Original subtitles

Travel with us on a journey

across the snow-capped Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Nothing beats the thrill of flying down a slope on a pair of skis.

We'll take in the history of the Wild West...

This is the land of cowboys, outlaws and ranchers.

..and indulge our sense of adventure...

Whoo!

..as we meet the people who live and work along this route...

I love living here. It's just a little bit of heaven.

..following the banks of the mighty Colorado River...

It gets you to places that many people cannot go,

and the scenery is just magnificent.

..to the red rocks of the Utah Desert.

Sticking your head out of the window,

feeling the wind in your hair, it was fantastic, really exhilarating.

This isn't just any railway journey,

this is one of the most scenic railway journeys in the world.

The Rocky Mountaineer.

Our journey starts in the thriving city of Denver,

known as the Mile High City because,

well, it's actually one mile above sea level.

Our day begins in the rarefied atmosphere of the Crawford Hotel,

one of the most luxurious in the state.

Rather conveniently, it's part of Denver's Grand Union Station,

a departure point almost as luxurious as the hotel.

First constructed in 1914, it's recently been renovated

and features a ticket office converted into a bar...

..restaurant and 20-metre high ceilings

decorated with resplendent chandeliers.

We are boarding the Rocky Mountaineer,

an all-inclusive luxury train with a focus on service...

..catering and, of course, extraordinary views.

The train is pulled by two Union Pacific SD70M locomotives.

Between them, these locos are capable of generating

8,000 horsepower.

This will be needed to get all 12 railcars

across the 350-mile journey.

Thank you so much. You're welcome.

After a prompt 9am departure,

it's not long before we find ourselves with a drink in our hands.

Travelling with us today is onboard host August,

who has the tricky task of serving both refreshments and information.

My goal is to make the route come alive.

I want to share some of the history, explain why this route was built,

what the rail line meant to a lot of these towns.

This is more than just a train journey.

We'll time-travel from a 21st-century Denver

into a truly Wild West.

I want to make people feel like

they're part of scenery, part of the journey.

Departing Denver swiftly,

we'll make our way up the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains

and through old mining ghost towns.

We'll wind our way up through rock-hewn tunnels

before crossing the snowy peaks of the Continental Divide.

Next, we'll slope our way down the western side of the mountain

toward our first and only stop of Glenwood Springs,

a town steeped in the history of the American West.

The following day, we'll pass through

the lush vineyards of Palisade, home to wild mustangs.

Finally, our journey ends in the desert town of Moab in Utah,

a haven for adventure seekers.

Ladies and gentlemen, look to your left, to your right, say hello

to your neighbours, raise a glass and let's cheers to the adventure!

CHEERING

Leaving the western edge of the city of Denver,

we enter the wilds almost immediately.

We're passing round the Big Ten Curve

at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains.

The Big Ten is the first of many curves in the route,

required to get us nearly 10,000 feet up

and across the vast Rocky Mountain range.

Known in engineering terms as a horseshoe curve,

the bends in the rail are designed to reduce the gradient of the climb.

This allows the train's wheels sufficient traction

to get it up steeper sections of the track.

Trains can really only climb at a comfortable 1% to 2% gradient,

so they extended out the tracks, which lowered the rate of elevation,

which means it's easier to climb up into the Rockies.

This is our landmark between the high plains of Colorado

and the Rocky Mountains.

As we climb our way up the Rocky Mountains, we take in the view,

whilst enjoying the first of many meals.

We have our farmer's plate, which is

eggs, bacon and biscuits with a sausage gravy.

And then we have a golden sugar waffle

with bacon and with berries.

And our special maple syrup.

After a hearty breakfast, we watch as the plains of Denver disappear,

replaced by the spruce, pine and aspen trees of the Colorado Rockies.

Curving our way up along the eastern incline of the mountain,

we are following the route of some of Colorado's earliest pioneers.

The discovery of gold in the Rocky Mountains west of Denver in 1858

caused a rush of immigration to the area.

It was during this time that the city of Denver was first founded.

But it was the construction of the railway through the Rocky Mountains

that allowed for the mass transportation

of supplies and people that helped build the Denver of today.

