Avalanche of Spirits: The Ghosts of Wellington
The Colors are Starting to Change
As you drop down into Wellington, you will notice the start of fall color. A few red trees here and there. Some multi-colored ground cover. It promises to be a spectacular display.
Hotel Bailets
This is what remains of the Hotel Bailets, which played a role in the events of late February, 1910. All that is left are some concrete slabs and giant slabs of granite.
Jim on Top of the Hotel Bailets
Here you see Jim standing on top of what is left of the foundation of the Hotel Bailets.
The New Cascade Tunnel
From Windy Point, it is possible to view the new, seven mile long Cascade tunnel far below at Scenic. This new, lower tunnel replaced the rail line through Wellington in 1929, ultimately leading to the demise of the town. Even today, asphyxiation remains a danger because of the length of the tunnel. As a result, only one train is allowed to go through about every 30 minutes with ventilation between.
Collapsed Snow Shed
This is what remains of a collapsed wooden snow shed on the trail between Wellington and Windy Point. It is an entire hillside of densely packed and rotting timber. It's hard to get an idea of the sheer scope of it from this picture, but it's pretty impressive.
The View from Windy Point
The view from Windy Point is extremely spectacular. High up in the mountains and at the edge of the world, there is a panoramic view of the rugged peaks of the Cascade Mountain Range.
View of Wellington Across the Valley
This is a view looking down into Wellington from Highway 2 on Steven's Pass. If you look really closely, you can see a teeny little spot of gray in the trees in the middle towards the right of the picture. This is the Wellington snow shed, which is where the two trains were sitting. The hill that you see was the hill above the trains, filled with packed snow, ice, and rain. Not only that, but the hill was minimally forested at the time because of a forest fire that had occurred a few months before the previous summer. The entire avalanche encompassed 1/2 mile of hillside. Only a small portion of that half mile is seen in this photograph. The line of trees that runs along the bottom of the photo is where the snow shed runs. The snow shed was built after the avalanche in 1910.
Nature's Wrath
Twisted rebar and concrete where snow and ice have had their way with the snowshed.
Into the Snow Shed
Vinnie enters the snowshed from the overlook.
Avalanche Cannon
In the intervening years, avalanche cannons have come into use at Stevens Pass to head off the worst of the slides. Here, Karen and Jim's kids and their friends hike up the path near an avalanche cannon at Wellington on a scouting trip.
Reclaimed by Nature
In places, the foliage is so thick you almost can't see the snowshed.