California Zephyr Part I and Fraser

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The California Zephyr is the 2,422-mile train line that connects Chicago and San Francisco it is the most picturesque rail journey in the States and is marked by contrast. Travelling out of the suburbs of Chicago it heads through the Great Plains and then winds its way into the Rocky Mountains in the heart of Colorado before finally heading out to the Pacific coast. The journey takes some 53 hours in total and there is only one train per day.
To break the journey up and to provide ourselves with a fabulous opportunity to explore some of these remote yet beautiful landscapes, we planned to stop at Fraser-Winter Park, a ski resort village high up in the Rockies, and Salt Lake City, our gateway to Yellowstone Park, Deadwood and Mount Rushmore.

We boarded the train at 1.50 in Chicago at the start of the voyage. Travelling for what seemed like an age we eventually left the suburbs of Chicago, one of the three largest cities in America, and entered into flat farmland, which is best described as a green desert as it went on and on as far as the eye could see. A few hours in and we crossed the murky Mississippi river on a rotating bridge, a rare highlight for these early stages of the journey. As the day drew to a close the journey continued.

Although more spacious than an aircraft it was still quite difficult to get ant sort of sleep. Eventually I must have dozed as at Dawn I was awoken by the sun. My eye was initially drawn to the passing scenery, which had changed from farmed flat lands to wild flat lands, much like that in Dartmoor. This continued for a while until we arrived in Denver. Another opportunity to stretch our legs and listen for the conductor’s call of “all aboard!”

Shortly after leaving Denver we entered the start of the Rocky Mountains a slow and arduous climb with speeds no greater than 30mph. As we got higher the scenery increased in both beauty and in grandeur. Small grassy hills became rough rugged mountains. Following the path of the Colorado river the track twisted and turned alongside cliffs and canyons, with the river deep beneath you on one side and sheer rock face extending upwards on the other. Long tunnels bore deep into the mountain enabled the train to move even higher. Exiting out of each tunnel provided a new and exciting views and it created a sense of exhilarated anticipation every time we plunged into the darkness, not knowing what wonders awaited.

The longest tunnel, named Moffet tunnel was 6 miles long, beyond this lay the Fraser Valley and Winter Park our destination for the next few days. As the anticipation and suspense grew in the 6-mile tunnel we were not left disappointed. Confronted with snow-capped mountains, pine forest and log cabins, the valley was rich in colour and life.

We originally chose Fraser as, after looking at all the train stops on the route through Google World, this was the most remote and the leastly populated.

Adding to that sense of seclusion we were the only two people that disembarked the train. As we watched our only means of escape depart from the station we knew now, like it or not, we were stuck here.

The hostel at Fraser was a really homely place, the owners and workers were incredibly hospitable and generous and went out of their way to help make our stay all the more spectacular. Shortly after we arrived the lady at the desk was offering us lifts to Winter Park so we could hire bicycles, she gave us a brief tour of the area and showed us the start of some trail heads. After hiring bikes for two days we took some easy trials that went between the two villages, these provided us with some exhilarating views and some stunning scenery. That evening we made good use of the BBQ that the hostel provided and sat out on the deck watching the colours change as dusk fell.

The following morning we set off on an energetic hill climb making it as far as we could before snow made it impossible to continue. We raced back down holding onto the bike for dear life. After spending most of the afternoon resting and recovering from injuries sustained on the cycle ride, we were about to head back to Winter Park to return the bikes when the owner, Diane, kindly offered to take us up to the start of an excellent downhill trail. When we told her that we would love to but we had to return the bikes she called up the shop and arranged to return the bikes herself the following day. An incredibly kind gesture, or an attempt to persuade one of us into working there as night manager over the summer, either way it was still incredibly generous.

The trail was awesome, very quick, very muddy and with plenty of tight turns and sharp dips. A perfect way to end our stay in Fraser.

The next day we headed back to the train station in order to take the second leg of the California Zephyr.

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