After previously talking with Bill Carter at work about Skykomish and its rail history, and doing a little research online, I decided to ask Dad a couple days ago if he had time to go for a days outing to Skykomish and look around the area. He jumped at the chance of course.
He drove to N.Bend and got here just before 9am. I was pretty much ready to go, and we were on the road around 9:15. We drove the back road thru Carnation, Duvall, and Monroe up to Hwy 2, then stopped just east of Monroe for a cup of coffee and a cookie. We got to the little town of Skykomish around 11:10 and since it was still a little early to eat lunch, we walked around town for about 40 minutes. It was cool and breezy but not uncomfortably so. We ate lunch at the Cascadia Inn which is a historic hotel with a cafe and lounge. I thought it would be a fun place to stay overnight sometime, especially if I ever go hiking up in this area. Its right across the street from the BNSF mainline, and the Empire Builder goes thru here. After lunch, we walked down to the little museum which is supposed to be open on the first and third saturday of the month from 12-4pm, but the door was locked. So then we walked back to the car and drove the local roads around the town and the old highway.
We then drove further east toward the Iron Goat Trail which is right where the hwy starts its steeper climb up the pass. There are about 12 miles worth of trails there which go along the upper and lower levels of the old Great Northern grade which was abandoned back in 1929 when the new route was built. On the trail, Dad and I split up, he just took it easy and I headed up to Windy Point following a 1 mile trail with 25 switchbacks and 700 ft of gain.
(there are more pics at my picasa site)
There were marvelous views and cool tunnels and history to see. I got plenty warm hiking, but still wished it was a sunny clear day and warmer. I explored around for an hour then hiked back to the car where dad was waiting. About 3 miles total for me. After a rest and a cup of coffee, we headed east up the pass to see what else we could see, and drove down over the other side and looking for the east portal of the cascade tunnel. When we found it we turned around and headed back to it, but there wasn’t much to see. So we came back west again, and missed the upper access road to the same Iron Goat Trail at Wellington. We realized later it was right at the top of the pass. We did pull off near the Interpretive trail where we just were, and took another old road in a short ways and found the west portal of the still well used Cascade Tunnel. While we stood outside looking at it, we started slightly smelling diesel exhaust & figured there was a train coming thru. Sure enough, about 5 minutes later a freight slowly poked its 3 eyes out and continued down the grade at about 30 mph.
After it went by, we headed west again and figured it was going slow enough that we’d pass it and could stop back in Skykomish again to see it go by. We got there and waited for 15 minutes but it never showed. I’m pretty sure it stopped somewhere before that but we didn’t wait any longer and since it was 4:40 we decided it was time to head home.
We got home about 6:20 and I made Apple Pancakes for the two of us.
(its not the nicest picture-I took it with my phone). A nice way to end the day. Dad then left around 7:20, and I washed dishes and sat down to write this blog.