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10/29/2005 Entry: "Iron Goat Trail"

Last Saturday we went for a hike on the Iron Goat Trail, Jack, grandson R----- and me, with our friends Bill and Deanna. What fun! Volunteers have been working since 1990? to convert an old railroad right of way to a very gently sloping trail, with large sections barrier-free in terms of wheelchair access. We drove all the way to Stevens Pass, then took the Old Cascade Highway and a Forest Service road to Wellington, the upper trailhead and site of the train disaster of 1910. It was such a devastating avalanche that they changed the name of the town afterwards!

The trail is provided with interpretive signs to explain the avalanche and all the railroad artifacts and history you see along the way. The first section of the trail downhill from Wellington goes through an all-concrete snowshed (a structure to protect trains from avalanches, built after the big disaster of 1910). Brian McCamish has some pictures -- Jack forgot the camera battery and was very bugged about it.

I do want to visit this trail again, maybe starting at the lower entrance and walking up. Then the way down would be easy!

(tags: IronGoatTrail, hiking, snowshed, Wellington, StevensPass)