As the railroad started to come into Denver,

through the late 1800s,

Denver started to build into the great metropolis we know today.

Today, Colorado's operational gold mines are all but gone.

However, some, like owner of the Hidee gold mine, Chris Stone,

keep the history of Colorado's gold mines alive.

I'm a fourth-generation Colorado gold miner.

And I own and operate the Hidee gold mine.

The Hidee gold mine did produce other metals -

iron, silver, copper and zinc were all subsidiary metals to it.

But primarily it was gold, and it came late in the game, 1896.

It was the product of more and more people getting here post-railroad,

as these areas built in.

Although the Hidee isn't an operational gold mine any more,

Chris continues to maintain the old mine shaft,

dug 330 feet beneath the mountainside.

Well, here we are, looking at one of the gold-bearing veins.

This is gold ore.

The gold-bearing zone's right here, this is the pay streak,

auriferous chalcopyrite pay streak,

which is just the Latin term

for a gold-bearing, copper, iron sulphate vein.

What you're trying to do is find the spots

where Mother Nature's already helped you and you've got a little crack

you can then exploit.

And you have unoxidised gold ore.

It'll never shine like that again.

From 98 million years ago when it was put here until now,

it's never seen the light of day.

And it'll slowly rust from here. But that's what they were looking for.

It's far from pure, but the gold-bearing pyrite does contain

trace amounts of the real thing.

Just like the generations who came before him,

Chris knows how to use the traditional method of panning

to search for the elusive yellow metal.

Panning for signs of gold in creeks and streams, called prospecting,

was the first step in locating a large deposit of gold ore

buried beneath the mountain top.

The idea is, gold's heavy, and if you've got it bouncing around

in this little tray here, it won't bounce as high as the lighter rocks.

So you're shaking it around and it's starting to stratify,

the heaviest going to the bottom, the lighter to the top,

and it's also knocking the gold particles free.

So this is an important and crucial step.

The process seems simple enough,

but there's a knack to panning that Chris has mastered,

just as his forefathers did before him.

Step two's pretty simple.

You tilt the pan, and this does something really important.

It creates a V,

and now, the heavy stuff's in this V.

I think about it like ocean waves.

You've got a wave going in the pan, a wave going out.

Now, this first wave that goes in the pan

is knocking heavy stuff down the hill.

The second one is gonna take the light stuff and push it out.

And then I'm just gonna spin and knock these lighter ones off,

and you start to see these metals come out.

Basically, it's a fool's gold with real gold in it.

And the real gold - in fact, there's even a little bit of it there -

it really is that small, it's a flour gold, it's just like dust.

There, that's a little bit of free gold

surrounded by gold-bearing pyrite.

It's not the motherlode,

but it is proof that there is still gold in them there hills.

And if it weren't for the railroad, local goldmines, like the Hidee,

might never have been established.

Because of the railroad,

there was a lot more material, a lot more people,

and it really did make the gold mining easier.

Leaving the Hidee gold mine behind,

we're back on the train and heading ever further up into the Rockies.

Soon, we'll be confronted by the formidable James Peak,

where the line will enter

a marvel of 20th-century American engineering.

The Moffat Tunnel really is a cathedral to the engineer.

And atop the mountain, we'll find ourselves in a skier's paradise.

Beautiful, isn't it?

We're travelling 354 miles through Colorado and Utah

aboard the luxury Rocky Mountaineer

on a route taking us into America's Wild West.

The route we are on today is exciting

because it showcases a lot of things you can't see in Colorado

from the highway and from the roads.

We're winding our way up the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.

And as ever with the Rocky Mountaineer,

there's no time like the present for a light snack.

In order to navigate the Rocky Mountain range,

the train must pass through no fewer than 28 tunnels,

carved right into the mountainside.

Many of these were dug by hand with pick and shovel.

Luckily, it doesn't take long for us to bump into a train enthusiast

who's only too happy to share their knowledge with us.

Trains has been a fascination of mine for a lifetime,

and the Rocky Mountaineer has appealed to me for quite a while.

