Iron Goat Trail

East of Seattle is an old section of railroad grade that was abandoned in 1929 after the new Cascade Tunnel was completed, making for an easier passage below Stevens Pass. This old section of railroad was converted into a trail years later and is now a popular trail for short dayhikers.



The trail has many snow walls that were erected to help hold back the mountainside from collapsing onto the tracks.

In 1910 just (50 Feet) outside of the rail town of Wellington there was a nasty tragedy. A terrible snowstorm essentially closed down the tracks and two passenger trains were trapped on the western side of the original Cascade Tunnel until the snow stopped and the tracks could be cleared. With passengers hearing avalanches off in the distance they feared that one would come down onto them and was their train into the valley below. The train folks said not to worry since there had never been an avalanche on this section of track before. Well the train folk were wrong and an avalanche came down and swept the two trains off the tracks. I think it was 96 people that died because of it. Quickly the rail company erected a concrete snowshed in the very spot those poor folks perished.



I have many pictures that I took of this section of trail and the signs along the way that tell the story much better than I ever could. The photographs can be found here.

I hope that you all enjoy the photos and the beauty that I was able to enjoy on a nice and sunny day.