Wow... there must a lot of easier ways to get a 4-point activation. I knew there wasn't a trail to this peak and there would be some bushwacking involved because not many folks go there. But oh my gosh, this trip turned into an ordeal!
The Eaglet is located near Mount Pilchuck between Lake 22 and Heather Lake. The way to this SOTA adventure travels up the Heather Lake Trail (an extremely popular 2-mile hike) for about a mile which gets 600' of elevation gain out of the way. Then you leave the trail behind and the fun stops and the ordeal begins.
After this point the trip is basically a needle-y scramble up a steep to very steep slope clogged with heavy brush, logs, limbs, boulders. Lot's of detours necessary with almost no straight navigation possible. This lasts for about a mile and a half and 1800' elevation gain. As you get higher, the ridge narrows and your options are fewer. At the top we were literally shoving our way through the dense stuff along the sharp ridgeline - exhausting work. My watch is probably still dangling from the branch which stole it from my wrist.
At any rate, I totally underestimated the difficulty and time this trek would take. Planned for two hours up, and it took me 5 hours from the car to get on the air! This peak is forested and the views I saw were on the way to and from. Perhaps a bit further out the ridge and the vistas might have appeared, but I had no time or inclination for that. The telescoping pole was easily attached to the trees, but not much room to extend the antenna wires - I settled for just 20M and was happy to get it.
My sincere thanks to those who found me so late and worked this activation. My sincere apologies to those I didn't hear, for not getting 40M going, and for the sloppy key. Here are the excuses: Not enough room at the peak, I was really tired. The velcro slipped. I was getting cold. One leg was cramping. It was getting late. The dog ate my homework.
Actually, it took so long getting up there that I shouldn't have operated at all - we ended up navigating out by headlamps. Must mention: my wife is such a trooper... all this and absolutely no complaints from dawn to dark!
Oh yeah, our radiator hose broke on the way home too.
Since it appears that the friendly thing to do is to list your SOTA activation contacts, we'll see if I can actually read my own writing:
K7NEW, K6BHH, W7RV, K4QS, ND0C, N4EX, K6EL, AJ5C, K4SV, K0YO, KH2TJ, KC3RT, NS7P, N7AMA, N6KZ, K7JFD, NA6MG, K5WZ, KC4RT, and one more I'm still deciphering...
73,
Fred - N7KRN