The first part of this epic 3397 mile journey across The United States was on The California Zephyr which takes you from the City by the Bay, across the High Sierras, the Utah Desert, through the Glenwood Canyon and the Continental Divide, over the front range of the Rockies, through Denver, across the heartland of America to the mi-west's Windy City of Chicago. It crosses the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois, so we were in for a scenic trip of a lifetime. This first leg would take nearly three days and two nights and cover 2438 of the 3397 miles.
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| Observation Lounge Car |
The train was scheduled to leave Emeryville (across the San Francisco Bay) at 9:00am and we had to be there by 8:40am. Ian had organised a 'street car' to call for us and they recommended that we leave the hotel at 7:15 so it was another early start. As it turned out, the Amtrak California Zephyr, with its locomotive bell clanging, pulled into Emeryville station an hour late, but at least we wern't stressed by traffic. We boarded the train and as soon as we were settled, we made our way to the observation lounge car. This is a car that is designed as its name suggests; a double decker lounge with the upper deck having a glass roof. It was to be in this area that we spent most of our time.
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| San Pablo Bay |
Leaving Emeryville, all we could see was industrial lands until the train crossed the shallow tidal estuary of San Pablo Bay that forms the northern extension of San Francisco Bay. Rather than the blue glistening water of the pacific that we expected, we found the shallow bay water to be a muddy brown but at least it does support many species of birds and other wildlife.
In the observation car, there was a commentary between Sacramento and the town of Truckee which we found very interesting. We learned that between the Bay Area and Sacramento the California Zephyr travelled over the old Central Pacific Rail-road This was linked to the Union Pacific Rail-road at Promontory, Utah in 1868 to create the country's first transcontinental rail route.
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| Donner Lake |
The Zephyr climbed high into the fir covered mountains of the Sierra Nevada and after the Donner Pass, the beautiful Donner Lake came into view. In the winter of 1846-7 a party of 87 (the Donner Party) travelling west from Illinois were stranded here and it was reported that some of the party resorted to cannibalise. Only 48 survived.
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| Truckee |
Shortly before leaving California, the Zephyr crossed back and forth across a series of plateaus as it descended into the Truckee Basin and called at the town of Truckee. The town was named after a Paiute chief Trukizo and the Paiute tribe's word for hello,Tro-key. The railway followed the Truckee river for over 230 miles giving breathtaking views along the way.
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| Truckee River |
The evening drew in and as night fell, we left the observation car and went to the dinning car for dinner, but the Zephyr continued to speed along its way.
The dining car had a communal policy whereby if you were a party of 3 or fewer, you shared a table with others to make up the 4 places. Each mealtime we met a different couple and that was a wonderful way break the ice and meet fellow passengers that we were to spend the next few days with.
During the night, we crossed the California/Nevada state line and called at Reno, (the biggest little city in the world which is renowned for its gambling and quick divorces). It was in Reno that a taylor, Jacob Davis, started to use rivets to secure the pockets of men's work trousers and with the help of Levi Strauss, patented his idea in 1873. Levi jeans were the only jeans to have rivets on the pockets.
The Zephyr then passed through Sparks. Locals are fond of saying that Reno is so close to the fires of Hell that you can see Sparks.
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| Nevada Desert |
The next stop was at Winnemucca whose claim to fame is having its bank held up by Butch Cassidy and the Hole in the Wall gang for $2000 in gold coins.
The Zephyr then called at Elko before it raced across the Nevada desert.
The train then crossed from Nevada into Utah and stopped at Salt Lake City but as this was in the middle of the night, we slept through it all. There was also a time zone crossing here and we lost an hour.
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| Ruby Canyon |
The train sped on through the beautiful Ruby Canyon, a popular destination for river rafting. Here we witnessed the result of erosion via wind and water that, over the centuries, has hewn smooth textures and fascinating shapes in the striking red stone.
Crossing the Utah/Colorado State Line, the next stop was Grand Junction then onward to Glenwood Springs, located at the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers. Doc Holliday of Gunfight at the OK Coral fame (not Ian's daughter, Jo), spent the last yeas of his life there.
The train slowed as it wound its way through the rugged Glenwood Canyon on the Colorado river, once again offering wonderful scenic views. For hours, (and nearly 300 miles) the California Zephyr snakes it way through the beautiful Colorado canyons right alongside the river and its many swirling rapids.
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| Colorado River with the Rock Mountains in background |
Snow topped Rocky mountains come into view as we climbed towards the Moffat tunnel at over 9000ft. The tunnel was opened in 1927 and its 6.2 mile length cut the distance between the Pacific coast and Denver by 176 miles.
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| Descent to Denver |
The scenery changed dramatically as we left the Moffat Tunnel. Huge snow drifts could be seen and the forest had a thick covering of snow. In fact, it was still snowing which cut down our views over the beautiful terrain. As the Zephyr snaked its way through the many tunnels, it started to descend almost 4000ft to towards Denver. The evening drew in once again, putting an end to our sightseeing.
During the night, we crossed the Colorado/Nebraska state line and another time zone, losing one hour more. The Zephyr trundled on as it crossed the Great Plains of Nebraska's flatlands. We had been warned that we had seen the most spectacular views of this leg of our journey across the States and as the third day dawned, we looked forward to crossing the iconic Mississippi River which marks the Iowa/Illinois State Line. Although we didn't have much to look at, we certainly made up for it with the stimulating conversation of fellow passengers Mary and Wally Krill. It was mid afternoon before the Zephyr rumbled into
Chicago.
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