It was incredibly difficult to cut through the Rocky Mountains,

and when you think about the time frame in which it was done,

I think it was basically early 1900s, they did it with tools

that we can't even envision today. Manpower was key.

We are approaching the eastern face of the James Peak mountain.

At over 13,000 feet in height, this formidable geographic obstacle

was once traversed by a train line which went up and over the mountain.

Called the Rollins Pass,

in winter time, the treacherous route could leave passengers

stranded in snow drifts for weeks

or even months at a time.

There are newspaper articles

that talk about delays on Rollins Pass,

sometimes a few days, sometimes up to 60 days.

And if you can just imagine what that would be like,

to have two months of your life just stuck on a train.

Saving us from two months stuck on the frozen mountainside

is the Moffat Tunnel.

At 6.2 miles long, it is the longest tunnel on our route.

And at just over 9,000 feet high,

it represents the highest point on our journey.

The tunnel was dug almost entirely by hand.

The gruelling work took nearly five years to complete,

with men working around the clock in often frozen conditions.

One man who has willingly spent weeks

at both Rollins Pass and the Moffat Tunnel

is local historian Travis Wright.

This is the East Portal of the Moffat Tunnel.

This is the old company town of East Portal.

But there were 300 people who lived here.

They were boring through the heart of James Peak,

which is this mountain right up here.

They were constructing the Moffat Tunnel from 1923

all the way through when it opened in 1928.

100 years later,

and the elements haven't claimed the old mining town yet.

Mother Nature really exacts her toll here,

as winds just shriek off of James Peak

and come rushing towards this small town.

The cold is something we deal with all the time in Colorado.

We're pretty used to it.

But the winds are what really makes life rough.

And I'm sure winds would push through boards

and through cracks in windows and just howl.

The tunnel was the vision of 19th-century Colorado industrialist,

David Moffat.

His ambition was to have a successful railroad company.

His dream, his idea, was to have a tunnel bored

through the centre of James Peak.

Many of the workers who built the tunnel came from Denver.

And efforts were made to ensure

that they could live as comfortably as possible.

You have a town that has a 24-hour mess hall serving high-quality food.

There's women's bridge clubs, post office, schools,

so many other modern amenities,

because the idea was to contain everyone in this company town

so that they didn't long for what was back home in Denver.

This was their home for five years

while the construction of the Moffat Tunnel was being undertaken.

But the construction of the tunnel didn't come

without a considerable cost to the people who built it.

The crew sacrificed, in some cases,

their lives building the Moffat Tunnel.

At least 28 men lost their lives.

Thanks to the people who built the tunnel, Denver now had

a viable connection to the western United States.

The Moffat Tunnel is obviously a much more efficient route,

it's obviously straight-shot through the heart of James Peak

and it takes 12 to 15 minutes.

This tunnel changed American history.

This was a uniquely American achievement,

to have the idea to bore through the shoulder of James Peak

and send rail traffic ultimately to the Pacific Ocean,

which is what David Moffat's dream was.

TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

Freight trains are given priority, so with the track now clear ahead,

we get to experience this triumph of 20th-century engineering.

As we pass through the Moffat Tunnel,

we cross what is known as the Continental Divide...

..the mountain ridge which runs north to south

through the American continent.

Water flowing from these mountains is fundamental

to the supply for the whole of the United States.

The Continental Divide is what splits the rainwater

east to west across the United States.

Starting up in Alaska, it goes all the way down

a continuous line down to Argentina.

Above our heads is Berthoud Pass,

one of the peaks that make up the Continental Divide.

It's a popular spot for adventure sports,

including back-country skiing.

So, the Continental Divide is pretty neat cos, er,

basically, if you were to pour your water out of your water bottle

over there, it's gonna end up down at the Atlantic.

If you pour it over there, it's gonna end up in the Pacific.

It's kind of a thought. I mean, we provide all the water

for...most of the US...

..right here.

Colorado is known for having some of the best skiing in the world,

due to its high altitude, good snow

and long seasons of bright, clear sunshine.

Will moved to the US from Wales over 20 years ago.

