What a great way to enter the Mighty Five National Parks of Southern Utah. Rocky Mountaineer’s first U.S. venture – Rockies to the Red Rocks will get you there in style.

We left Denver early for the day-and-a-half trip to Moab, Utah, with an overnight stop along the way in Glenwood Springs. Don’t eat breakfast before you leave, because service begins as soon as you are on board and presented with just-out-of-the-oven blueberry scones and mimosas (or whatever you’d like to drink) to get you going.

This route has two classes of service – SilverLeaf and SilverLeaf Plus. SilverLeaf Plus gets you access to two lounge cars – one with bar service and the other a quiet car with classical music and no commentary.

But the commentary was a big part of the fun.  Our lively Rocky Mountaineer hosts, Olivia, assistant Sabina, bartender Lee, and Chef Rae, kept us well-fed and awake for the changing scenery we saw around every turn. Literally, scenery changed around each curve.

We traveled through forests, gorges, canyons, along rivers, and past peach orchards.

Just outside Denver, we experienced our first railroad feature, the Big Ten Curve. Curves like this use a 10-degree radius to keep a two-percent grade and a more comfortable, safer route. You could look back over the horizon and see the distant, blurry skyline of Denver as well as the entire train.

On our way up to the Continental Divide, we passed through 30 tunnels in 13 miles. But the Granddaddy of all tunnels was the six-mile-long Moffat Tunnel. This one-track engineering marvel was blasted through the rock, and in 1980 was designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. Being one track, we had to wait for another train to pass from the other direction before we could enter. Good thing our train was well lit – it would not be for the claustrophobic.

The gently flowing Colorado River eventually gave way to rapids in the Gore Canyon area, one of several dramatic canyons on this part of the trip. Since we were along the river for so much of our trip, we did see folks fishing, rafting, and kayaking. We even got a full moon salute at one point! The animals pictured above are Dzo – a cross between yak & cow.

I don’t have an exact stat for how high we got, but it was in the 8-9,000’ range.

Pictured above: Top R: the train station in front of our hotel. Middle: Hotel Colorado. Lower left: the famous Hot Springs.

After our first day on the rails, we spent the night in Glenwood Springs, a cute, walkable historic town originally called Fort Defiance. The famous Hotel Colorado often hosted President Theodore Roosevelt, who stayed here while big game hunting.  We walked across the pedestrian bridge over the river from our own 100-year-old hotel (Maxwell Anderson) to check out the famous spot and springs. Other famous names who frequented the Hotel Colorado were the iconic (Unsinkable) Molly Brown, and Chicago mobsters “Diamond Jack” and Al Capone.

I loved spending time in the vestibules between our main car and the two lounge cars. They were safe spots with open windows on both sides. We had glorious sunny days, and the dry, cool breeze was delightful. It was also a great spot to take pictures without any glass obstruction. The Canadian Rocky Mountaineer trains have a small outside platform, but the vestibules are the only open-air option on the American line.

Rolling past farms, small towns and ghost towns, livestock, vineyards, dams, and reservoirs, we were also privileged to see several nesting bald eagles. All passengers were on the lookout for wildlife, and we did spot elk, mule deer, and pronghorn at various points. As I said at the beginning, what a great way to travel. Relaxing, fun, interesting, informative, and delicious. Mere handheld photos don’t capture the scenery or the feel of the experience.

As the landscape turned from green to shades of browns and reds, we went through the De Beque Canyon, saw the striking Book Cliffs, and eventually reached the spectacular Ruby Canyon, famous for its massive red sandstone cliffs. It was here that we entered Utah and soon reached our final destination of Moab.

Next up – touring the Mighty Five National Parks.

Of Note: The last pic shows I-70 in an equally dramatic double-decker run along the river. In Canada, the Rocky Mountaineer trains are two levels, with dining down below. In the U.S., the tunnels are not quite high enough for the double height, and so the trains are one level, and passengers are served at their seats. In the U.S., there are two classes of service, SilverLeaf and SilverLeaf Plus. SilverLeaf Plus gives you access to the lounge cars and vestibules between them, as well as enhanced adult beverage options. It is equivalent to the GoldLeaf service on Canadian routes.