Scenic Winter

The trail may be blazed up but that doesn’t make the going any easier. However, the springs sources are running a toasty 115 deg F. Well worth the effort.

The view looks out to the north over the Tye River valley. To the right, Highway 2 makes the final climb to Stevens Pass. For those of you interested in history, you can easily make out the scar and avalanche chute in the far background. In 1910 a fully-loaded passenger train became snowbound after coming out of the first Cascade Tunnel. During the night the accumulated snowpack gave way and carried 100+ souls to their deaths far down the mountainside. The Wellington Train Disaster remains the deadliest avalanche-train accident in U.S. history.

The disaster was the impetus for the Great Northern Railway to start construction on the new railway tunnel, the current Cascade Tunnel under Cowboy Mountain and Stevens Pass. The town of Wellington was also renamed to Tye in a public relations move. Tye no longer exists but as an Interpretive Center for the very popular Iron Goat Trail along the abandoned railway grade.