November 5, on the train

It's 6:15 AM when a friendly voice announces that the train is about to arrive at Denver, Colorado. I had a good sleep on my first night riding the Amtrak, but when I look out through my sleepy eyes I see skyscrapers. This is Denver? But then I look a bit better and I notice the snow on the ground and the mountains in the distance. The train is early and we are allowed to step out for a morning walk. It will leave at 8. Quickly I get dressed and step out in the fresh morning air. I walk on 16Th Ave. It's pretty. The street seams to be reserved for pedestrians and hybrid powered buses. Denver reminds me of Calgary though it might be older; the gorgeous train station dates from 1880. The air is dry and warm, the sun is already shining at 7 AM. I don't want to miss my breakfast and so it's back on the train soon moving through the pre-Rockies, fresh snow here and there from the last storm a few weeks ago. The sun is shining. The lady sitting beside me at the breakfast table told me that Colorado has 300 days of sunshine!
Soon the train will ride through some beautiful scenery: mountains, canyons, tunnels across the Continental Divide. That would be a good day to spend hours in the Sightseer Lounge with windows all around, but I don't. I figure that I will see everything from the window of my cabin. Later I will regret it very much. I probably missed seeing the Grand Mesa before darkness came again, but I got to see the La Sal mountains at dusk. That was almost already in Utah. Right now the train is climbing; we pass the 1o km long Moffat tunnel that opened in 1928 cutting the distance between Denver and the Pacific coast by 176 miles. Prior to that the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific railroad crossed Rollins Pass with a series of switchback loops and steep grades. I read this in the brochure on the California Zephyr. It's interesting. I do see why among the passengers that I meet in the dining lounge, there are the ones that take the train because of the love for it, its engine, the way it worked back then when it first started to cross America, and the way it works now. I'm on the train to see America my way and because I am too chicken to drive!
The next stop is Winter Park (Fraser) a Ski Resort 9000 ft. above sea level. The ponds are already frozen and I see some nice ski hills, villas on the cliffs, but also a few shacks lining the train track. It doesn't look like a Swiss ski resort at all! From now on the train will be in and out of canyons for hours to come. A remote Fraser canyon with human faces carved in the rocks: I see an old Indian chief, a Grandmother, an unborn baby.....The cliffs are reddish-brown, so are the stones and the earth. The "train-voice" announces that we will soon be travelling through the famous Gore; a very short, steep canyon on the Upper Colorado river, and lucky you, says the voice: "there is no road through the Gore. It's accessible only by train or kayaks!" The steep walls ascend some 1000 ft. on each side over the river, which descend from 7300 ft. to 7ooo. And so the brochure: "Its Class V whitewater is the wildest commercially available rafting in the state--some say the entire country."
It's almost 2 PM and the train has just left the Glenwood Canyon following the Colorado river. It stops at Glenwood Springs. According to the brochure this is a unique location that sees high recreational use by locals , visitors and commercial outfitters alike . Here are 6 world-class ski resorts, mountain bike trails, whitewater rafting, hiking trails and the famous Glenwood Caverns, a geological marvel. From the train I see the elegant hotels that offer relaxing spa- holidays. Glenwood Springs is famous for its thermal waters, and this time it does look like a resort town in the Swiss-Alps . The old train station is for sale. The sign says: "Historical Train Station, 4578 ft above sea level, built at the turn of the century."
Soon it will be dark again. The problem with travelling in November is that most of the day is night! And so it's dusk when the train leaves Grand Junction heading towards the State Line Colorado/Utah. I can make out the shape of the mesas, the flat mountains overlooking the region and then we are travelling through the desert of Utah when night comes. In the darkness we will travel through some more mountains, Salt Lake City to Reno arriving at Reno at 8 in the morning.