Travels by Tom: Part II Canyon Spirit journey Glenwood Springs to Moab

The Hotel Maxwell (Hotel Denver)

This was a beautiful hotel where we spent the night in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, conveniently located directly across from the train station. The next morning, since breakfast would be served on the train, we wandered into the hotel coffee shop and picked up two cups of black coffee. We then settled into the eclectic hotel lobby, taking in the interesting surroundings and enjoying a quiet cup of coffee while we waited for the train to be ready for our journey on to Moab.

We later walked across the street to explore the beautiful old train station. Built in 1904 by the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, the station has stood for more than a century and remains a wonderful reminder of Glenwood Springs’ railroad history. Inside, a framed poster commemorates the railroad and celebrates the station’s 120 years of service—a fitting tribute to this charming piece of the town’s past (below).

Back in it's heyday the station served as a focal point downtown. Now it only serves an Amtrak train or two and of course our tourist train.

Canyon Spirit to Moab, Utah

The Canyon Spirit was backed onto the platform from the nearby maintenance yard, where it had spent the night. Our train looked shiny and gleaming in the morning light—a fitting reflection of the care and attention given to this well-maintained tourist train. As we made our way toward Car 6, we were greeted by a special touch: the red carpet had been rolled out to welcome us aboard.

All aboard! We pulled out of Glenwood Springs and resumed our journey following alongside the Colorado River.

The Colorado River was on our right as we left Glenwood Springs. We would cross it many times in our journey today.

From the yummy breakfast menu I chose the Denver Eggs Breakfast.

This was a meal made for my pallette - peppers, onions and chili hollandaise, serving up the flavors of the Southwest, accompanied by a hot cup of black coffee. As the Canyon Spirit menu proclaims, "Enjoy your meal with a view."

The Colorado River is now on our left as we navigate a curve ahead. It’s fascinating how, on these curves, we can look ahead and actually see our locomotive at work, pulling us along at 35 MPH. The speed has been set to provide maximum opportunity for scenic viewing. And when there’s an especially interesting geographic feature to take in, we slow down even more. There’s certainly no hurry to reach our destination today—we’re here to enjoy the journey.

Above: Our train passes by the Grand Valley Diversion Dam near Palisades, Colorado. This dam diverts water into local canals for irrigation of orchards, farms and vineyards.

Below: We pass by one of the many vineyards and farms in this valley, all irrigated by the Colorado River.

The landscape changed dramatically as we entered the land of the red rocks and canyons. The soil is stratified in layers and wind eroded caves start appearing.

Utah-Colorado border

Painted on the cliff face is the indicator that we are passing from Colorado into Utah.

The rock formations continue to be incredible as we see eroded sandstone and weathered red rock.

The Canyon Spirit team continued to pamper us on our journey. The executive chef came out of the kitchen to help take lunch orders. I ordered the braised chicken pibil baked burrito which has smoked chili sauce, crema rosada and queso. Spanish rice is served on the side. The recommended wine pairing is Colterris Plum Creek Heritage Reisling. Yes please, I'll take a glass of Reisling!

As we travel closer to Moab we start seeing the fenced in areas of radioactive dirt and a government cleanup effort. The dirt is the mining tailings from Uranium operations in the 1950s which were mining for bomb making and nuclear power plant fuel.

The uranium scraps are packed into rail containers for transport to an underground disposal site. A radioactive warning label is prominently displayed on each piece of cargo.

Hillsides coated in green and red rocks made their appearance as we traveled along. The green tint comes from iron that settled in an underwater environment. Contained within are red bands of clay materials such as smectite and glauconite. The red rocks formed later when the iron was exposed to oxygen and rusted. This area near Moab is called the Morrison formation.

As we eased into the siding that marked the final stop of our journey, we were greeted by smiling employees of the Moab Canyon Spirit. There was something rather special about arriving in Moab by train, since the town has never had passenger rail service—and, fittingly, has no train station.

Instead, we were now traveling over tracks used by the mining companies that operate in the Moab area. Our train came to a gentle stop in the siding, where shuttle buses were waiting to carry us the rest of the way into town and to our hotel. After hours of spectacular scenery from the rails, our train journey had come to an end, but our Moab adventure was just beginning.