Now, for Will, his son Cai and their dog Baggins,

the Continental Divide is their back garden.

Ah, that is good snow.

It's great to be out in nature,

it's great to be out with the dog and my father.

Um, it's a great escape from everything else

and nothing beats the thrill

of flying down a slope on a pair of skis.

As much as anything else, the views from the top

of the Continental Divide are extraordinary.

Beautiful, isn't it? That view is opening up nicely, isn't it?

It's just great.

2,000 feet below, we're back on the train.

Here, our train plunges into the majestic Gore Canyon.

The canyon is three miles long, flanked either side

by cliffs reaching up to 1,000 feet in height.

The native Americans who inhabited the area refer to it

as Naa Ohn Kara, meaning "where blue water meets the sky".

After leaving Gore Canyon,

the topography of the landscape begins to flatten.

This is the Western Slope...

..the area of Colorado west of the Rocky Mountain range.

The colour of the rock begins to change too.

Colorado gets its name from

the Spanish translation of "coloured red".

And it's from here that we can start to see why.

Today, I was constantly reminded about

why this is colourful Colorado.

The constantly changing scenery

and the rock colours going from

red to green to white to gold to peach,

and then just being along a body of water,

mostly the Colorado River, is phenomenal.

Next, we'll be approaching our overnight stop of Glenwood Springs,

a town steeped in the history of the Wild West.

This is the land of cowboys, outlaws and ranchers.

We're now over 100 miles into our epic journey

through the US states of Colorado and Utah,

travelling aboard the Rocky Mountaineer.

Having passed through Gore Canyon,

the mighty Colorado River will be our companion

for the remainder of the journey.

More than 60 miles away, our train will stop for the night

at the historic spa town of Glenwood Springs.

The next morning, we'll pass through the verdant valley of Palisade,

where wild horses roam the countryside,

before passing the state border into Utah,

over the high desert and descending through vibrant red rock canyons

to our final destination of Moab.

We are passing through an area known as Colorado's Western Slope.

The landscape is as ancient as it is beautiful.

There is evidence of hunting and habitation on this land

from as far back as 12,000 BCE.

Much of this is country that is nearly impossible to access by road,

the train offering the only opportunity

to marvel at the splendour of the landscape.

It's really something special, nothing like it in the world.

I believe this is the only way to see this scenery.

There are a few places on the route

where we're the only people to get to see that scenery.

Oh, the views are spectacular.

And they're quite different. You go through

these incredible high cliffs

and the beautiful streams flowing below

and the eagles soaring in the sky.

And complementing the scenery

is a near constant supply of food and drink.

Can I get you anything else to drink? Um...

The food is endless,

and there's usually a sweet and a savoury option, and sometimes both

at the same time, actually.

Of course, a little bit of wine to go with it,

or a gin and tonic,

head down to the club car and sit there and have a few cocktails.

Never missing an opportunity for decadence,

the Rocky Mountaineer contains a dedicated lounge carriage,

complete with cocktail bar.

With a cocktail in hand, we watch,

as the scenery around us starts to change,

the geology morphing into

the deep red and gold sandstone of the Western Slope.

Our next stop will be Glenwood Springs.

Glenwood Springs has been attracting visitors for centuries

for its hot sulphur baths,

warmed by geothermal heat from beneath the surface of the earth.

The famous spa was also once home

to one of the most feared gunslingers of the Wild West.

Glenwood Springs is the home town

of the famous outlaw and gambler Doc Holliday.

He's buried just above the town, it's a neat little hike.

Taking August's advice, we head off on a neat little hike

in the company of Bill Knight, the director of the local museum.

Doc Holliday was tough.

He had to be to live in the Wild West of those days,

which included here in Glenwood Springs.

A dentist, card player and gunfighter

with a formidable reputation,

Doc Holliday is an icon of the old American West.

After contracting tuberculosis aged 21,

Holliday made his way to Glenwood Springs hoping

the region's climate and famous hot springs would ease his symptoms.

When he first came west, he developed the ability to play cards,

and as a result that's how he made his living

because he couldn't be a dentist with tuberculosis.

