I was able to meet some relatives in Las Vegas this summer and decided I wanted to ride this trail.
I started from the River Mountains Loop Trail parking lot, which is on the road to the dam. Fortunately I downloaded the GPS data for this trail first, or I would have missed the start of the trail.
It is a really awesome trail with an incredible view of the lake all the way. The loop trail meets the old rail trail near the road below the Alan Bible Center, which then turns to gravel. The gravel trail is no problem and I had a great 14 mile ride to the dam and back. I would recommend riding the trail as early as possible, as it got hot fast.

Needed to get away from the New Hampshire winters so I saw this trail and had to walk it. I started in Boulder city and walked to the dam. About half is paved in the begining and the rest is gravel. On my way back I saw some longhorn sheep. Would not want to do this in the summer as there isn't much cover over head except for the tunnels. Took me 8 hours. I clocked 16miles round trip with my GPS.

THE RAILROAD TUNNEL TRAIL, LAKE MEAD, NV

10/6/2009

TRAIL RATINGS:

Trailbed from lower trailhead to dam = 3*, somewhat loose gravel over hardpack with annoying little ridges every 4-12’ that have you bobbing. Cleaner inside the Bureau of Reclamation property. From lower trailhead to upper trailhead = 5*, fresh blacktop.

Scenery = 5*. Lake views, vistas, mountains, five tunnels, dam stuff, including the switching yard at trail’s end. There you navigate the five story parking garage and go on foot to Hoover Dam. No bikes. Bring a lock. Might want to bring a pack instead of saddle bags so no gear is left on the bike.

Facilities = 4* Vault toilet at lower trailhead. Look for water and restrooms down at the dam. Benches on assorted view points. Upper trailhead offers parking and an info kiosk. You can find water and restrooms at the Nevada Welcome Center up Rt 93 and across the road at Nevada Highway.

What’s in a name?

TrailLink calls this trail the Historic Railroad Hiking Trail. The Park Service, which administers the trail, calls it the Railroad Tunnel Trail. Probably the better name as the big draw going in are five RR tunnels, one right after the other. Then you are on Bureau of Reclamation land and wander around the warehouses and shops and hardstands down to the switching yard, where the trail ends. Park your bike in the rack and lock it.

Take the sidewalk down to the five story parking garage and find your way out to the dam. While there, take a close look at the dedication plaza with the winged figures. Check the terrazzo plaza. The builders have aligned their project with the cosmos. One thinks of the priest-kings of a hydraulic culture. Lacking are the nilometers to predict the inundation. We have stream gauges instead.

TRAILHEADS – Some choices…

The Park Service brochure tells us that “the Hoover Dam construction railroad system had three segments.” Union Pacific from Las Vegas to Boulder City. Government RR from Boulder City to the concrete mixing plant overlooking the dam. That is what you will take. The third segment went off to the gravel beds.

There are two trailheads on this project. Decision time. How much trail do you want to do?
If you have kids, or sore feet or a hot, hot, hot day, then cut to the chase and go for the tunnels and dam. Park at the trailhead below the Senator Alan Bible Visitor Center. Even better, park at the visitor center. They have water and amenities. Take the walk down to the trailhead below. Then get on the gravel trail and head for Hoover Dam.

The Park Service shows this as 2.6 miles . I am not so sure about that. My GPS shows 4.54 one way miles, a max speed of 20.2 (down some switchbacks in the Bureau Rec lands) and a moving time of 45 minutes, 247’ of elevation change. I suggest you plan on 5 miles one way, 10 miles roundtrip from lower trail head to parking garage at dam and back.

PACIFICA (UPPER) TRAIL HEAD…

If you are a hardbody and want do to a bit more, you can start up at the edge of Boulder City at the River Mountains Loop Trail facility on Pacifica Way and head down hill. This is 3.6 miles (NPS figures) of downhill travel on a fine blacktop trail to the lower trailhead. Of course, it is also 3.6 miles of uphill travel at the end. I like to do my uphill early in the shade and downhill late.

STREET LUGE, ANYONE?

If someone would shuttle me uphill (dream on), I would eschew the Pacifica Trailhead and head up Rt 93 to the River Mountain Trail (RMT) trailhead. Look for brown highway signs at a bend in the road.

Note – there are two River Mountain trails. Confusion. The RMT is a death march from the RMT trailhead in Boulder City to the top of Red Mountain. About 6 miles round trip at 1185 elevation gain. The 34 mile River Mountains LOOP Trail is a project some 15 years in the making, which is being dedicated this month. All purpose-built trail. Very nice.

It passes through the RMT parking lot. Blacktop enters from uphill. Downhill is the “street luge” section. They have multi-used the trail into a concrete lined and landscaped drainage channel which will dump you out at Pacifica Trailhead.

You can walk it or ride it unless there is a flood or storm in progress. Duh! Hop on it, go screaming downhill, make a hard left at Pacifica (or else), sweep around the parking lot, out into the desert and down to the lower trailhead. (Take a taxi back.) Now you are down at the lower trailhead and we can begin the tour.

BUT FIRST, LET’S MENTION THE BOOTLEG CANYON MOUNTAIN BIKE PARK…

Boulder City has some nice facilities. One is the Bootleg Canyon Mountain Bike Park – when you tire of fine blacktop trails and want to huck and shred and grab some air on the pump track. Check them out at:

http://www.bootlegcanyon.org/

OFF TO THE TUNNELS AND BEYOND…

Vistas, have we got vistas! And handy benches to sit and grok the view. Including the bathtub rings. There should be 185’ more water in Lake Mead. The Boulder Beach campground used to be at water’s edge. You can see it all from the trail. I was on the trail at 0743, with the sun just clearing the mountains, which provided a lot of shade and shadow. It’s about 1.3 miles to the first tunnel. After that they just keep on popping up. Five in rapid succession. No lights needed. They built them oversized to accommodate the penstocks and heavy equipment. Check out the pix.

