We started the Iron Goat trail from the red caboose and followed the switchback trail up to Wellington. For being a Sunday afternoon it surprisingly wasn't busy. Since the Iron Goat is more popular I expected to have a hard time finding parking, but there were plenty of spots available. We had a hard time deciding which trail we wanted to take, but finally decided to take the switchbacks up to Wellington. I would suggest doing this hike early morning because we were in the afternoon and the sun was hitting us pretty hard while we were going up the switchbacks. But let me tell you, it was absolutely worth it. When I first saw the tunnels I was amazed, then we kept going and I saw the snowshed in Wellington and it was stunning. I had no idea anything like this existed! We found the historical marker signs along the way really insightful and did a good job at telling the story of the disaster on the railroad. I would highly suggest this hike, especially for people interested in railroads or in history! 

Route Summary: 

• Iron Goat Interpretive site to Wellington (Iron Goat Trail east trailhead)
• ~8 mi, 3.25 hours car to car.

Decided to do this hike due to conditions near Steven's pass, where we had originally planned to hike. Drove back down to the Iron Goat interpretive site thinking it was the parking for the Wellington Ghost town. It wasn't, but we followed signs toward Wellington and got to see some of the train tunnels and snow sheds along the old railroad grade anyway. 

We began at interpretive site parking lot around 10:30 AM. The concrete pathway heads uphill to meet the east end of the lower grade of the Iron Goat Trail (left fork), and to the upper grade on a heavily switchbacked trail (right fork); we went right. After about a mile (all uphill) we met another sign at the start of the upper grade that points toward twin tunnels (left), and toward Wellington (right, 3 mi). We first went left and checked out the west end of the Windy Point tunnel, just about 50 feet from the fork. Our goal was to see Wellington though, so we headed back and made our way east on the upper grade, where the trail remains relatively flat to slight uphill for the remainder of the hike. Not many views from Windy Point viewpoint as it was partially overcast and snowing east of us. Not far from the viewpoint, about 2 mi in we hit the snow line and it stayed snowy for the rest of the hike, including a lovely steady snowfall that got a bit denser as we headed east toward the pass. The snow on the trail was never more that a few inches deep, but for a couple spots that it had drifted, melted, and refrozen underneath. It was pretty easy going, and a mellow hike but for the switchbacks at the beginning. We hiked to the east end of the Iron goat trail, past the concrete snow shed (see pictures) and turned around there. At our modest pace, we were in no rush, were back at the car by 1:45 PM.

Overall a pretty approachable hike with some cool things to see that don't require excellent weather for good views. Will have to return to see more of the Wellington area as it was covered by much deeper snow, which is why we didn't explore further near the turn around point.

Patches of snow getting deeper but manageable with winter hiking boots. Stayed mostly on the upper trails.

Stairs a bit icy-snow and be careful staying up on the Wall on the upper hike, ice was built up.

Beautiful snowy hike.

Great historic hike perfect for dogs to cool down in the streams and overflow off sides of old train tracks through granite rock