East Fork Foss River

 Trail head

The trail to Necklace Lakes on the East Fork of the Foss River, near Stevens Pass, Washington was our hiking destination.  We did not plan to hike the entire distance but only about 2 or 3 miles, have lunch and turn back.  The trail is mixed soft leaf-covered dirt and rocks with several small streams to cross and one branch of the river large enough for a bridge.  A good portion of the trail is relatively level but there are some steep places too.  The elevation gain was about 400 feet (1600 to 2000).

At this time of year we expected to find some early flowers and hoped to find a Calypso orchid or two.  Much to our delight and surprise there were possibly thousands of Trilliums in bloom and we counted 85 Calypso orchids but since we did not start counting orchids right at the beginning there could have easily been 100.   As a result we spent a lot of time getting down and up taking photos, a friend calls this “belly botany,” and as a consequence did not go as far along the trail as originally planned.  Nevertheless, it was a very pleasant hike, cool but not raining and peaceful as we were the only people on that particular trail.  We heard several birds and saw a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers who flew away before we could get the cameras out.

 Trilliums

 Calypso Orchids

This one below was all white instead of pink-purple.

Although not that high off the ground this was one of the scarier looking bridges that I have crossed.  There were gaps in between the cross boards and it slanted in a precarious manner.

Next time we will do the West Fork of the Foss River trail up to Trout Lake.