The pass at Big Mountain is the highest elevation on the Mormon Trail; it is 7400 feet above sea level. The journey was nearly finished at this point, but what remained was still very rugged. Perhaps some of the pioneers looked back over their shoulder. This glance to the east revealed part of the Wasatch Mountains that they had navigated through and around. Perhaps they thought of homelands, many hundreds or thousands of miles beyond the horizon that they would probably never see again. Then perhaps they looked forward to the west and thought about their future and began their 2400-foot descent toward the Great Salt Lake Valley.

After traveling nearly thirteen hundred miles from the banks of the Mississippi River, the Mormon Pioneers finally get their first glimpse of their new home where they planned to build their “Zion”. At dusk, modern lights can be seen on the valley floor in the distance.