May 15th: this incredible trip across America is now half-way through as I leave the East Coast and the Midwest behind and I start preparing for the Pacific North-West.
The second day on the California Zephyr presents us with the first “wow” experience of this long train trek as we join the Colorado river over mountains and canyons, often so close to the water it almost feels like we are floating on it.
After leaving Denver in the morning we climb slowly up the Rockies. The observation deck on the train is packed and the only complaint is how the sun creates glare on the windows and makes it difficult to get the best shot, but that is definitely a good problem to have.
The scenery slowly changes as the river grows, turns, falls, flexes its muscles, spits and roars, slapping hard the rocks that dare standing in its way.
Small temerarious boats tag along for a short ride, while the mountain forests give way to gorges and canyons with walls tall as a building, painted in a kaleidoscope of colours. Above all, the red rocks that melt every time it rains and give the river “Colorado” its name.
We reach Utah by late afternoon, and as we bid goodbye to the river the landscape abruptly changes, it turns dry and rough and yet it remains breathtaking. The weather changes too, and big dark clouds behind the mountains help making the end of this day even more dramatic.
Throughout this amazing day, as the scenery gets wilder and more extreme I can’t help but think of the men that built these tracks pretty much by hand over 100 years ago, what did their lives up here must have looked like. Old black and white pictures come to mind, small white tents pitched on the side of the mountain or in the middle of the desert, backbreaking work 12 hours a day in the harshest conditions, not exactly much time or energy left to enjoy the landscape.
The sun slowly fades over the horizon and night falls as we reach Salt Lake City. Time to try and catch a few hours of sleep before the last stretch to California.
