Had a lovely hike with beautiful wildflowers and great interpretive signs.  I did want to clarify the mileage stated on this hike.   There are 2 parallel trails, the lower, wider, ADA trail and the upper, rougher, narrower trail.  They are both 3 miles long.  In order to make it a loop you need to hike the 1 mile, steep switchbacks trail which connect the 2 trails on the west end.  That brings the total to 7 miles.  We hiked from the east end on the ADA trail first, climbed the steep switchbacks and then returned on the upper trail.  Next time we'll do the upper trail first, climb down the switchbacks and return on the ADA trail.  There is also a parking lot near the red caboose at the west end of the ADA trail so you could also start from the west end and I believe have less forest service road to drive.

Went hiking in the rain with my 5 year old and an 11 month old in a stroller. We stuck to the ADA accessable portion with the stroller. Rain was coming down pretty heavy at times, but my 5 year old and I both enjoyed learning about the history of the rail road. We didn't see a single other person or vehicle at the trail head or on the trail. As others have mentioned, there's some bear scat in the trail at one point, but we didn't see any other signs of bear activity. No bugs, but it was also raining fairly hard, which probably had something to do with it.

Great day hike, which is really more like a walk through the woods. Encountered a large group of school children while on the trail but other than that we had it pretty much to ourselves. Trail is nice and wide, plus the information signs along the way are very cool.

I have had Iron Goat on my to-do list for some time. I've always been curious of the route, the rich history and the interpretive trail itself. It's not a hard hike by any means and there is plenty of stopping to admire the workmanship of the old snow sheds built in 1916. What brought me here to begin with is the story of the avalanche that killed 96 people in Wellington. The Great Northern train had been stuck in a snow drift for seemed like days, and after a terrible snow storm had blown through, the incoming rains had loosened the snow enough to cause a massive avalanche that barreled down on the passenger cars essentially ripping them from the tracks and down 150 feet into a gorge. 23 people survived. 

The snow sheds were constructed to protect the trains that traveled through the Cascade mountain range. Here, you'll be able to see the massive concrete wall that was built 7.8 miles long. Some of the snow sheds are barely standing anymore as Mother Nature has started to reclaim what is rightfully hers. The inner workings of the granite tunnels are continuing to collapse more and more so actually going into the tunnels, although accessible, isn't the brightest idea. It's tempting. 

One thing that really stood out to me on my quick journey was the audit tunnel. The audit tunnel not only allowed workers to start in the middle of the tunnel and work on both ends but it allowed for air flow. If you stand in front of it, you'll feel the cold air rushing out. It's pretty neat. 

In the end, it was a nice day hike, non-strenuous and easy on the legs. I typically hike up mountain peaks so this was kind of nice to take a day and just wander around the trails. I didn't see any signs of wildlife other than a black snake that wriggled its way across the trail about ten feet from me. Other than that, just a lot of birds. 

Stay safe! 

We hiked iron goat with our 4 year old, 1 year old, and our dog. We stuck to the lower trail since it is stroller friendly. We parked at the iron goat interpretive site and hiked to the martin creek trailhead and back.

The salmon berries were blooming with some green berries; none were ripe yet. We found a few almost ripe wild raspberries.

There were a few mosquitoes, but using deet early kept us bite free the whole hike. We saw a garter snake in one of the creeks and some bear scat on the trail.

The weather was nice with a temp of about 70 F.