Last updated: June 14, 2024
Place
Big Mountain Pass
NPS Photo
Quick Facts
Location:
Emigration Canyon, Utah; The Big Mountain Pass rest area is on the left side of the road 5.4 miles past the turnoff for Jeremy Ranch Road.
Significance:
Big Mountain Pass provided emigrants their first happy glimpse of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake.
MANAGED BY:
Amenities
2 listed
Scenic View/Photo Spot, Trailhead
Big Mountain Pass provided emigrants their first happy glimpse of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. But reaching the valley required a hair-raising descent: wagons, with high centers of gravity, could not switchback down unimproved side-hill slopes for fear of toppling over and crashing down the mountainside. Also, oxen cannot balance nor wagons brake effectively when traveling “sidling” along a hill. Most emigrants locked their wheels with chains and skidded their wagons straight down the mountainside.
Walk to the edge of the parking area and look west to see the grand view once shared by emigrants on the Hastings Cutoff and Mormon Pioneer Trail. Now look at the ground beyond the edge of the parking area. The deep scars that dive straight down the mountain are wagon ruts, gouged into the earth by skidding, iron-sheathed wheels and deepened by years of erosion. Today’s UT-65 twists and turns down the mountain, crossing and recrossing the old trail scar. Watch for those crossings, marked with signs, as you continue along the highway.
The Big Mountain Pass rest area is on the left side of the road 5.4 miles past the turnoff for Jeremy Ranch Road. Hikers and bikers on the Little Emigration Canyon recreation
trail will enter from the north side of the rest area.
A second segment of the hike-and-bike trail begins on the south side of the Big Mountain Pass parking area west of the restroom. This trail approximates the pioneer route down the mountain for about 2.7 miles to Affleck Park and then continues another 2.7 miles to the north end of Little Dell Reservoir. Hikers and bikers can make private arrangements for pick-up at either location. Along the way, the trail intersects UT-65 at an uncontrolled crossing on a hairpin curve with limited visibility; use caution when crossing the highway.
Site Information
Location (Emigration Canyon, Utah; The Big Mountain Pass rest area is on the left side of the road 5.4 miles past the turnoff for Jeremy Ranch Road.)