As recommended, I read Gary Krist’s book “The White Cascade”, before doing the hike. The history of the 1910 disaster is a somber topic, but this book provides a well-researched history of the worst avalanche in U.S. history. There are many interpretive boards along the Iron Goat trail. Only a few relate to the disaster, but I still was glad that I read the book first.

TRAILHEADS:
There are three trailheads to the Iron Goat Trail. The one described in the Hiking Guide is the west one, at milepost 55. The middle one (Scenic trailhead) is the lowest one, at milepost 58.3. The upper one (Wellington) is at milepost 64.3. Because of limited sight distance, the Wellington trailhead should be approached from the east, even if that means continuing east the short distance to Stevens Pass, then turning around at the pass.

MAPS:
The web page supporting construction of the Iron Goat Trail no longer exists. This makes it difficult to view an accurate map before hiking. I have two maps of the Iron Goat Trail, but both are old and do not show the crossover trails that link the upper and lower trails west of Windy Point. I think seeing the map in advance is important, in order to decide which trailhead to drive to, and in determining which route you want to take. I photographed a signboard, but half was in sunlight and half in shade. I’m sorry it’s not more readable. Note that the western half of the trail can be done as a loop. The lower portion is all ADA-compliant and can be access from either the western or middle trailhead. The Martin Creek trailhead has flat and easy wheelchair access; the middle (Scenic) trailhead requires climbing a winding paved ramp.

MY ROUTE:
I started at Martin Creek (2480 feet) and walked the ADA trail gently downhill 3.1 miles to the Windy Point crossover (within sight of the Scenic trailhead). The ADA trail is constructed of small crushed rock. Despite being easy to walk, it is a hard surface, better walked in athletic shoes than boots or sandals.

The Windy Point Crossover trail ascends 625 feet in 0.7 mile, to connect to the upper trail. At the top, I went right, following the sign to Wellington. The route to Wellington gains 350 feet over 3.3 miles. Despite being this flat, only the Wellington end of the trail is ADA-compliant, including the oft-photographed trail beneath the concrete snowshed.

At the east end of the Wellington trailhead parking lot, I took a side trail leading a quarter mile to the historic first Cascade tunnel.

Leaving the Wellington trailhead, I retraced my steps 3.3 miles to the top of the Windy Point Crossover, then went straight past, following the upper trail all the way back to the Martin Creek trailhead. This last leg was 3.1 miles, losing 340 feet, and connecting with the original ADA trail a mere 0.2 mile from the parking lot.

My total mileage was just under 14 miles. This includes several short spur trails leading to interpretive boards, and a longer one climbing to the “spillway”, which a signboard touted as the “crown jewel” of the Iron Goat Trail. It was not shown on any of my maps and I had never heard of it! It is a man-made fire-control feature (reservoir, dam, and wooden spillway) that was accidentally discovered in 1991. It is located along the upper trail, 1.2 miles west of the top of the Windy Point Crossover trail, or 1.9 miles from the Martin Creek trailhead.

All along the trails, the interpretive signboards bring to life the nature of the numerous retaining walls, which are leftover remnants of hybrid snowsheds, part concrete and part wood. The wooden portions of the snowsheds were salvaged, but there are several other wooden structures which are surprisingly still visible, almost 90 years after a new tunnel led to this line being decommissioned. These include the spillway, all-wood snowsheds, and tunnel roof supports, in various states of decay.

With the exception of the all-concrete snowshed near Wellington, all of the tunnels are off-limits due to extreme danger.

I apologize for the length of this report. Reading The White Cascade before doing this hike made me very interested in doing this hike in its entirety. I read every single signboard along the route.

I have always driven by this hike and seen the parking lot (Iron Goat Trail, not Martin Creek Connector).  It is just off Highway 2 with a big red train caboose at the trail head.  Bathroom are also available here as well.  This was good because today I wasn't driving something that could negotiate the FS roads.

The trail begins on an ADA path that starts out paved.  The first point to make a decision is whether to go up the switchbacks to the upper grade or toward the Martin Creek Connector.  I decided to go up to the upper grade.  This is a steep switchback with a dropoff on one side.  Provides some spectacular views as you ascend to the upper grade.  I believe it is about 1 mile where you will gain about 800 feet elevation.  Once you get the the top, it is all easy railroad grade trails from there.

I headed towards Wellington Ghost Town.  It is about 3 miles, but lots to see along the way.  About 1/4 mile from the switchback you get to a lookout point with rocks to sit on.  Take in the view as you can look down to see SR2 and train tracks entering a tunnel below.  This is a great place to take a rest, eat a snack, or depending upon time, lunch.

