Iron Goat Trail is one of my favorite hikes off of Highway 2. It's a great trail to take friends new to hiking on. It's a great trail to hike when it’s hot out because it's shaded for the most part (thanks to the tree cover and snow sheds) and is relatively flat for most of the trail.

There are multiple ways to hike this trail. We started from the trailhead at the red caboose, right off of the highway and hiked the 6 miles into Wellington, making it a 12 miles roundtrip hike. From the trailhead at the red caboose, the trail climbs up for less than a mile. At the junction of the upper trail, take a right towards Windy Point (there’s a sign) and then its a flat hike all the way into Wellington.

Trail conditions were great up until in-between the snow sheds on the upper trail. The bush is wildly overgrown in lots of places. Some of the bush has nettles on it so if you like to hike in shorts, watch out. Other than that, the trail was perfect. Take the time to read the interpretive signs on your way into Wellington. This trail has a full, rich and interesting history. Happy Trails!

Beautiful hike -- lower trail was awesome, but parts of the upper trail were significantly overgrown. 

Great hike! Had so much fun seeing all of the beautiful butterflies along the trail. There were parts that were very overgrown, but we still had a lot of fun. After the hike we went across the street to the ski resort for some icecream. 

Iron goat Trail: Wellington trailhead to Windy Point (and return)

Beautiful hike for a beautiful day! Did this hike with my son who really enjoys history and wanted something beyond just mountains and waterfalls  (!) and this delivered. The story is very sad-worst railway disaster in US history, -but the trail through the remaining concrete snow shed and by the  tunnels and other remaining artifacts is very cool (literally and figuratively). Plus we saw so many beautiful wildflowers and hundreds of butterflies, but no mosquitos or biting flies or other annoying bugs. Many little waterfalls over the remaining concrete structures. We have done this section before, and remembered it being pretty easy as it follows the railroad grade and is pretty flat. That part is still true. However, after you leave the snow shed area and start heading towards Windy Point, the meadow-y portions of the trail are very overgrown in places, with nettles, Devil’s Cane, and either Giant Hogweed or Cow Parsnip growing right along or over the trail, making it more like bushwhacking than hiking at some points. We have many little skin stings tonight, and my son thought he got some Hogweed sap on his skin but so far it doesn’t seem too bad.   However, it was still very worthwhile and the view from Windy Point is awesome. 

We also had not caught the WTA warning that the privies at the trailhead were closed and were expecting them to be open which caused some problems. 

Arrived to the trail head around 1:30pm with plenty of parking spots left. The road up does have a few potholes but it was not a problem for our small hatchback. We began on the lower grade of the trail but decided to take the Martin Creek crossover to the upper grade which was recommended in another trip report. The trail was well maintained with some areas being slightly overgrown, but nothing unmanageable. We spotted a bunch of wildflowers and butterflies along the way which were absolutely beautiful. The mosquitoes were very annoying and I ended up with a lot of bites at the end of the day, so if you're prone to getting bit I would recommend bug spray. Although we passed a few other groups the trail didn't feel particularly busy. We completed the loop in a little over 3 hours -- overall this was an enjoyable hike!