We wanted a Halloween hike in an area we haven't been to and Iron Goat was a perfect choice. We went to the interpretive trail head at mile 58.3, headed up with Windy point then to the old town of Wellington. Just under 8 miles round trip. We had a perfect blue sky day in the upper 50's for temps. Great time! For a full review visit our blog! http://triplehhikers.blogspot.com/2011/10/iron-goat.html

With three trailheads, an upper and lower grade, and several crossovers connecting them, there are multiple options for how to hike this trail. Today, I started from the western-most trailhead (Martin Creek), accessed by the Old Cascade Highway and Forest Road 6710. The trail starts out on the lower grade. I took the Martin Creek Crossover to the upper grade and hiked east to the Wellington Trailhead. From the parking area, the trail continues a bit further to another tunnel. For the return trip, I re-traced my steps, but this time took the Windy Point Crossover down to the lower grade and back to the Martin Creek trailhead. All portions of the trail were in good condition, with the exception of a few areas getting a little brushy. Very few wildflowers were blooming. Even with clouds hanging around most of the day to limit the mountain views, there are enough interesting historical artifacts and interpretive signs to make this trail worthwhile.

Hiked the lower loop from Martin Creek along the lower line to the new Iron Goat Interpretive site, up the Windy Point crossover (my aching knees..) and back along the upper line. Lots of shade to keep you cool - but doesn't have the huge concrete snowsheds that the east half of the trail has near Wellington. The new DOT site at Windy Point is nice - I'll park there the next time. Lots of nice 'early' season flowers and the trails were not yet grown over too bad. Trails were all dry and very passable. I still love looking at all these huge man made tunnels and snowshed walls completely grown over and out in the middle of nowhere.

This is a pretty day hike with great mountain views and interesting historical sights. At various points on the trail there is old railroad tunnels that offer some refreshing "A\C" on a hot day. 75 percent of the trail is shaded which also makes for a good day hike on a warmer day. The only issues to report was that the trail can be slightly overgrown in some areas but not a big deal. Be sure to bring your bug spray as well! Also the sounds of hwy 2 follow you pretty much the entire time, but not to the point of being an annoyance. Overall definitely a great trail if you are short on time or are just getting back into the season.

We hiked the Iron Goat Loop last year, got interested in the history, and read 'The White Cascade' by Gary Krist this winter. After reading the book, we had to hike up to the Wellington townsite and site of the 1910 avalanche railroad disaster. We started at Scenic and took the Windy Point cutoff north. The switchbacks are steep and narrow, but the trail is in good shape. Imagine glissading down this in 1910 street clothes as some of the survivors did! Once the railroad grade is reached the trail is a very gentle uphill. Remments of the old snowsheds built after the avalanche line the trail and old spikes from the track are still there. There are some nice views occasionally but most of the trail is in the forest. The old snowshed just west of the townsite is the only tunnel that is safe to enter and the trail goes right through. This would be a great hike for kids starting from the Wellington trailhead. One caution, the left hand turn from Hwy 2 is hard to spot. After the big sign,its right after the concrete jersy barrier.