Michigan Exposures: Riding on the California Zephyr

The next day, I woke up to the sights of Utah. For the most part, Utah was very similar to Nevada. It was just about as deserty.

We found ourselves passing through a mountain valley as the sun rose.

Another meal in the dining car. As I said, the food on the train is quite good. Breakfast on the Zephyr is kind of a treat because they make a really good French toast.

And we continue through the desert. There are people that don't really like the desert, since I don't get to see the desert all that often, I thought it was pretty neat. I would imagine like anything else, you could tire of it though.

For something that is so devoid of life, it is still pretty colorful. I just love all the oranges, reds and little bits of green.

The mountain formations are pretty interesting looking too.

I really like the looks of this one. I am not sure of the geological reasons for this ocurring though. I want to say it's from erosion from years ago.

A river that we passed, unfortunately I wasn't taking notes or I would have known what river it was.

A pretty typical group of mountains for the desert.

I believe this is the Colorado River.

Slowly it snakes through the valley.

Another shot of the river.

I kind of liked the lone tree against the mountain backdrop.

Probably one of my favorite stations along the way is the Grand Junction station. Although this isn't it. There is a neat little gift shop with all sorts of railroad paraphenalia.

The folks that used to run this line.

A shot of our engines.

The old train station. I am hoping that they are renovating this because I'd love to see what its like on the inside.

A Union Pacific Engine.

A Southern Pacific engine in its original colors. I think they are owned by the Union Pacific now.

And back to the mountains. We are now in Colorado and the mountains start to look a little greener.

A truss bridge passing over the Colorado River.

I think this is the Colorado Hotel in Glenwood Springs. There is a spa here that uses the springs. There used to be a regular train run between here and Denver.

This is a ranch that was started by Paul Newman. I think it is used for wayward boys. Proceeds from his products still go here.

More mountains.

A mountain with a river in front of it.

I really love the more reddish looking mountains. Eventually these give way to the more granity mountains of the east.

Another shot of the Colorado River as it snakes through the valley.

We are still on the western side of the Continental Divide.

Another shot of the Colorado.

A few snow capped peaks off in the distance.

A shot of the train.

Another shot of the river.

I think this is a Bronco that ran off the road. The people in it survived but they were hurt pretty bad. There are a few other wrecked cars here. Apparently this is a popular spot to try to get rid of cars.

This is very similar to one of my favorite shots from the last time I passed through this way. In it you can see the three highways of history - the river, the rail and the highway.

Somewhere in this shot you can see the entrance to the Moffat Tunnel. It is named after David Moffat who was an early Colorado Railroad pioneer. It passes under the continental divide. the tunnel was completed in 1928 and cut almost 200 hundred miles off the trip from Denver to the Pacific.

The tunnel itself is 6.2 miles long and passes under the continental divide. I forget how long we were going through it but we couldn't move between the cars as an effort to keep diesel fumes from getting into them.

A shot of the Boulder dam.

Another set of snow covered peaks.

Overlooking the Great Plains.

Another shot overlooking the plains.

Off in the distance, you can see Denver.

In order to get down the mountain, there is a series of switchbacks. The average grade on the rail is about 3%. This is one way they keep the grade down.