We traveled on Rocky Mountaineer which is a luxury passenger train running through the Rocky Mountains. They have three routes in Canada, but for this trip, we were traveling from Denver, CO to Moab, UT on the Rockies to the Red Rocks route.

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https://www.rockymountaineer.com/pack...

Day 1: Denver to Glenwood Springs, CO

On day one, we were picked up from our hotel in Denver and transported with our luggage to the train station. The luggage will travel separately from us and will be in our hotel room once we arrive in Glenwood Springs.

As we pull out of the rail yard in downtown Denver, we watch the city disappear behind us. Very soon, the big city is just a silhouette on the horizon. We are approaching the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and begin to climb in elevation. Denver is known as the ‘Mile High City’ as it sits at 5200 feet in elevation, but we are going to gain another 1400 feet in the next hour. This journey begins with the Big 10 Curve.

Next, we are getting into tunnel territory. Here we will go through 28 tunnels in 17 miles. The last is the Moffat Tunnel which is the longest at 6.2 miles and takes 1213 minutes to pass through. Also, the Moffat Tunnel passes through the Continental Divide, so once we emerge, we are on the Pacific side. We have now climbed to over 9200 elevation.

As we pass through the tunnels, we are truly in the mountains and the landscape has changed so much! There are areas where it is exactly what you think of for ‘rocky’ mountains, just giant peaks with no vegetation. Then you will see more of lighter sandstone mountains. And also mountains covered in trees. And let’s not forget about the Aspens! In September, the leaves start to change and we are seeing bright golden leaves all around us.

In Granby, CO, we join the Colorado River which will follow us the rest of the day. We watch as it starts off small and gains in width, depth and strength with some serious rapids in some places. It is wonderful to be alongside the river, because not only is it beautiful, but we see so many boaters, rafters and fishermen along the way.

Eleven miles past Granby, we enter our first canyon of the day, Byers Canyon. These canyons are spectacles to behold! You will always have the river near you but sometimes it drops low into the canyon… and you have cliffs and peaks all around you. There is something special about how the sun reflects off the walls of these canyons as you pass through them. These areas make for the most beautiful pictures!

Throughout the day, we pass through Byers Canyon, Gore Canyon, Burns Canyon and finally Glenwood Canyon as we enter our destination of the night in Glenwood Springs.

Day 2: Glenwood Springs, CO to Moab, UT

Bright and early at 6:45 AM we are back on the train platform and ready to board our train car for the next part of this adventure! The sun is just starting to rise over the mountains and reflect brightly on the red rocks in the area. As the train pulls out of the station, we are greeted with hot coffee and fresh cinnamon pastries made by a local bakery in Glenwood Springs.

I feel we are more relaxed and subdued on day two after all of the excitement from yesterday. So now we can sit back and relax more and just take in the views!

And the landscape has changed again… much more sandstone through here and less plant life as we are heading out into the desert. But, surprisingly, this region is fertile farmland!

The sandstone cliffs are uniquely beautiful! Especially when you get into the Book Cliffs area. These cliffs run for 150 miles and have hard solid formations at the top that lead down to erosion on the sides and what looks like sand dunes near the bottom. But these are deceptive in that the ‘sand’ is actually quite hard and you can walk on it… but if you try to drive a vehicle over them, they would crumble.

We travel about 35 more miles and come into Ruby Canyon. I am going to say this is the highlight of the trip! You see a lot of the red but also so many other colors! There is something special about gliding through this canyon with so much to see around you! There are cliffs and formations, there is a river alongside you… and so many colors. This is one of those places where words just cannot do it justice!

In Ruby Canyon, you cross the border into Utah and once out of the canyon, the landscape changes yet again. We are now in the high desert. This area has vast openness! Very little vegetation in this stretch and a mixture of flat land, small hills, and mountains off in the distance.

Once we make it to Moab we can see more red rocks all around us after being in the open desert for a while. It is just beautiful! We are staying in Moab for a couple of days so stay tuned for that!