Necklace Valley to Jade Lake

The Trailhead at Necklace Valley

I decided to go backpacking with three athlete's. It was a great idea in regards to spending time in the woods with the boys, it was a bad idea to think that I could keep up with two runners and a young Jack Russel dog. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time hiking alone.

 We drove to the Necklace Valley Trailhead on Friday after work, hiked a mile in and set up camp for the night. The plan was to get up early and hike to Jade Lake on Saturday, once there, pitch camp and then day hike to Opal Lake with a stop at Emerald Lake and the Necklace Valley Cabin in between. It was to be an adventure in exploring and a hard enough trek that my athlete friends would feel challenged.

Dan starting out on the trail.

We hiked in a mile or so from the trailhead just before dark to set up camp for the night. I noticed right away that Dan's backpack was a day pack. He didn't record the weight of it prior to the trek, but it had to be super light. He is training to climb Mt. Rainier this September, so this was a supply test for him. He brought a sleeping bag, bivy sack, two trekking poles and food. That was it! No tent!

Our friend Stephen brought everything, it seemed! His bag was huge! It looked like he was going to be in the woods for weeks not just a weekend. But he killed it on the trail, and to be honest, I spent the entire weekend far behind him wishing his bag was even bigger and much heaver. He was impossible to keep up with!

Dan and Stephen, morning coffee.

The next morning, quick to rise, drink our coffee, eat and hit the trail in full push. The valley wasn't what I was expecting at all. I was expecting a valley with plush meadows and hardly any trees, But we were under a good growth of moss covered second generation trees in the valley mixed with  plush vegetation. We stopped many times along the valley trail taking pictures of the many things to look at as we hiked to the river crossing.

The old bridge crossing, with all of it's charm, is a fun place to stop and take pictures while cooling off. We stopped to take pictures of this old bridge and raging Foss River before starting our hike upstream the next morning. We camped above the river on our first night, listening to the sounds of the flowing water. A good night indeed. Actually, I had a nightmare that night. I dreamt my tent was sucked into the river and I was trying to escape before it sank, but that's beside the point.

The Skykomish River, according to Wiki, is 29 miles long including the head. It merges with the Snoqualmie River and continues to runs down to Monroe, WA. The name "Skykomish" comes from the Northern Lushootseed people, and means, "upstream people".

Along the valley trail there is an abundance of moss covered trees to inspect along with lush vegetation along the trail with spectacular views of the surrounding Cascade Mountains. There are a few snakes to watch out for but mostly it's the nettles that stick you, making your legs sting as you walk though. It's probably best to wear pants through this section of the trail, but if you're hiking early morning, such as we did, you're surely going to get wet. I went with shorts and found that if I left my legs alone they didn't sting or itch terribly long. (Keep in mind that I also just got over a severe case of Poison Ivy. I suppose nothing would seem as bad at this point.)

Another really cool place to stop and take pictures is at a large fallen tree just before the river camp. We stopped and took many pictures of and in front of the fallen tree, but Ruby was the only one willing to walk all the way to the end of the hollow tree.

After a quick stop at River Camp to eat and refill our water bottles, we crossed over the river foot bridge to start a full push up the mountain.
The River Camp is the last stop before crossing the river to climb the mountain to the Jewel Lakes. It is a beautiful camp, perfect for several people, includes a toilet, and easy river access for swimming, fishing or whatever your pleasure. The camp is covered by trees so mid-day spent in camp will be cool and out of the direct hot sun. This is a fun five mile hike with a clear trail for families with children or teens. Or for a relaxing stroll or day hike without all the grit that comes with most backpacking hikes.

The river crossing is another great spot to stop and
have lunch before starting the push up the mountain. And if you are short on time, it is a great base camp to do some hiking from. The first of the three lakes is only three miles from the river camp. It is a hard uphill push, so if you are out of shape, this is a great place to set down you bag and do a short but hard uphill hike to Jade Lake.

Follow the stacked rocks to get to the trail.

Look for the fallen log to cross to the rocks.

Once over the river bridge, we stayed to the right and continued to follow the trail to a fallen an unmarked tree covered in vegetation. After crossing it, we then had to hike up a field of boulders looking for cairn of rocks to indicate directions to reconnect with the trail. Once we were above the boulder field, and on the trail again, we begin the long and steep upward climb to the lakes and cabin. In fact, the climb is over 2400 ft in 2.7 miles, and is truly rough terrain. The worst I've experienced thus far. I highly recommend adequate ankle and knee support on this trek. I hurt my knee even with my very slow pace.

The trail. 

