Iron Goat Trail - Scenic Trailhead - August 23, 2012

We went for a hike on the Iron Goat Trail this past week. This is a beautiful area with lots of railroad history. We parked at the Scenic Trailhead (also known as the Iron Goat Interpretive Site), directly off of Highway 2, just East of mile marker 58.3. This is one of 3 trailheads that access the Iron Goat Trail. This trailhead parking area is the only one that does NOT require a NW Forest Pass.

There were a few cars in the parking lot around noon when we arrived. There are restrooms in the parking lot and an older restored caboose to look at before you set out.

We hiked from the Scenic Trailhead to the Martin Creek Trailhead. This portion of the trail is barrier free! It is about 3 miles to Martin Creek. We used the restroom there and headed back down the trail to the first crossover to the upper trail. We had planned to loop around when we got to Martin Creek, but weren't sure where the loop around was. We found a trail that switchbacked away from the Martin Creek trailhead, but weren't quite sure it was the right one, since there was no sign or marker and the map didn't show that portion of the trail as a switchback. We hiked the upper trail all the way to the Windy Point crossover and then back down to the Scenic Trailhead and the cars. It was almost 7 miles round trip. This could be cut shorter by going down to the Martin Creek Trailhead  and back or cutting up on one of the earlier crossover and coming back as well. The lower trail is definitely easier going and would be recommended for those with small children. The Windy Point Crossover takes you down 700 feet over one mile of trail.

Plenty of pretty views along the trail

A Pika that we saw just off the trail.

One of many train tunnels.

A view of a collapsed tunnel.

Trestle style bridge to walk across.

A view of the train running on the newer tracks they use currently.

A view up the old spillway.

Lots of ripe berries along the trail. We saw Huckleberries, Thimble berries, a couple of Blueberries
and these Black Caps (which were delicious by the way!).

We saw quite a few areas where there were sheets of metal that looked like they had
riveted together covering the hillside. Not sure what they were for.

Checking out another tunnel. Most of them were closed off, but had
a certain area that was cordoned off to allow for viewing.

And, of course there was time for chatting along the way as well. :)

Happy Trails!