Tunnel 5 leads to the Bureau Rec gate – locked at night. Once through, look back and there is the Lake Mead Overlook sitting atop the ridge. Now the trail winds among the hardstands, warehouses and other dam facilities. There is something tucked in every ravine.

You descend switchbacks to the electrical switching yard. Keep the speed under control. Loose gravel on the hairpin turns makes for interesting riding. (Don’t even ask.) One hairpin has a chain link fence – to keep you from shooting out into the ravine (big rocks) when you overshoot the turn. See the fence, start braking. Bet someone BTDT.

When you pass through the switching yard, your ride is over. There is a fence and gate ahead in a defile. No bikes! Use the bike rack, enjoy the picnic table, and hoof it down the sidewalk to navigate the parking structure on your way to being a tourist at Hoover Dam. It’s a remarkable project, some 78 years and counting.

Ride on!

ToolBear

Started 0705 at about 84 degrees from Historical Railroad Trail Head below Alan Bible Visitor Center. N36.01190 W114.79365 Elev 1562’ .
The first trail sign will lead to the Rail Grade, but if you continue along the concrete path you will come to the real RR grade. Trail has loose gravel but is passable with my Tri-Cruiser. Great views of the Canyons & Lake Mead, and two Big Horn Sheep. Five Tunnels and then several short steep grades to the end of the trail for cyclist. A slopping concrete walkway leads down to Hoover Dam.
Return was difficult, 35% plus grades for 844’ & 581’, ratchet pedaling 6 to 8 inches each half turn. Completed round trip 1150 hours and 104 degrees.
By Noel Keller 29 Jul 08

The last 3 miles have been completed in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area: now there are 17 miles one way (Pacifica to the toll booth by Alan Bible Visitors' Center all the way to a toll booth on Lake Mead Parkway).

**Your above statement says reviews will be approved by RTC staff. I take that to also mean reviews will be intregrated into old ones: updated and improved. Last time you just printed by questions and ignored some of my suggestions.

Jim D's 2003 review is rather outdated, e,g, one can go to the dam now.

This is NOT jsut a hiking trail - it's misleading. It's a multiuse, non-motorized trail.

Why don't I get in withuser name "Tony Taylor"? Does it have to be lower case? Let's make this easy for non-tech guys like me ... I almost gave up.

!! This is a fantastic trail and getting better all the time. Do you want me to continue updating this? If yes, please fix the entries so readers get an accurate overview and can make informed decisions.

Cheers, Tony

Please edit my 30 Oct 2007 review (update it).

You list the trail as 6 miles. Is this one-way or round trip? Please state such on your site.

Is a phone # and web site listed? If not, please list for potential users.

You may want to list this trail twice for "search" purposes. List it under River Mountains Loop Trail too - that's where I look for it.

I used the Alan Bible Visitors' Center as a landmark for the trail head/parking lot, but it is really a parking lot BELOW Alan Bible (towards the lake).

This is an out and back spur to the River MountainS Loop Trail, that when completed will be 34 miles (paragraph 2)!

The one-way distance from the trail head/parking lot is about 4 miles (paragraph 1).

As of now there are 2 bike shops in Boulder City (1 closed up): All Mountain Cyclery and B.C. Adventure Bikes. All Mt. rents bikes and conducts tours.

My old last paragraph mentions 13.4 miles of the RMLT. 10 miles are now paved (from the trailhead it goes to Las Vegas Bay). The last miles may be done this March.

"On 19 Oct 2007 the Boulder Dam historic 5-tunnel railroad track, which is now a multiuse trail(no motorized vehicles), will be extended to the upper level of the Boulder Dam parking structure! The trail is packed dirt from the Alan Bible Visitors' Center to the dam. The total one-way distance is about 5 miles. If you look hard you may see a mine shaft and concrete plugs dating back to when a new generator was added to the dam (on the right going towards the dam - in a gully/drop off).

This trail can be used by itself or as an out-and-back connector to the River Mountain Loop Trail (RMLT), which, when finished, will total about 35 miles of multiuse (non-motorized) 12-foot wide blacktop. Parts of the RMLT will have a parallel dirt trail for horses.

Also on 19 Oct 2007, 3.6 miles of the RMLT from Pacifica St to Alan Bible Visitors' Center will be complete with blacktop. You can add a mile more to this if you start at the Nevada Welcome Center on Hwy 93 and head toward the dam.

The RMLT has a completed section of about 10 miles between the Lake Las Vegas area on Lake Mead Parkway in Henderson to Rail Road Pass Casino (Highways 93-95).

You may want to check out the RMLT web site at rivermountainstrail.org.

As of September 2007 there are 3 bike shops in Boulder City, the closest town to the trails mentioned here. For info get a B.C. phone book or contact the Chamber of Commerce.

Extra info.: RMLT construction is taking place right now from Alan Bible, paralleling South Lakeshore Drive towards the toll booth and beyond for 13.4 miles. Construction on the RMLT from Rail Road Pass Casino towards Boulder City (5 miles) will probably start in Oct 2007 and can take 240 days to complete. The final 0.8 miles towards B.C. will probably be completed in 2008.
"

"This is a great scenic trail! It's a little short for biking being only two or three miles long, but it's great for jogging or walking.

If biking is your thing, the trail is pretty smoothly surfaced with crushed rock, but I would only use a mountain bike. The views of Lake Mead are awesome and the five tunnels are a cool feature!

I hope they extend it to the Dam."

This trail follows the old railway that was used to transport all of the materials used to construct Hoover Dam. It is a very easy trail and includes five tunnels. Most of the trail provides beautiful views as it overlooks Lake Mead.