Misadventures and Meanderings

Iron Goat Trail

I’ve been wanting to do this trail for a while.  And it was certainly worth the wait! This trail follows an old railway line that is now long gone.  All that is left is the train tunnels and snow sheds that used to protect the tracks.  These beautiful structures still remain in the forest today as beautiful as ever.  Mother nature has reclaimed a few of the tunnels, now collapsed, while making others stunningly beautiful with greenery and running water.  

We started on the lower trail and are thankful we did.  It was very easy going and with many of the old train tunnels to see! Many signs advised us not to go in.  But we didn’t let that stop us.  The tunnels were amazing if not slightly spooky.  If you plan on hiking this I would definitely recommend a flashlight or headlamp and water proof shoes.  We had a lot of fun exploring the tunnels and going off the trail to inspect curious artifacts and structures.

The bottom trail ended and we took an accidental detour.  The map misleadingly led us up an old logging trail for about an extra mile before we decided to turn around and go back.  We then ended up taking the upper trail back to our car.

The upper slope was less interesting, not as many tunnels to explore.  That is until the end.  There were many more snowshed walls and at the end the largest tunnel of all.  It wrapped around the corner of the mountain and was pitch black inside.  You are advised not to go in and I can see why.  I consider myself adventurous, but that just looked scary! 

A little past the tunnel is Windy Point, with a beautiful spanning view of highway 2 and the entrance to the newer railway tunnel through the mountains which replaced the one we were currently walking along.  There is even a toilet set up here the beautiful view - only no privacy is afforded!

The way back down was the craziest switchbacks I have ever seen.  I am thankful we did not take them up as I would have given up on the trail right then and there.  They were seemingly almost vertical in some places.  Alas we returned to the car.  A long hike but definitely worth it!

Rattlesnake Ridge

In all honesty I am not completely sure why this hike is called rattlesnake ridge.  To my knowledge there are no rattlesnakes residing in this area.  But nonetheless this was a fun hike!

My friend had been wanting to this hike for over a year and we finally got to it! This hike certainly has many ups and downs to it.  First, the parking lot is super nice. Its paved.  But for good reason.  This is a very popular hike with many people on it.  Definitely one of the downsides - too crowded.  We even did this hike on a somewhat gloomy day and there had to have been at least 70 other people on the trail, with their dogs.  

The hike starts very easy meandering through forest with exceptionally tall skinny trees, but quickly leads up.  This trail had many switchbacks, but they were not too difficult.  Staying at a steady pace certainly helped.  

Once we reached the top though, we were a bit disappointed.  Since the weather was a bit cloudy that day, a usually exceptional view, was us on the top of a mountain in a cloud.  We could not see! It was a bit startling at first.  The top of the mountain consists of a series of large rocks and an immediate cliff.  One wrong step and off the mountain you go!  But it was still nice.  Every once in a while the clouds would move slightly and we could see down to the lake below.  Stunning.

There is an option on the trail to hike 10 more miles to another peak.  I would love to have done this, but we were not prepared.  We will be saving that hike for another day.  

The Lime Kiln Trail

This past summer some friends and I embarked on this trail expecting to find some cool old “artifacts”, as the signs advertised, and lots of adventure.  We certainly found both!

This is a relatively easy trail.  It starts as a well cleared path which quickly turns to gravel.  The trail is used heavily by horses.  We never actually saw one but quickly got into the practice of yelling “Poop” down the line whenever we saw trace of one as the trail is littered with droppings.

About a mile in this turns into a nice hike through the forest, no longer accessible by our horse friends, thankfully.  The trail is relatively flat but near the edge of a cliff heading down to the river.  ”Artifacts” are seen everywhere on the side of the trail carefully staged by those who maintain it.  Yet they add a bit of history and nostalgia to the hike.  

About half way in we stumbled across the trail’s namesake, the old lime kiln.  There used to be a railway through here and the kiln was used quite frequently.  It is now abandoned and being recaptured by the forest.  It is beautiful and eerie in its own right. The light coming through the trees gave it an amazing effect making it almost impossible to capture on camera.

After exploring the kiln we continued on the trail towards our final destination, the cool flowing river.  When we approached there were only a few hikers there but many followed after us.  The river was a nice place to stop and rest.  We ate lunch as we soaked out feet in the freezing cold water and splashed each other.  Probably the best rest stop for a hike ever.

After spending about an hour sitting on the rocks at the side of the river we decided to head back.  The hike was nice and easy, not too challenging, and very peaceful.  

Lake Serene

This hike nearly killed me.  Dont get me wrong it was absolutely beautiful.  But the trail had at least 100 stairs built into it, we almost were crushed by falling rocks at one point, and half of the trail consisted of mud and more jagged rocks.  

The view at the top was stunning though.  After trekking through the forest for about 4 miles we approached the lake and sat on “lunch rock” for a couple of hours.  The rock is a huge boulder that slopes into the lake.  There were probably about 50 other people on it with us.  The rock was quite a spectacular sight and a great place to take a rest.  

Probably the most entertaining part of the hike was listening to other hikers while up on the rock.  One lady approached the rock and immediately exclaimed “I wonder how they got all of the concrete up here to make this!?”  I think I lost a few brain cells just listening to that..  But it was entertaining nonetheless. 

After securing a nice sunburn on my face and neck and continuing my ever-growing farmers tan, we hiked back down.  Overall, it was a good hike with beautiful views, but certainly difficult and the most crowded trail I have ever been on. 

Heather Lake

This was my first hike of the summer.  It was in May.  And may have been a bit too early to go out.  We were set on hiking another trail at first but turn out the road was closed because of a wash out earlier in the winter.  So we settled on Heather Lake.

Starting out on the trail it was pretty normal.  Good trail, gentle slope, lots of trees.  Then as we got higher up we ran into a couple of hikers who said there was some snow on the tail up above and recommended we get some sticks to test the depth of the snow with.  Seemed harmless enough.  A little bit of snow and a stick to be safe.  

We kept going and started to see some snow on the sides of the trail.  We were not really prepared for snow and were not expecting to come upon any.  Then we hit it.  A little at first on the trail but as we went we began to notice that we were about mid-way up on the trunks of some of the trees. The snow on the trail had to be at least 8 feet deep in some places. And it was cold!!

As we approached the lake we were thankful that we had continued on through all of the snow.  It was absolutely beautiful.  The lake was frozen over but stunning.  As we got closer we realized that the trail we had been following was not the established trail to the lake, but it worked.

We wondered around for a bit not really wanting to test the strength of the ice or where exactly the ground stopped and the lake started.  We got cold and headed back.  Overall it was a good hike.  A bit dangerous though given we were not prepared for the conditions.  The snow was slippery and the sticks came in handy as there were many hidden holes in the snow.  It was an easy hike if not a bit treacherous.  I would recommend this as a pretty easy hike for anyone that wants to see a beautiful alpine lake (although maybe go later in the summer when there is less snow).