#6 The California Zephyr, Day Two

 May 4, 2023

Under a low, heavy blanket of clouds, the Utah landscape that I awoke to this morning was a bit bleak.  Most of the country seems oversaturated with rains, and rivers are to the flood point, but apparently not so here.  

A little further east down the tracks we crossed the Green River.  There seemed to be plenty of water, though it was more muddy brown than green.  

Green River, Utah

Green River, Utah

I hadn't really felt up to going for breakfast again this morning.  As the dining room was soon closing, my attendant, Craig, thoughtfully offered to bring me a tray.  Railroad French toast, with some of the best bacon ever.  

The clouds were nearly gone, and the landscape began to change as we rode through the area near Arches National Park in Utah.

Late morning we clickety-clacked our way across the Utah border into Colorado, and soon were following the Colorado River.

Like the Green River, it's banks were full of the melting snow from the mountains.  The water was busy, churning and flowing, and looked like a giant latte poured out. 

Throughout the day we continued on in more or less a northeasterly direction.  We said hello and goodbye to the river many times as we followed and crossed it.  

As we traveled through the Rocky Mountains, the terrain changed back and forth from ear-popping heights to lush valleys.  

Here it appeared that there had been a recent wildfire.

Though I do spend a lot of the day looking out my own window, I like to get up and walk the length of the train.  It doesn't often happen that the cars are coupled in such a way as to allow access to the end window, but it's a treat when it does.

When I took this same route last year in February, almost all the mountains were deep in snow, and the river was mostly frozen.  There was wildlife galore.  I'm not sure why, but I've not seen a single wild animal.  A few birds, but that's all.  These black angus cattle stood out against the lush green grass.

I love the varied greens of juniper, sage and pine against the vivid reds.

We made our way through several canyons.  Upper Gore, Lower Gore, Byer Canyon, to name a few.  And the river was always there.  Sometimes contentedly purring, other times she was leaping and fighting against the rocks that would hold her.  

Here, Class 5 and 6 rapids draw people from around the world, for the thrill and challenge of fighting their way down through her waters.  I remember a few times rafting with a group down the Deschutes River, getting a thrill out of what were probably no more than Class 3 rapids.

Here bits of snow are still hanging around in the shadows near the waterline.

During dinnertime we travel through the Moffat Tunnel.  Taking us through the Continental Divide, the tunnel has been in use for 95 years.  It is 6.2 miles long, and takes approximately 10 minutes for a train to travel through on the single track.  Trains must be spaced apart to allow the fumes to get out of the tunnel before the next train.  Still, during that time, we were not allowed to go from one car to another, so that the doors between the cars wouldn't allow any fumes in the cars.  

An hour or so later, we pulled into Denver Union Station.  As we would have a crew change, we were scheduled to be there about 20 minutes.  My attendant insisted that I needed to go check out the newly remodeled station.  It was a bit of a walk, so I just went there and back.  We ended up with a delay of about an hour, so I could have gone in and got a treat from one of the nice shops.  Bur really, I was glad to change into my pajamas and crawl into bed.