The deadliest avalanche in U.S. history hit Washington, and the trail through it is easier than you’d think

Ninety-six people died in a single night near Stevens Pass in 1910 — the deadliest avalanche in U.S. history — and the railroad grade it happened on is now a hiking trail almost anyone can walk.

Most people driving US 2 have no idea the Iron Goat Trail is even there. It’s not a summit push or a scramble. It’s a piece of Washington history you can walk through at a completely normal pace, with the wreckage still there to prove it.

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What actually happened at Wellington

In late February 1910, two Great Northern Railway trains sat snowed in for six days at a stop called Wellington, pinned below Windy Mountain while a blizzard buried the tracks faster than crews could clear them. On the night of March 1, lightning struck the slope above the trains.

The resulting avalanche knocked both trains 150 feet down into the Tye River valley and buried them under snow so deep that most of the bodies weren’t recovered until the following July. Ninety-six people died — it’s still the deadliest avalanche the country has ever recorded.

The railroad rerouted after that. A lower, longer tunnel opened in 1929 and is still in use today, and the old grade through Wellington was left to the forest — snowsheds, tunnel portals, rusting wreckage and all.

The trail itself is the surprise

Here’s the part that catches people off guard: a railroad grade doesn’t climb steeply, by design, so most of the Iron Goat Trail is close to flat. The short loop at the Wellington town site — where the trains actually sat — is about 2 miles round trip with barely any elevation gain, and interpretive signs along the way explain exactly what you’re looking at.

Want more distance, the same easy grade? The stretch from the Martin Creek trailhead out to the Iron Goat Interpretive Site runs about 5.6 miles round trip with roughly 656 feet of gain spread across the whole thing — moderate mostly because of length, not steepness. The first few miles of the trail system follow the old grade closely enough that they’re considered wheelchair accessible.

You’ll pass concrete snowshed ruins, old tunnel portals, and views down into the valley where it all happened. It’s one of the only places in the state where the hike is genuinely more interesting for what it used to be than for what’s around it right now — and that’s saying something in a state this scenic.

What to know before you go

The trail sits in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest off US 2 near Stevens Pass, with three trailheads: Scenic, Martin Creek, and Wellington. A Northwest Forest Pass is required to park at Martin Creek and Wellington, but not at the Scenic trailhead.

Skip the ski season entirely — this is a summer and fall hike, since the same slopes that buried those trains in 1910 still hold snow well into the year. By August, the whole trail system should be clear and walkable.

One honest opinion: start at Wellington if you only have an hour. The history hits harder standing at the actual town site than it does anywhere else on the trail, and you don’t need the extra miles to get the full weight of it.

Trip tips: grab a rental car to get out here, or lock in a hotel in Leavenworth or Skykomish if you want to make a weekend of it.

Rules and fees change — always confirm current requirements before you go.

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