But it was his skill with a pistol

at the legendary gunfight at the OK Corral in 1881 in Arizona

that gained Holliday his reputation.

He became famous at the OK Corral

as he was deputised, along with Wyatt Earp and his brothers,

to stop the cowboys, and that resulted in

one of the last, major, famous gunfights of the West.

He came here in Glenwood Springs the last six months of his life

in the last stages of tuberculosis.

He died and was buried here somewhere in the cemetery.

Glenwood Springs keeps alive the memory of Doc Holliday

with this memorial, and people like to come here and leave offerings.

Sometimes it's money, sometimes it's a teddy bear,

or a lot of times it's whiskey.

Doc Holliday's death coincided with

what many consider to be the end of the Wild West.

For Glenwood Springs, this would be the start of a new era,

as the railway rode into town.

Glenwood Springs would not be what it is without the railroad.

Denver and Rio Grande Railroad came into Glenwood for the first time

October 4th, 1887,

less than a month before Doc Holliday died, laying in his bed.

After a long day in the saddle,

it's time to get some rest at the Hotel Denver.

Thankfully, we only need to mosey on

a few steps from the station to get there.

The next morning, we'll continue our journey into America's Wild West.

Bright and early the following morning...

..and we're climbing back aboard the luxury Rocky Mountaineer

for a prompt 7am departure.

All...aboard!

We're embarking on the final part of our journey into the State of Utah.

Over 30 miles from Glenwood Springs,

we'll pass through the lush vineyards of Palisade,

where wild mustangs roam in the surrounding valleys.

Crossing over the state border into Utah,

we'll experience the vast expanse of the high desert

before dropping down into

the deep, red-rock canyons

of our final destination, Moab.

Aboard the train, breakfast is quickly under way.

More tomato juice? Yeah, please. Yeah.

There you are.

One of the main things I love about the Rocky Mountaineer is,

if you get off the train hungry, we've done something terribly wrong.

Taking personal responsibility for everyone's appetite

is train manager Zac.

Breakfast is a front-range platter with the flavours of the flame

and then you have the Colorado strata,

which is a custom dish made by our chef,

and they even set the pastry to look like little mountains,

with a little raspberry coulis on top,

absolutely beautiful and totally delicious.

Accompanying our decadent breakfast are views of a landscape

which seem straight out of an old Western movie.

Approaching the border with Utah,

the deep red and yellow sandstone

emblematic of the state becomes more vivid.

I love how the landscape travels from an alpine environment.

So you go into Glenwood Springs and literally as you leave the station,

it starts to transition into those beautiful crimson red rocks.

The majestic Colorado River remains our companion as we hug its banks

through yawning canyons and grand ravines.

The Rocky Mountaineer cruises through a vibrant green valley.

This is Palisade.

Here, nutrient-rich soil and a climate combine

to create the perfect conditions for growing grapes for wine-making.

Just north of Palisade is a wildlife refuge like no other.

The Little Book Cliffs comprises over 35,000 acres of land.

The vast range is populated by rare wildlife,

including that icon of the American frontier,

wild mustang horses.

Responsible for observing and caring for these horses

is local ranger and Friends of the Mustangs volunteer,

Judy Cady.

So, we're right here,

and this is the Little Book Cliffs wild horse area.

As Friends of the Mustangs, we check the horses, count the babies,

make sure the horses are doing well.

When I got involved, I was probably...

..in my late twenties.

I started riding a mustang.

And, wow!

And out here exploring,

in all this country,

and it was great, I loved it.

It just became an obsession for me.

Oh, I see some wild ones.

Wild horses, yee-ha!

Today, there are around 150 horses

spread out over the Little Book Cliffs refuge.

Yeah, seeing these horses is reassuring.

As long as you've got food and water and places for 'em to roam,

they'll do real well.

So, the mustangs, they can just go anywhere.

You know, they were born here.

They were raised at an early age just climbing these mountains,

they can just do amazing things because they're born doing it.

Sometimes, the mustang population on the range becomes too large,

and horses are offered up for adoption

to carefully selected owners.

