[naturealbeing]

Anyone looking to do something off the beaten path with a little snowshoeing thrown in and if you do it on a clear day (unlike us (Jeff R and myself) will be rewarded with some intimate views of Pilchuck, Heather, and Lake 22, then this is your calling. Right now this little beauty is just ripe for the picking. All the brush is down and it's clear sailing to the summit. The snow conditions were: a layer of 6-8'' of snow with a thin layer of crust on top of another layer of consolidated snow, with a base of who knows? Start at the Heather Lake TH @ 1,400 ft. and @ 1,955 ft. you'll come to a cedar blown down scattered over the trail, here's where we headed up onto the NW ridge and stayed on it all the way to the summit. The trail was snow free up to about 2,200 ft. and then became continuous afterwards. Once we left the trail at 1,955 it was pretty steep and stayed that way until we got up to 2,500 ft., then it eased up on us and we donned our snowshoes for the rest of the way. The weather for the day was drizzle, rain and then snow above 3,000 ft. We were able to see maybe a football fields worth of distance and everything past that was white. Occasionally we had a brief peak-a-boo view of Heather Lake but that was it. At the summit we took a food break and discussed are descent plan, option A - was to see if we could make the saddle that separates Heather from Lk. 22, then head down to Lk. 22 and then to Lk. 22 TH where we had left Jeff's truck, B - was head more E and drop down to 22, or C - return the same way we came. We decided on A and after about 100 ft. descent with a 30 ft. glissade into a tree after I had just lost my footing on some hard pack snow 8'' under the surface snow. It became apparent that the way was too steep (60+dgrees) and dangerous and we weren't able to see where we might end up below. Looking at option B was pretty much the same consensus. So, we'll take an option C on this descent please. Once we got back to the summit and reversed our route, the descent was uneventful. What I got out of this fun little trip was how much I dig traveling along a old growth forested ridge flocked in snow with a virgin snow carpet to travel on. I also can't forget Jeff, he's always a pleasure to travel with. Best of all: Smoked prime rib at the Bodacious BBQ in Granite Falls. OH YEA BABY! Stat's 2,500' gain and I'm calling this one 5 miles RT w/522' prominence. More information about Eaglet Peak can be found at WTA and John Ropers site here: http://www.rhinoclimbs.com/usgsverlot.htm

[Jeff R]

It always amazes me that gems like this are all over the place, one just has to look about, or have it suggested by someone to begin the discovery. At a leisurely pace, it took about 2 and 1/2 hours to ascend this peak. The start of the ridge had some required brush and blow downs that needed to be negotiated, but this only helped make the challenge more interesting. The second half of the ascent was though open and pleasant, old growth forest, with numerous large trees to enjoy. Then a nice ridge section finished the climb in style. This was the crux of the forest.

Old growth puzzle

Fungus tree.

Moss and Mushrooms.

The nice ridge signaled the end.

Almost there!

[Riverside Laker]

That peak has gotten a lot of attention the past few weeks! Yours is the 4th report I've seen. We did it on a perfect day, with superb views of the mighty N face of Pilchuck. It's a gem.

[Quark]

Yeah, didn't johngeorge & putz-in-boots et al do this a few weeks ago?

[naturealbeing]

Quark, You are absolutely correct. As a matter of fact, they were up there the 4th of March and posted a report on WTA. That's where I got the idea for this outing, along with coming across JR's story on his site (see original report for link).

[Quark]

OK. I get my trip reports mixed up. I do read WTA's, and Ms. Putz is a good freind of mine and sends me either the one eventually posted on WTA, or her own so I never know where I heard about some of these trips. It's good to see more obscure trip reports!

[Riverside Laker]

We went up there with the author of that excellent perspective map on Roper's site. He said we'd see a unique biological phenomena. Well, we saw it -- a humongous downed tree. One of the biggest I've seen in Washington, dadburnit. That lowly peak was one of the best trips I did this winter.