Californian Zephyr
My eighth train, the Californian Zephyr starts in Chicago, as do many of the long distance trains in the USA, but the part from Denver to San Francisco must be one of the most scenic routes in the US.
The train left Denver at 8am and soon climbed out of the plain up into the Rockies. We were surrounded by pine forests and rushing streams with glimpses of snow. After about 2 hours we reached the 6 mile long Moffat tunnel, opened in 1928. It marks the continental divide and the highest point on any AMTRAK route at 2,820 m and cut 100 kms or 5 hours from the original route .
One passes several ski resorts and then one follows the upper reaches of the Colorado river for a long time through a scenic canyon gradually coming down from the high Rockies.
In the early afternoon one reaches the Ruby canyon on the border of Colorado and Utah; red cliffs where eagles soar and a green river- I found it magical.
One passes some very arable countryside in the afternoon where various crops including grapes are grown and where I believe marijuana is legal, or so I was told by a fellow passenger. This seems to be the case in some US states or areas and in Portland I even found a map of local locations where it was accessible.
I was delighted to buy a snack resembling biltong at one of the stops. No smoking is allowed on the trains, but ever 3 hours or so, they have what is ironically called a “fresh air” stop for the smokers where the train stops for about 10 minutes and one can scamper to the station shops or walk on the platform. One is exhorted to stay “trainside” or risk becoming part of the population of the local town.
In the afternoon we passed a very weird area in Utah, barren where the mountains and cliffs seem to have been made of ashlike rough concrete. My Bradt guide describes them as book cliffs, eroding mesas made of sandstone and shale.
We arrived at Salt Lake City at about 11pm and I think I saw the lights of the Mormon temple.
By the next morning were were back in the mountains (Sierra Nevada) with snow and conifers and more ski resorts. We crossed from Nevada into California passing Truckee, Donner Lake and the Donner Pass which has a gruesome story of an early party of settlers starving there and resorting to cannabalism when entrapped by winter blizzards. As one descends from the heights there are remnants of snow sheds. These are structures erected to protect the tracks in winter. As they used to be made of wood, they were rather hazardous in the days of steam. There also remnants of old gold workings along the rivers here and also some old wooden flumes carrying water.
One descends further to reach the rich Californian farmland ; Sacramento the state capital is passed ; later a large wetland (Suisan Marsh) paradise for birds and on to Martinez where you cross an impressive bridge and get your first glimpse of the Pacific. I liked Martinez. On to Emeryville which we reached at about 5pm. Then we were bussed across the bridge to San Francisco.
San Francisco
I met up with dear friends in SF who live in the UK and were coincidentally there at the same time. They had arranged accommodation for us in a gracious traditional SF house with what felt like 100 stairs our top floor bedrooms. San Francisco has lots of lovely timber frame decorative homes and it is nice to see that most of them are cherished.
I enjoyed lovely food in San Francisco. We breakfasted at a local traditional diner which served pancakes (crumpets) and maple syrup; also items like grits and hash browns. We also went to a very good neighbourhood Mexican restaurant, Nopalito.
The one must do on my list for San Francisco was to go to Filoli, which is in Woodside about 25 miles south of SF. We took the local train and ubered from the station. It was a glorious spring day and the gardens could not have looked lovelier. We toured the house and also took a walk to see the redwoods. Visit their website to read more about this lovely place.
On the second day we wondered along the wharf, visiting the various quays including Quay 39 where we watched the snoozing sea lions; had a lovely fish lunch and then the took one of the famous cable cars to the cable car museum.
This is a fascinating place explaining how they operate and their history. They are the last manually operated cable cars in the world. One can see the big flywheels operating and I wished my brother who enjoys such technical information could have been there with us. We then wandered down through China town.
I liked San Francisco more than I expected to; it had a feeling of Cape Town about and although it has lots of tourists, they weren’t too apparent except at the most popular spots. Later that evening I sadly bid goodbye to my friends and caught the bus to Emeryville in order to catch the Coastal Starlight to Portland for my 9th train trip.
Read about the coast to coast trip through Portland to Boston
Californian Zephyr & San Francisco Gallery
