - I was just last night discussing possibly doing a shorter variant of this early this coming week with a pal.

[Riverside Laker]

Historical side note: Mt Hinman was named after Dr. Harry B. Hinman. He lived in a house a half block down the street from us. More of that story here: Dr. Hinman

[Magellan]

Really nice, Ree. Can you sketch out a route for me?

[Backpacker Joe]

Im your friend. I dont remember getting an invite! Wonderful trip. Im glad you had a good time. Its certainly a fantastic area.

[silence]

Sweet ... great trip! Way to get out there girl!