<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/22255012878/in/album-72157659865278239/" title="Summit Chief, Chimney Rock, Overcoat Peak, Lake Williams in foreground"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/780/22255012878_49b000755a_b.jpg" alt="Summit Chief, Chimney Rock, Overcoat Peak, Lake Williams in foreground"/></a>
- Distance: 21 miles
- Elevation gain: 5600ft
- Elapsed time: 13 hours
- [Flickr](https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/albums/72157659865278239)
This day was another failed [[Mount Hinman]] attempt that turned into a beautiful plan B. I previous naively tried to get into this area in winter, which turned into a trip to Tank Lakes ( [[2015-01-30 - Tank Lakes]]). Now in summer with record absence of snow, I thought this would be fairly doable. We got to the Hinman ridge above the upper La Bohn Lake, but we hit a nasty rock that my dog could not conquer. I didn't really want to drag her up and risk accidents, and after trying to find other options for a while, I decided to give up and go down to Chain Lakes as plan B. Unless I took the wrong route (which I doubt: there were a few cairns), Mt. Hinman via this route is probably not class dog, unless you can easily carry your dog, or your dog is a mountain goat (see photos of the spot on Flickr).
## Trailhead to Jake Lake
Back to the morning: We started at 5am at the [[Necklace Valley Trail]] trailhead, which was already covered up for winter. I wanted to start early so that we would have enough time to make it wherever we wanted. There was a car at the trailhead, and about an hour in I saw the tent of a couple with two dogs that I met later on the way out.
Early on the trail there are two simple blowdowns. About halfway the East Fork Foss valley there is a big blowdown that fell parallel to the trail and is causing a bit of a mess. It's a bit clumsy, but okay to pass. We arrived at the bridge across the river after 1h45. The route up the boulder field was easier to find than in winter, but still a bit messy. The section to Jade Lake was steeper than I remembered. It's also looong. Somehow I keep misjudging how far it is. It took me another 1h45 to reach the lake.
## Necklace Valley
We crossed the inlet of Jade Lake and continued to the Necklace Cabin. I made a mistake here and took the trail to Al Lake. To go deeper into the valley, you have to follow the trail that runs right by the cabin. There are many side-trails in the valley, but for the reminder it was fairly clear to me which one to follow. It took me another hour to get to the end of the valley. I hadn't been beyond this point before. I wanted to explore both the waterfall bootpath and the La Bohn Gap, and I thought it would be easier to do it in this order. The waterfall route follows the rock field for longer than I imagined and this section gave me confidence that going down the La Bohn Gap should be doable.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/22453567921/in/album-72157659865278239/" title="Necklace Cabin"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/5792/22453567921_f420c288c8_b.jpg" alt="Necklace Cabin"/></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/22416664086/in/album-72157659865278239/" title="Waterfall bootpath is generously marked by cairns"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/772/22416664086_004c61feb5_b.jpg" alt="Waterfall bootpath is generously marked by cairns"/></a>
## La Bohn Lakes
The [[La Bohn Lakes]] were nice, but not as spectacular as it probably is with more snow, and better light. The day was a bit gloomy. Having reached this point, I was fairly confident that we would make it: I had to climb only 1000ft/hour to get to a turnaround where I didn't even have to walk in the dark out. Unfortunately, we hit this rock mentioned earlier that we couldn't pass (I think this was right below the trees from Beckey's book, so I didn't manage to replicate that view). It took quite a bit of energy to try to find an alternative route.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/21819963154/in/album-72157659865278239/" title="Middle La Bohn Lake"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/711/21819963154_269a0894de_b.jpg" alt="Middle La Bohn Lake"/></a>
## Chain Lakes
The view on [[Chain Lakes]] was pretty nice from this point, so a plan B was easy. There was a nice ridge west of Chain Lakes that I suspected would give a nice view on the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River, so that was the new goal. I didn't really read about Chain Lakes, so the mines there came as a surprise. It was kind of interesting to see, though also a bit sad with rubbish and lots of glass spread around. I briefly contemplated the option of a traverse to Tank Lakes, but if I would get stuck or if travel would be slow, I would not be able to get out normally for my day trip, so I abandoned that plan. A traverse at around 5400ft seemed doable.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/22254749020/in/album-72157659865278239/" title="Deep mine (could not see the bottom) in the middle of the Chain Lakes"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/5621/22254749020_b06de73805_b.jpg" alt="Deep mine (could not see the bottom) in the middle of the Chain Lakes"/></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/22442709955/in/album-72157659865278239/" title="Another mine"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/5826/22442709955_7540961338_b.jpg" alt="Another mine"/></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/22416719846/in/album-72157659865278239/" title="Fool's Gold?"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/5690/22416719846_4d9c610f3f_b.jpg" alt="Fool's Gold?"/></a>
## Back to Trailhead
From Chain Lakes we climbed back to the La Bohn Gap, where there is a great view of the Necklace Valley with Lake Ilswoot standing out. In the distance we could see Mt. Baker and the Columbia Glacier. The was evidence of the old mining operations here as well (not sure why they didn't go down to the Middle Fork Snoqualmie river).
In the Necklace Valley I ran into the couple that was camping earlier. They were planning to go to Chain Lakes. I also ran into a backpacking girl who was heading for Jade Lake. Similar to me, it seemed very far away. Got back at the car at 6pm.
Note that [[Chain Lakes]] is reachable from the Middle Fork Snoqualmie road in about 35 miles, but with much less technical obstacles.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/22254759850/in/album-72157659865278239/" title="Middle Fork Snoqualmie Drainage with Lake Williams in foreground"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/5834/22254759850_3fd537b66b_b.jpg" alt="Middle Fork Snoqualmie Drainage with Lake Williams in foreground"/></a>
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bravenboer/22255839419/in/album-72157659865278239/" title="Remains in the La Bohn Gap"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/568/22255839419_8a39c3cb07_b.jpg" alt="Remains in the La Bohn Gap"/></a>