“I wandered lonely as a cloud …”
Well, actually we were sweating like horses, trudging up a mile of switchbacks from the Iron Goat Scenic Trailhead to the Windy Point Overlook. Nothing Wordsworthian about this wandering, as temperatures were pushing into the 90s.
And not a daffodil in sight, thankfully, since we were seeking wilder blooms. I knew it was getting late in the season for wildflower displays at this level, below 4,000 feet, but Iron Goat was handy for a quick day trip, topped out at 4,000 feet and we had never been on it.
The Scenic Trailhead is the middle access point and the closest to U.S. 2 — like right on it, just past milepost 58 — and it has a cutoff trail to reach the higher elevation quickly. It’s then 2.5 miles to the Wellington Trailhead at the eastern, and highest, end.
Must be flowers somewhere along here, I reasoned, even in late July. Meanwhile, we discovered interesting historical aspects of the trail, which follows an abandoned Great Northern Railway grade between Wellington and Martin Creek. Just outside Wellington was the scene of a 1910 rail disaster, when an avalanche swept down the mountain, taking a train with it and killing 96 people. A viewpoint and informational signs are at the area.
On the main trail at the top of the switchbacks, you see the mouth of an old tunnel, a historical marker just inside and strong warnings about not hiking into the tunnel.
Along the trail, you see vestiges of the railroad — old spikes, the concrete walls that were the backsides of snow sheds, milepost markers. Then we came to a huge jumble of rotting wood, which, it turns out, is the remains of a snow shed that collapsed years ago after the track was abandoned. It had been built with 12-by-12-inch beams.
It was here the trail opened up enough to produce a modest field of flowers, nothing like you would find in higher and bigger meadows, but still a pleasant array of blooms, attended by numerous butterflies and bees.
We saw columbine, fireweed, Indian thistle, cow parsnip, pearly everlasting and others, along with ox-eye daisies, considered an invasive species in this state.
Farther on, a long stretch of the trail lies under a remaining concrete snow shed, cool on a hot day, but a bit creepy in a Dracula castle sort of way, especially since one end of it is collapsed in a jumble of concrete and reinforcing iron.
Near the end is the railroad disaster viewpoint, and a little beyond this is the Wellington Trailhead.
It turned out OK for us in the hunt for blooms, but even without the floral interlude, the Iron Goat Trail is worth a look. Its biggest drawback is that you’re rarely far enough from U.S. 2 to be out of eyesight or earshot.
Ron Ramey: 425-339-3443; ramey@heraldnet.com
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