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October 2007: Overnight in the Necklace Valley |
The trail to Necklace Valley starts with a few miles through varied forest, often within earshot of the roaring East Fork Foss River. The leaves put on a final display of color before their annual fade into the forest floor. |
The leaves don't just change color, they are ripped apart by molds and micro-organisms that leave explosive battle scars of color and texture. |
The forest floor was alive with all variety and size of mushrooms. |
It seems every niche was covered by some opportunistic fugal sprout. |
This Bear's Head Tooth mushroom was exploding out the side of a fallen tree. These are edible giant mushrooms with a delicate fleeting beauty. In only a few days this mushroom will turn to a brown ball of mush. I couldn't decide if anyone was worthy to eat such a beautiful thing. |
A column of mushrooms decorates the crook of a tree along the trail. |
The main attraction of this trail is the cluster of lakes high in the valley. Here, Jade Lake shines. |
The terrain gets pretty rough above the main valley. Over the night, a thin sheet of ice covered most of these boulders, making progress difficult and slow. |
I climbed to get this view of Glacier Peak to the north. I stopped to ponder the many folds in the horizon. Which had I walked along and on top of? How many would I one day explore? |
Where is it? The Necklace Valley is located in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness of the North Cascades Mountains in Washington. The trailhed is a few miles east of Skykomish, WA along Hwy 2. |
Before you go... Parts of the upper trail are in pretty poor repair - be prepared for a challenging climb up a lot of roots, rocks and mud. The lower trail is in really good shape however. |