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Big Fill Trail
Look down this path toward the sharp V-shaped notch in the shoulder of the mountainside ahead. Walking the Big Fill Trail, you can still see some of the violent fury of the final days of the race to Promontory, carved into unyielding limestone.
Although the Promontory Mountains don't look as formidable as the Wasatch Front or the Sierra Nevada to modern eyes, your hike here will show you the toughest grade for a train to pull along the entire transcontinental route from Donner Pass to the Missouri River.
This 1.5-mile round trip leads to the Big Fill and the Big Trestle site. The grade is easy to walk-just 1.6 percent-thanks to the limits set in the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862. |