#5 Gorges, Gorgeousness, and Wildlife Galore

The Colorado River

February 13

The Colorado River is nearly 1,500 miles long.  The California Zephyr follows it for several hundred of those miles.  When we first encountered the river, it was wide and lazy looking.  It looked like a river I'd enjoy exploring by kayak.

As we climbed in elevation there was more snow, and steeper banks.  The river became narrower and much of it was frozen.  

In Lower Gore Canyon, Colorado River

Far below the train, down in the gorge was what in the summer are class five rapids, struggling to break free of their icy bonds.  The canyons that we passed through were Lower Gore Canyon, and then Upper Gore Canyon.  They can only be reached by train and, in the summer, by raft.

Upper Gore Canyon, Colorado River

Rapids of Colorado River

Canyon Walls, Upper Gore Canyon

Snowy fields covering frozen portions of the river were dappled with thousands of animal footprints.  When we went slow enough, it was interesting to try and figure out who had left which prints. 

 

Animal Prints on Frozen Colorado River

Elk Cows on Frozen Colorado River

Animals abounded.  At the thundering of the train many bounded away so were hard to identify but I saw many elk, hundreds of deer, all different kinds of ducks, geese and other birds, and many bald eagles.  In two places I saw deer that had gone down and were frozen into the ice, to become food for the eagles and other birds.  While roadkill deer are common enough, this was a unique opportunity to see nature at work. 

 

Bull Elk Hiding in the Trees

Deer in the Sunshine

Deer Fleeing from the Thundering Train

Deer Scampering Down a Graveled Slope

Nearly Full Moon Hanging Above the Gorge

And then suddenly the ground leveled out and we were in daylight again.  Snowy fields held fat black angus cattle, with deer or elk grazing amongst them. 

Further down the river we passed Radium Hot Springs, known for its pure hot springs water, with no chlorine added. 

 

Radium Hot Springs on the Colorado River

Up to this point on the trip it had been all blue skies.  Now, as we continued our eastward journey, a couple of golden clouds moved in with the approach of evening.

As we hurtled down the tracks towards Denver, I sat down to eat my salmon dinner.  While in the diner, the conductor announced that we would soon be heading through a tunnel that would take ten minutes to travel through.  Moffit tunnel is six miles long, and at more than 10,000 feet in elevation.  Due to the thin air and the pollution from the train, we were not allowed to move from whatever car we were in until we were through the tunnel, so that we wouldn’t let any of the bad air in.  Thankfully it had already grown quite dark so the only negative thing about the experience was that my ears became painfully plugged. 

We were in the Denver station for quite a long time, due to the fact that the train must back onto a track before transferring passengers.  Also, in Denver we had a shift change as well as what they just call “train work”.

Denver, Colorado