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This page last updated on 04/16/2018
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| Destination: Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail Distance from Point of Origin: 28 miles. Estimated (One Way) Travel Time: 35 minutes. Directions: From the Stratosphere Casino head northeast on Las Vegas Blvd about 3 miles and bear right to merge onto US-515/93/95 south towards Boulder City. Follow US-93/95 for 20 miles and turn left to stay on US-93 South. Go another 3 miles and turn left onto Lake Shore Road (NV-166) and then travel approximately .3 miles past the Lake Mead Visitor Center to the trailhead and parking area on the right. General Description: From the trailhead, the hike to the Hoover Dam is about a 3.5-mile hike. The trail follows an old railroad bed through a series of five tunnels on its way to the Hoover Dam. After the fifth tunnel, which runs directly underneath the Lakeview Scenic Overlook, the trail then continues on about another 1.5 miles to the Dam. Special Attraction or Points of Interest: Along with some beautiful scenic views of Lake Mead, the five 300-foot-long, 25-foot-diameter tunnels that cut their way through volcanic ridges at about 1600 feet, high above Lake Mead are the main attraction of this hike. Primary Activity: Hiking Secondary Activities: Photographing. Elevation: 1,600 feet. Best Time To Visit: Open for hiking year round, the best time to make this hike would be in the cooler months of Fall, Winter and Spring. Difficulty: Easy to Moderate. The walking itself is easy. Hiking all the way to the Dam and back, making it a 7 mile round trip can be tiring. Turning around after the fifth tunnel and returning to the trailhead cuts off approximately 3 miles and reduces the time in half. Facilities: None until you reach the dam. Estimated Round-trip Time: Four to 5-1//2 hours depending upon how far you hike. |
| More Info on the Railroad Tunnel Trail: Go to http://www.nps.gov/lake/planyourvisit/hikerr.htm and http://www.birdandhike.com/Hike/LAME/Railroad/_Railroad.htm |
02/26/2012 Trip Notes: I made today's hike with my friend Jim Herring who was in town visiting from Kansas. Today we just hiked out to the last tunnel and back rather than hike all the way to the dam and back. Because I had been here before I didn't get a lot of pictures, however, because it was later in the day with different lighting than I had on previous hikes, I was able to get a few (below) that I felt were better than some of those taken on my previous hike.
02/10/2011 Trip Notes: I first hiked the Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail on 02/10/2011 on a daytrip with the rock hounds from the Heritage Park Senior Facility. The great thing about this trip was that the van picked us up at the dam end of the hike, allowing us to hike the entire trail without having to make a long return trip hike.
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02/10/2011 Trip Notes: I first hiked the Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail on 02/10/2011 on a daytrip with the rock hounds from the Heritage Park Senior Facility. The great thing about this trip was that the van picked us up at the dam end of the hike, allowing us to hike the entire trail without having to make a long return trip hike.
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| Background Information: Three railroad segments totaling 30 miles were built in 1931 for hauling equipment and materials during the construction of Hoover Dam. This segment was the U.S. Government Construction Railroad section and ran from Boulder City down to Hemingway Wash, and then to the Himix, a concrete mixing plant at the rim of Black Canyon. The railroad was used heavily until the dam was completed in 1935. Many parts of these tracks were either flooded over or highly damaged. This segment, though, was still used occasionally until 1961, when one final delivery was made of a generator to the dam's power plant. The tracks were dismantled in 1962 and sold as scrap. The site was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. As you hike along this trail you will see a section of rough, rocky road on the south side of the railroad bed that is believed to be the first section of pioneer trail or road for the construction of Hoover Dam. If you look down into a ravine on the right, just before the first tunnel, you will see the concrete plugs that had to be taken out of Hoover Dam in order to install the turbines. Tunnel 1 has eight sections of vertical supports, five of which have horizontal planks to prevent the fall of loose rock onto the tracks. Weight from the rock above has damaged the outermost, eastern arch. Tunnel 2 was burned in an arson fire back in 1990. As a result, it was sprayed with concrete to fortify the looser rock, resulting in a very different look from the other tunnels. Between tunnels 2 and 3, you can view another section of the old pioneer road. After a fire in 1978, tunnel 5 was sealed. The tunnel was restored and reopened in July, 2001. All the tunnels were built with a 25 foot diameter to accommodate the huge over sized penstock sections and large equipment being transported to the dam site. It took nine steam locomotives, four gas locomotives and 71 people to operate the system. The rails were a standard-gauge, 90-pound rail construction that used Oregon fir ties. | ||
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(OPTION 2) Running the cursor over the picture being shown will PAUSE the show and bring up a navigation bar at the bottom of the slideshow window with Pause, Forward and Back buttons, allowing you to start, stop or manually forward or back up pictures one at a time.. | ||
| Slideshow Description: The slideshow below contains 73 pictures that were taken at various locations along the 3-1/2 mile hike. Shots include some of the many vistas looking east over Lake Mead, shots of the five tunnels and pictures of the power grid near the dam. |
