Mike Collins and I had a pleasant day hike into and above Necklace Valley today. We started off at 0700 and got going on a good walk/jog pace into the heart of the valley. The trail is in fine shape all the way into the lakes without any major troubles.
Once at Jade Lake we continued on past Emerald and Opal up to the head of the valley just under La Bohn Gap. We ascended to the gap mostly on rock with a snow field near the bottom and snow at the top extending back to where you can look over to Chain Lakes. Once near this "overlook" we ascended west on talus to a false summit just before La Bohn Peak. The final 1/8 of a mile is a walk along the ridge to the true summit. It took us 4.5 hours to summit from the car at the Necklace Valley trailhead. Noteworthy views included those looking back down the valley, Williams Lake, Summit Chief, Chimney Rock (etc.) and out over Tank, Fohn (actual spelling, not Foehn as on the quad) and Tahl Lakes.
After 40 minutes on top we descended south through dicey cliff bands to roughly 6200'. Somehow I managed to lose a glove through here which I spent 10 minutes looking for, but it never turned up! We traversed west beneath the ridge looking for routes down toward Fohn, but nothing looked too great. We continued on and finally found an easy gap to descend just to the east of point 6236'. We angled down onto the polished granite lake basins before gaining the tail end of the ridge that would take us up to Otter Point.
Once on the ridge it was an easy up and down scramble to the summit. It took us about 2 hours to get from La Bohn Peak to Otter Point. The summit of Otter Point gave us great views back to La Bohn Peak and the gap as well as views out into the heart of the major Foss Lakes. It was fun to look over our route from a couple weeks earlier to Iron Cap Mountain, Tourmaline and a couple others.
From Otter Point we descended to Tahl Lake down talus and scree slopes. Once at Tahl, we descended relatively close to its outlet down steep talus and forested slopes popping back onto the main trail at the small cabin just south of Jade Lake. Back on the trail, we hurried our way back down to the car only 8 or 9 miles away. The last couple of miles were on the brink of being emotional as the trail seems to never end and on top of that it likes to gain elevation in little 40 ft chunks that have you wishing for a mountain bike! Anyhow, we finally made it back just under 11 hours after we started. A great trip with fantastic scenery. Highly recommended for anyone looking to get away for a day or a weekend.
This bings back great fond memories of my first trip up that valley in 1968, though I didn't bag the peaks you fellows did or go all those extra miles, I spent 5 days up there living on fried trout, spuds, and pancakes with another friend of mine, under blue-sky days and star-studded nights without a tent. never saw a soul. Lastly, I was with you two every step of the way in your excellent trip/posts.
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