Page 55 - DreamScapes Magazine | Spring/Summer 2023

Tunnel. Built in 1928 by Denver visionary banker, David Moffat, the construction costs eventually ruined him. But in an ironic twist of fate, this landmark was also his crowning achievement, and has been designated as a National Historic Engineering Landmark.
We snaked alongside the Colorado River, slinking through a series of canyons called the Byers, Gore and Burns. As I stood in the gangway snapping pictures of rocky outcrop- pings, I felt a warm, dry chinook breeze rise off the sun-baked terrain. The Rocky Moun- taineer was tracing a sunken seabed laid down over 70 million years ago and the surrounding hills are full of dinosaur tracks and ancient fossils. It was easy to imagine that I was on the ocean floor of the prehistoric North American Inland Sea that created this landscape.
Near sunset, we caught our first glimpse of the red rocks and watched rafters floating down the quieter stretches of the river.
COLORADO’S
OLD SWIMMING HOLE Glenwood Springs, which was a playground for wealthy travellers during the Great Rail- road Era of the 1880s, is now welcoming new generations of luxury rail aficionados. As we rolled into this Colorado wellness mecca at sundown, porters raced ahead to have our luggage waiting in our hotel rooms. Famous and infamous celebrities like Buffalo Bill and Al Capone came to gamble at the casino and gambol in North America’s largest natural
hot springs. Today, trendy restaurants that line the historic pedestrian mall cater to rail passengers, while a nearby cemetery is open to history lovers paying their respects at Doc Holliday’s grave.
BRIGHT AND EARLY EYE-OPENER
At dawn we departed Glenwood Springs just as the morning sky was turning shades of mango and mauve. We were truly in red rock territory now—on our way to the land of the Mighty Five: Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyon- lands, Capitol Reef, and Zion National Parks. At this point two things dawned on me. That this was the quietest train ride I had ever experienced. And lastly, cocktail service at our dedicated Art Deco bar car began at 9 a.m. sharp—just in time for a morning mimosa.
When the train arrived outside of Moab, we lingered for a while, wishing our trip didn’t have to end. But the bewitching cliffs and canyons of the parks were waiting to enchant us, just as they had waited for the very first rail passengers on this magical route to the red rocks of the West, and we went off to greet them. DS
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TRAVEL PLANNER
Rocky Mountaineer’s “Rockies to the Red Rocks” route runs between April and October. rockymountaineer.com
PHOTO: MICHAEL KUNDE
SPRING/SUMMER 2023 DREAMSCAPES 55