As you head further, you have to walk on the outside of a tunnel with a little ledge (about 3 feet wide) with a drop-off on the right side.  Easy to navigate, but can be a little unnerving for anyone who doesn't like heights.  Once you get past this you get to your first tunnel.  It is closed, but you can walk into it a bit.  They have barricades with warning signs for falling rocks so I would recommend not going into the tunnel further.

For the next few miles, you get a chance to walk through a really nice path with trees and occasionally past a few train snow walls.  In a few spots there is water falling over the wall and into a small creek that passes under the trail.

Spectacular views along the way of the pass.  Eventually you reach the snow tunnel that is pretty interesting to walk through. About 1/2 mile in an echoing path you can see out your right side.  Once you come out of the tunnel you are just about to Wellington. 

Wellington is an interpretive site that discusses this ghost town's buildings and workings when it was active.  Really not much to see other then a few concrete foundations.  There is a parking lot so several hikers may come up to this location and hike it backwards.  I saw quite a few people who just came to see the snow tunnel and town.

You can go a bit further and see the first Cascade Tunnel which is 2.5 miles long, however due to Flash Flooding, the trail to the opening of the Cascade Tunnel is closed, but you can still get a view of it from the trail.

I headed back towards the crossover switchbacks, but decided to continue on towards the Martin Creek Connector.  This provided quite a few more tunnels, snow walls, and views.  Eventually I wanted to get back down to the lower grade, so after a few miles I found the Corea Crossover which lead me back down to the lower grade without having to go the additional 2-3 miles around the bend. 

Once back down to the lower grade, it is an easy, flat hike back to the parking lot (about 2-1/2 miles or so.)  During this hike, there are yet more tunnels (a few you can walk through) and a bridge.

Total miles for the route I took was about 13, but you can certainly make it much shorter (~8 miles to Wellington round trip, ~2-1/2 miles to the lookout point round trip). 

Hiked with wheelchair from Martin Creek to the interpretive center - two cars - and then a smaller hike from Wellington to the snowshed.  Trail in good condition with one narrow spot where two rocks were barely passable for 25 inch wide wheelchair.  Beautiful hike with many interpretive signs, lovely forest and interesting tunnels and sheds from the railroad days.  It is not often that you can get a wheelchair on what feels like a 'real' trail.  While the return trip is largely ADA compliant a three mile wheelchair ramp up seemed a little more than we could do.  The hike down from Wellington down to the interpretive center is listed as ADA accessible BUT there is no way to do this section as a one way trip and will mean elevation gain of 300 feet in 3 miles on return and by report from a friend may not be wide enough in places.  The trip to the snowshed however was interesting and accessible.

This is a good go to trail for a long and simple hike.

Got to the east end TH around 7:30am, only one other car in the lot. It was a little chilly that early, but walking warmed you right up! We walked the lower grade trail to the west end TH and then walked up to the upper grade. Little more bush on the upper grade, but easy to walk through.

We stopped at the viewpoints and read about the history of this trail since it was my partner's first time hiking it. Took us a total of three hours. We lucked out coming down the switchbacks from the upper to the lower instead of going up at the beginning.

Overall a nice hike. A little over six miles for the "loop". Easy enough for kids and dogs. We ran into about a dozen other people coming down the switchbacks. Plenty of room to step aside for those coming up. Great hike!

I started my hike from the red caboose trailhead and hiked up the steep switchbacks for about 1 mile. After that, the trail was very easy, a nice relatively flat pleasant walk through the woods. Windy Point has a nice view down in the valley. I wanted to take a photo of the train going into the tunnel but it stopped at the junction before there. The trip through the forest is quiet mostly and very peaceful. You can see railroad spikes still in the ground. The tunnel is neat but being unsafe to go in very far is a bummer. Still worth seeing, though the walk along the narrow concrete outside edge of it would not be a great thing for anyone with balance issues. The mile markers to Chicago are cool, 1711, 1712, 1713 are the only ones I went past. The old wood snow shed is unremarkable, just rotted wood on the ground. There were still some wildflowers along the trail, but most had already died off. By far the coolest thing was the half mile long concrete snow shed. I spent tons of time taking photos of the structure inside and of the miscellaneous drawings and graffiti.  At the avalanche site, you can sit down and relax a bit but there are no views. For someone interested in the snow shed but not wanting or able to do much of a hike, the best option is to drive to the trailhead at Wellington Ghost Town since it's really close by and all flat. All in all, a really interesting outing.