Iron Goat Trail- October Fall Colors Hike

This hike I did with the Sierra Club and had never been on it before.  It was a bleak and rainy October day, so most people found they suddenly had other plans, and it was only 3 of us plus Cedar that went out that day.  The fall colors were pretty, but the leader said that usually they are a blaze of orange, and that this apparently wasn't the best of years for color.  The snow was visible at just above our elevation on the neighboring hillsides, a visible herald of winter's arrival. 

This trail is very well maintained and follows a couple old railroad tracks.  You start out on the lower one, which was built later, from my understanding, after the upper one was taken out by a slide.  There are various signs along the trail explaining how things were when the railroad was being built, and it is a very nice historical point of interest as well as being a fun trail. 
The lower part of the trail is relatively flat and if you hike from East to West, the slight incline and switchbacks to the upper trail are very forgiving and easy.  It is cut through with many very pretty small streams, and although some are wet crossings, most have tunnels under the trail, or the trail crosses on a bridge. 

It is really interesting to see so many signs of human activity being reclaimed by nature.  Great concrete walls to hold back slides with streams pouring over them in long misty falls, dark tunnels that have filled in with the collapsed rotten timber lining and rock falls, sheets of metal and old metal buckets rusting into the landscape. 

There are a few tunnels that are safe and you can walk through short distances, but most are quite dangerous and unstable, so heed the warning signs. I don't much care for rules, but when they make sense, I try to follow them. : )

The upper grade climbed so gradually that I hardly noticed, but then when we were going back down to the car there is a series of steep very short switchbacks going down a slope that is quite steep.  Important not to cut corners on this, so that it doesn't wash out, and also if you have bad knees, it might be best to stick with the lower grade or when you get to that point, turn around and go back the way you came... longer, but better to stay safe. 
It was approximately a 5 mile loop and it was a pretty good hike, despite not feeling overly exerted at any point.  This is one I'll definitely go back to.  For a more challenging hike, I might start out going up the steeper slope and work the loop the other way.