I took the Next Generation of our family hiking once again. The Iron Goat Trail is always a favorite of mine, I've hiked it several times but never up to Windy Point. Today was the day we would conquer the trail.

About halfway up, and with the gentle wind casing the trees to sway back and forth, I was about 90% sure I heard a low growl somewhat resembling a cougar. I made sure the youngster was corralled and I started scanning up the trail towards where I heard the noise. It could've been trees... it could've been the forest playing tricks on me but I swear it sounded like a big cat growling. 

Moments later as we moved up the trail, five hikers came down with a dog and I warned them of what I heard. 

We got to the Windy Point Overlook Junction and we walked the Iron Goat Trail down to the tunnel and to the massive rock slide .. we continued on for another 1,000 yards before we turned back and went back the way we came. 

It was a good day to be on the trails. 

Smoky today.I saw five other hikers on the trail and a small bus full of older tourists in the parking lot. I highly recommend hiking the trail clockwise unless you want to go up a bunch of steep switchbacks.

We started at the upper trailhead off of Martin Creek. The plan was to walk the upper branch, hike the steep cutoff to Scenic TH then back. We turned around on the upper branch because it was a bit too brushy for shorts. It would be no problem in long pants. 

Cool tunnels and interpretive signs discussing the difficult construction of the RR.  6 miles of avalanche sheds built along this route! What a monumental undertaking. The huge concrete retaining wall is all that remains. The timbers from the shed are long gone.

Super easy and gentle incline.

A helicopter was continuously flying back and forth on the opposite side of the valley spraying something all over a recent clearcut. A Google search suggests it may be herbicide...yuck.  Anyone know what they may be spraying?

6.5 mi, 450 ft

I arrived at the Scenic Trailhead off of Highway 2 around 7:45 AM to join a WTA work party today. There was only one other car in the parking area. There are privies at the trailhead and they are in good shape. There isn't any signage about whether a pass is needed to park but I displayed my Forest Service pass just to be safe. 

Our work party was about two miles away from the trailhead, so we assembled in the parking lot and walked about two miles along the Lower (ADA Accessible) Trail to find our tools. From there, we worked on clearing brush back from the trail and cleaning out drains along the next mile of trail, eventually working our way to the Martin Creek Trailhead to stash our tools so our crew leader could come pick them up after the work party. The Lower Trail is in good shape and it is about 3 miles from the Scenic Trailhead to the Martin Creek Trailhead. 

On our return trip, since we did not have to carry tools, we decided to hike the Upper Trail for a change of pace and because some people in the group had not hiked it. The Upper Trail is a little longer than the Lower Trail, mainly due to some switchbacks up and down at both ends. It is generally in good shape, but some sections are very brushy and in some places, it was difficult to see logs laying across the trail. Had I not been looking down, I would have tripped on them for sure. I also noticed a few water crossings which were easily navigated today. There are a few viewpoints along the way, which were quite smoky and hazy today. There are also some rocky sections along the Upper Trail where a trekking pole would have been nice to have today. Also, our group counted 25 steep switchbacks to get back down to the Scenic Trailhead from the Upper Trail. In all, we hiked about 6.5 miles today and arrived back at the trailhead around 2:45 PM. 

We decided to do the trail counter clockwise and get the switchbacks out of the way. They are not easy to go up. But once you're at the top, it's smooth sailing for the rest of the loop. There was a section where it seemed like there had been a rock slide and required a bit of climbing over. The upper part of the trail is overgrown. But the great thing about the whole trail is there's not a lot of fully exposed to the sun spots which helped on this 85+ degree day. And halfway through the trail you meet the Martin Creek trail head that has clean bathrooms and benches to sit and have a quick bite to eat before continuing on. There's also a nice spot on the lower trail on the way back counter clockwise to get some very cold air for a few mins to cool down. We encountered a handful of groups besides us that had their dogs on leashes. The trail got busier near the end of our time. We had started a little before 9am.