Iron Goat Trail and the vanished town of Wellington

A vanished town, weird structures, and a tale of death by avalanche. I had high hopes for this hike. But

an error on my part caused three of us to turn back. It went like this.

The town of Wellington no longer exists. It was a railroad town for the Great Northern Railroad (now BNSF). The symbol for this railroad was a goat. They called the train the iron goat. Tracks were laid over this North Cascade location in the early 1890’s. The town of Wellington housed workers mostly. Other towns sprang up along the route and down where a luxury hotel once stood.

Our hike starts where the hotel once stood. What I didn’t count on was the four mile hike to Wellington had an ascent of some 700 feet in a mile’s range. This doesn’t sound like much but it’s a lot for Michele after a hard week. At the top of the grade I lost Michele, Cecilia, and Marc. They turned back and waited in the car. Aaron and I hoofed the additional three miles and back. We did eight miles that day and felt it.

When Aaron is in the mood, he’s great on the trail. He notices flowers and bugs and often can name them. He was in his element on this hike. I will say that by the time we got down, we were over-spent.

The woods here are classic northwest with clouds cutting through the forest creating a misty setting. Everything is green and mossy. Right at the top of the grade where we lost three of us, I kept noticing a fork in the trail and went to investigate. We were 20 feet away from an immense opening of a tunnel built by the railroad. It is so large that trains could pass through it going in opposite directions. Discarded in 1929, it remains here as one of the eerie wonders of this trail.

Further on towards the town of Wellington we come to a large wall built as a snow shed. This structure

held back the snow and kept the tracks clear. Like the tunnel, it is massive and made of hard cement.

Closing in on Wellington, the snow shed is enclosed with a cement canopy. Pictures of this long, pillared construct captivated me into planning this hike. Dragging, I mean walking, our way through it made all the effort worth while. By this time I’m rushing to get back and developing blisters from my hiking boots.

A wooden walkway abruptly goes right for some twenty feet. At its end is a viewing platform that looks down a small canyon. Ninety-six people lost their lives here in the worst avalanche disaster in US history. The date was March 1, 1910.

At that time there was no snow shed. There was no history of avalanches occurring in this area. But that

year saw heavy snows and a passenger train came into Wellington and couldn’t continue due to snow on the tracks. Efforts to clear the tracks of snow were futile. The passengers sat on the train for some four days. They asked to be slid into a tunnel for warmth but were refused. At 1:40 in the morning a lightening strike triggered an avalanche that took the train down 150 feet into the canyon. The last body wasn’t discovered until after the thaw in July.

Because of high maintenance costs, the tracks were moved to a lower location where it remains today. Wellington, the hotel, and other small towns, ceased to exist. The Iron Goat Trail is a system of trails that covers where the towns were and most of the structures that still remain. We only did a portion. I plan to be back to see it all. Aaron says no.