The entire trail follows a historic railroad route offering gentle trail grades and beautiful scenery. Formerly the railroad hauled logs from various parts of the Apache National Forest and the White Mountain Apache Reservation and later hauled tourists from McNary on a tour of the White Mountains. It has been unused for 3 decades.

A unique feature of this trail is the trestle bridge which is 80 feet in length and is similar to the bridges used by the railroad at the turn of the century. It was reconstructed in 1998. The trail also features trailheads at 4 locations so that users have the option to enjoy the entire trail or portions thereof. Each of the 4 trailheads has a vault toilet and a parking capacity for at least 10 vehicles. The trailheads are located at Railroad Cove at Big Lake, Lightning Ridge, Sheep Crossing, and at the northern endpoint on State Route 260 (northeast of SR 273).