Route: Alpine Lakes Traverse, Necklas to W Fork Foss Climbed: October 3, 2003 Basic idea is to go in the east fork of Foss river (Necklace Vally) and out the west fork of the Foss river (Big Heart Lake). There are several variations. Hike the east fork Foss river trail. You finally arrive in necklace valley proper when you pass Jade lake on the left. The trail crosses the inlet then ascends a couple hundred feet. Now you just have to pick a place to leave the trail to the right and climb another 1000 ft up to a bench. On this outing I took a side trail just before the main trail descended into a meadow with a shelter. Stay left, cross a small valley, and start a left rising traverse up talus. I found a sort of dry gully which was a reasonable ascent and had a passable headwall. This took me to Lake Tahl (5670) which had some very good camping. On previous trips I have continued another 1/3 mile or so then climbed through a broad basin just N of lake Foehn. From Late Tahl I walked south along the bench. There are great camp sites up here with small tarns, granite benches, and grassy meadows to camp in. Pass Lake Foehn and Tank lakes. Beautiful granite basin. I hike south then swing west to stay on crest of ridge running to Iron Cap Mtn. There are now 2 routes to Angeline Lake. My original route drop to the low point in the ridge then turned north and continued down the dry stream bed. At 4700 ft exit the stream bed to the left and traverse through forest to the lake. Nice camp site on the east side. Traverse around the lake to the south. You may have to climb 500 ft to pass obstacles. This brings you to the ridge east of Big Heart lake. In 2003 I stayed high. Continue up the ridge toward Iron Cap. When it starts to get steep exit to the right. Swing around until you are looking at the east face of the north ridge of Iron Cap. You must cross that ridge. There are three possible ways onto that ridge. To the right you can ascend the NE toe. This probably goes. In the middle there is a gully that looks steep enough that it is sure to be tricky. And to the left of that is a ramp that ascends diagonally right then meets another steeper ramp exiting near the top of the middle route. I took these ramps. The first ramp is a little exposed near the top. At the top continue straight through the brush (do not climb up) and this will put you on the steeper ramp. At the top of that climb through the brush. There is a cairn marking the top of this route. Ascend to the ridge crest then walk off the NW end down to the lake NW of Iron Cap. Continue NNW from that lake. At 5500 ft there is a beautiful bench with tarns (S of Azurite Lake). Continue to Chetwoot Lake by going first SSW then W. There is also good camping on granite benches on the north side of the knob just east of Azure lake. There is supposed to be a trail to Chetwoot lake. You can probably pic it up from the outlet stream and it probably crosses the ridge between Angeline and Big Heart. It is also probably easier than the route I have taken. I climbed the ridge east of Angeline. Go to the saddle between Angeline and Azurite then ascend N up the ridge crest. This is not too brushy but does involve 3rd class climbing. When you reach the north end of this ridge things look pretty cliffy and desperate. You can descend through steep trees to the west and run the ridge down to Angeline's outlet. The best route here is to descend NW on the ridge crest until you really are cliffed out. If you are lucky, the forested slope on your left will have conveniently spaced small trees which are easy to climb down through. In 2003 I did not go far enough and descended through unevenly spaced trees which was considerably more difficult. Descend the trail to the outlet of Angeline. You'll have to descend a little ways before you can cross the creek, but cross as soon as possible because you are going to climb back up and cross the ridge to Big Heart Lake at 5000 ft. There is trail here. Walk the trail back to the trail head. [Route description written by Tom Unger]