First one to the trail head at 6:30 am. 56 degrees -- ideal hiking weather. Iron Goat is an easy hike, more of a long walk -- 7 miles round trip. The Upper Grade was a festival of green ferns and small wildflowers. The three old tunnels were interesting. It's hard to imagine a train using those tunnels. Several waterfalls added to the beauty. The trail is in excellent condition. I didn't encounter any other hikers . A beautiful, serene day in the woods.

Iron Goat Trail from Wellington Trailhead: I echo all the other’s sentiments about the weather---wow, it is wonderful. I am usually leading a gaggle of Girl Scouts up and down the hillsides but left them all at home with their families and hiked with my husband and our Brittany, Kona. Our mission was to do an easy hike with lots of wildflowers that was no more than a 2 hour drive….bingo, we made the perfect choice. I had been there six years ago and remembered it was pretty good for flowers. Today is was pretty excellent for flowers…and sunshine…and no crowds. Thanks to the hard work of the awesome volunteers with VOW this is an incredible journey back thru time. Check out their website for history & info: www.irongoat.org. Make a donation while you are on line too; as their work is extending on the far west side over Kelley Creek. I have hiked from both ends and think this start is pretty cool with the trail going right under the still-standing 100 year old snow sheds. You also hike along the part that once had a wooden roof, now just the sturdy 25’ tall Great Wall of the Iron Goat greets you with waterfallets, plants growing out of holes, and a generally neat feeling that Indiana Jones might be around the next corner. We first went left (east) to check out the old Cascade Tunnel that went through the mountain, under the crest. It’s about 1/3 of a mile stroll thru the trees passing some historical items and cool signage. Note, stop at the new trail-end due to flash flood danger from the open Tunnel. Flowers started right away! Trillium, trillium, and more trillium; blooms that were brand new, all white and pure and then older red-brown ones with bigger leaves. Nice! Other flowers included yellow Stream Violets, Bleeding Hearts, Western Bistort, Coltsfoot, Thimbleberry (wow will there be a bumper crop of berries later on), and a few Stinkhorn in the Phallaceae family. Turning around we retraced our steps back to the trailhead and headed west toward Windy Point. We met the only other carload of folks, they too had a Brittany—what a coinkadink. Onward past some Dr Seuss shaped alpine trees, more cool history-signage and over a sturdy bridge crossing a raging creek. We hiked onward and into the welcomed coolness of the concrete snowshed; ferns, deer &elk prints and a creeklet along the length of it made it very interesting. One must step out in to the blazing sunshine and visit the wooden viewpoint which marks the location of the historic, tragic 1910 avalanche that took out the train and so many passengers. Sunshine brings out flower blooms too! The trail is barrier free through the snowshed (yes a wheelchair or walker could make it no problem). After that it remains easy walking, but on a narrower, not as even trail as you meander along the hillside. Glimpses of Hwy 2 are across the valley, and craggy, snowy peaks like Surprise Mtn are seen toward the south. Around every corner there is new eye-candy in store for us: Mountain Bluebells, Orange Paintbrush, Lupine, Red Columbine (in various stages of blooms), Cow Parsnip, Bull Thistle, an occasional Trillium, Sitka Valerian, Star Flower Solomon Seal, Penstemon, False Hellebore, Bigleaf Avens, and more, including a really cool little white flower with a purple stripe I can’t figure out…see photo with the bug! A few snowpatches off the trail under dirt/needles; one minor blow down about 1.25 miles in that a wheelchair could not go over,under,around. So many flowers, and yea, so much room on the memory card! We didn’t make it to Windy Tunnel due to the abundance of flowers. There were plenty of creeks for the doggie to wade in to cool his puppy toes; and for us to refill our own emptied water bottles. The trail is very sunny once out of the snowshed so pack your sun protection! No mosquitoes; but we did see bear sign: a freshly clawed de-barked tree and mushy scat. The flowers are in various stages of blooming so they are there for awhile! Thanks VOW for a great trail. Drive Directions: From the IGT website here are the driving directions to get to the Wellington trailhead: Drive U.S. 2 to Milepost 64.3 just west of Stevens Pass (like 119’ from the crest) and turn north on the Old Cascade Highway. (If you are coming from the Puget Sound area, because of limited sight distance you should proceed east to Stevens Pass, turn around at the crest of the hill where visibility is optimum, and return to Milepost 64.3) Proceed 2.8 miles on the Old Cascade Highway (a bit pot-holed and bumpy) to its junction with the USFS Road 050. Turn right and proceed to the trailhead parking lot. Outhouse and info-signage, NW Forest Pass required. A few snowpathces along side of road. Also Craig Romano’s book Day Hiking Central Cascades includes the whole IGT. ~~Jasper & the Girl Scouts (less the Girl Scouts).

The Lower loop trail through markers 1720 and 1718 was in excellent condition. Easy hike with lots of interpretive information to provide the history behind the Iron Goat trail and railway. The upper trail between trail marker 1716 and 1714 was overgrown. Suggest if you hike the Iron Goat loop to extnd the 1/4 mile to Windy Point Overlook. The Overlook provides and excellent view the current railroad tunnel as well as several valleys and peaks on the opposite side of Hwy 2.

Now that summer has truly arrived, we returned to hike the Iron Goat Trail in sunshine with clear views. We parked at the Scenic Interpretive Site and hike towards the Martin Creek trailhead on the lower trail and then taking the Correa cutover, came back on the upper trail. We went as far as the Windy Point viewpoint and then took the steep switchbacks back down to the parking area. The trail is well marked, so it is easy to find your way, but those who start at Martin Creek on the lower trail then have to go up the steep switchbacks (700 ft in one mile) if you want to make a loop. On the lower trail, you can now cross over the avalanche slide area, either going on top or through a small snow tunnel. The rest of the trail is at least at this end is snow free and very easy. The trail is fascinating with tunnels and snow shed walls along the way as well as the mile markers showing the distance to the home base of the Great Northern Railway in St. Paul, MN. If we were warm, the cool air blowing through the tunnels was quite refreshing. Views along the way toward Surprise Mt. and others are beautiful.

Started this loop from Scenic up the switchbacks to Windy Point and on towards Wellington and Back to Scenic. If you would prefer not to climb a mile long switchback then start the trail at Wellington just off of Stevens Pass instead. Saw both ends of the Windy Point Tunnel and walked thru the super long concrete snowshed near Wellington. Thanked some volunteers braving the hot temps as they cleared the edges of the trail. Trail is flat/level and mostly covered by shade/trees. Waterfalls spilling over snowshed concrete walls and lot of flowers along the trail. Remnants of spikes remain along the edges of the trail. Alot of beauty and history on this trail. Great hike for a super hot day. Also, got to finally see Stevens Avalanche control weapon..... a tank, parked at the Wellington trail head!