24Aug11: The California Zephyr: Day 2 (Rail Day 8)

In the early hours of the morning we crossed into Utah and during the day passed from the high desert plains into the Wasatch Mountains. Randy saw three antelopes in the Wasatch Mountains, and Carol got a quick glimpse of one of them.  This was our first real wildlife sighting on the trip. In the afternoon we crossed into Colorado and began to climb the western slope of the Colorado Rockies. As we worked our way up we climbed along one side of a valley, turned 180 degrees around the head of the valley, climbed along the other side, then switched back and climbed higher along that side, and then crossed across the head of the valley again. We could look down and see all three legs of the switchback to where it started on the valley floor, now probably 1000 feet below. Very different from the Canadian Rockies. The railroad clings to the side of the mountain rather than staying in the river valleys. Lots of trestles, bridges, and tunnels. We cross the continental divide in the Moffat Tunnel, a 6.25 mile long tunnel that took us nearly 15 minutes to get through. Before the tunnel was opened the line had to work its way over Rollins Pass, which was an additional 170 miles. After Moffat Tunnel we went through a series of smaller tunnels with steep valleys and mountains to the north between them, until we came out of the last tunnel where there was suddenly a vast plain stretched out far below us with Denver, Colorado in the distance. Shortly after leaving the tunnel we saw a few deer along the track.  Carol spotted a rabbit as well.

We spent a long time going up hill behind a freight which didn't have the motive power to go any faster than 17 mph, so we only went 17 mph. This was in addition to waiting on sidings for every west-bound freight coming through. It was almost a 9:45 pm when we got to Denver, about two and a half hours behind schedule. In Denver the new attendant came on board for our car, which was a welcome relief for Bob and Jim.