This is pretty much where my athlete friends I was hiking with showed their abilities and quickly passed me up and after several stops of waiting for me, completely left me behind. Even Ruby proved to be an athlete in her abilities and left me in the dust with the guys. I would see them periodically when I hiked up during one of their breaks, of which they had time to remove their backpacks and walk around taking pictures. Once I was able to catch up to them, they tossed on their bags and left me in the dust again! I tried to hike fast, but it was no use. They were just way to awesome! And I really needed to be going to the gym before hiking with them! Regardless, it was pretty amazing to watch them hike without having to stop and take small breathing breaks as I did. That was also pretty much about the same time that I started to wish they both had bigger and heaver packs on to slow them down.

Ruby climbing the boulder field. 

Ruby came into my life two months ago after my 14 year old dog, Abbey, passed away from cancer. When we brought Ruby home she was slightly afraid of us and our cat. She didn't know her name nor a single command. And she wouldn't walk around freely in our apartment.

We have been working non-stop to gain her trust in addition to teaching her how to live as a polite dog in our community. And while she is still working on being polite, she has developed an amazingly lovable and outgoing personality.

Ruby on the footbridge.

 I decided to take Ruby on this trek as her first outing with me. She did awesome! She instinctively understood to stay on or near the trail, and came right away when I or one of the guys called for her. When I watched her pass me and follow the guys up the mountain, I was happy to see that she was doing so good on her own. But I was super surprised and touched when she came back down the trail to check on me, and even more so when she didn't leave me to go back up the trail with the guys again. Instead she stayed back and slowly hiked up the mountain constantly turning around to check on me. She is a loyal dog. We defiantly bonded during this hike.
Ruby didn't sit down once during this hike, even when she was waiting for me to catch up to her, she was off looking in brush or under boulders for rodents to chase. I was thinking that she would have a hard recovery the next day, but the next day, she ran like she didn't hike nine miles the day before. She didn't skip a beat on the trail the entire weekend. She for sure will be joining me in every single trek I do from here on out.

Another view of the terrain and trail...

After Ruby and I crossed the footbridge, we were having to pass snow covered rough terrain, slowing us down even more. In the miles of hiking though snow, I only broke through once, and was unable to touch bottom. In a way, this was a good thing as I surely would have injured myself had I hit ground or a boulder. But this made getting up really hard. I had to unsnap my backpack and push myself up out of the hole and get back on top of the snow without breaking though again. Then I had to carry my backpack over to exposed ground to put it back on in order to continue the hike up the mountain. This was probably the first time I had ever thought about giving up during a trek, and if I wouldn't have been following behind two guys who were waiting on me, I probably would have. By the time Ruby and I had caught up to the guys again, they were planning their final push up the side of the mountain to reach Jade Lake. Ruby and I followed Dan up, stepping where he stepped so we wouldn't break though the snow again.

Jade Lake.

Back to the River Camp, dang!

Jade Lake was surrounded in snow, and we really couldn't pass on without having more equipment to keep us safe. We would have to stop here. Unfortunately for us, there was only one camping spot at Jade, and it had already been taken. Thankfully, the guy who set up camp there was away. We took advantage of his area and ate lunch, relax for a good long while as I completed a sketch of the area in watercolor. Then we decided that we would have to hike back down the mountain three miles to the River Camp where we had stopped at for a break to spend the night. I knew It would take me even longer to get down the mountain as my knee was giving me some serious pain at this point. Dan offered me one of his trekking poles and a knee brace to help me out a little. It was a relief. I tried to keep up with the guys as we hiked back down the snow covering in case I broke through and needed help. And I managed to pretty much clear it before they pushed on ahead of me again. On mine and Ruby's hike back, I stopped to take pictures of the mountains during the "golden hour" and admire the views trying to record things in my memory that I saw for later sketches and paintings at home.

Photographs taken during the "golden hour" of the hike back to the river camp.

During the hike back to the camp, I stopped many times to take pictures and to think about how beautiful Washington is. And how hard it is to hike here compared to some of the treks I have done in other states. The reward for being able to complete a Cascade hike is a personal one as not many people have a true understanding of just how hard it is to hike a trail that hasn't been maintained for hikers. It truly makes hiking a challenge. And being able to say I have hiked up to Jade Lake in early spring might not seem like much of an accomplishment to somebody who hasn't done the hike, and even less of one to somebody that has never hiked the Cascade Mountains at all, but to the person that has, they know just how taxing this trek is. And while I didn't get to make it to the cabin or the rest of the jewel lakes, I will be doing this hike again at the end of the season. Hopefully with the two guys I came up here with. And this time, hopefully, I'll be able to keep up with their asses!


This is a really hard hike, and much of the trail is not maintained pasted the Necklace Valley. Do this hike with a friend, especially if you are not an experienced hiker.

Mine and Ruby's condo on the Skykomish River... We never slept so good.