It's not always easy finding people willing to train wild mustangs.

However, some, like Palisade mustang trainer Paige Burnham,

are up to the challenge.

I grew up here in western Colorado. I've been doing this

for about three years.

Um, I've started 14 mustangs from the wild

and brought them to understand how to be...domestic horses.

I grew up with horses.

I was born on Christmas Eve and on a horse on Christmas Day, so...

..I've been around horses my whole life

and definitely always loved them.

Paige cares for horses at various stages of the training process.

However, she still maintains a particular affection

for the first mustang she adopted, Zyana.

I don't really know why I got... my first mustang.

I decided to go to the adoption and see if any horses caught my eye.

And I fell in love with a little yearling filly

that was backing up to the fence and trying to kick everybody.

Um, so I brought her home and trained her,

and she is probably one of the best horses I will ever own.

It's taken a lot of training,

but in just a few years, Zyana has gone from wild mustang

to a potential future Olympian.

She is currently...

..she is in competition at first-level dressage.

She's shown a lot of talent

and I actually had a clinic a couple of weeks ago

with an Olympic-level rider who is very impressed with her,

and said that she thought, with the proper training,

she could make it all the way to the top level, so...

She's a very talented little horse.

The special thing about mustangs

is that they were selectively bred in the wild

to live in nature, live in the desert.

And the bonds that we build with them

when we're able to bring them out of the wild

and build a relationship with them is super-strong and special.

We're back on the train and about to enter

the final stretch of our journey.

We'll visit a remote old railway town in the middle of the desert...

I love living here, it's just a little bit of heaven.

..and commune with nature on a trip down the Colorado River.

You tap out of your life and tap into river life.

We're entering the final stage of our grand two-day journey

aboard the luxurious Rocky Mountaineer.

We're about to pass over the border between Colorado and Utah.

And welcome to Utah!

CHEERING

Here, we enter an area of land known as the High Desert.

Over 70 million years ago, this area would have been the bed

of a shallow sea, which separated the North American continent.

Today, there's not a drop of water in sight,

but the desert has a beauty all of its own.

I can't believe how much variety and terrain we've had in just two days.

Sticking your head out the window, feeling the wind in your hair,

it was just fantastic, really exhilarating.

As we fly through this vast expanse,

we pass a town that's clinging to life.

Welcome to Cisco,

population, four.

Local resident Jean is only too happy to show us around.

There was over 200 people lived out here at one time.

It had a pharmacy, a school house for the kids,

it had two...hotels.

It was a booming town.

Cisco used to be a water-refilling station

for the steam trains that once came through this town.

Today, it's still covered with little pieces of railroad history.

So they would pump water from the Colorado River,

so the town would get the water and the trains would get the water.

And this is part of the pump that would pump that water...

..up from the river.

So, a lot of these buildings are either on railroad ties,

or made out of railroad ties.

Which I'm sure is a testament to why it's still standing.

With the demise of the steam train,

the town fell into decline.

Cisco may not be what it used to be,

but Jean can think of nowhere else she'd rather live.

I love living here, it's quiet,

it is a bit remote, but we love it.

The stars at night are unbelievable out here.

We love it, living out here.

It's just...a little bit of heaven.

Train tracks are literally just right across the road there.

But the train still goes through here every day, couple of times.

So... And so does the Mountaineer.

We're leaving the plains of the high desert behind us...

..and heading south along the Colorado River

and through the deep red-rock canyons of Utah.

The scenery is breath-taking.

We'll soon be approaching our final stop of Moab.

But before we do, the banks of the Colorado River offer

a great opportunity to embrace our adventurous side.

We're gonna put in at a place called Onion Tree, which is actually...

We're gonna show you our favourite route on the river today.

The mountains and canyons around Moab are a popular spot

for thrill-seekers of all stripes.

In the valley, the Colorado River is a prime location for rafting.

And tour operator Kathryn is only too keen

to take us out on one of her voyages.

Bye, kids!

Well, the Colorado River is my home river. It's where

I learnt to raft.

My first rafting trip ever...

was on the Colorado River, and it changed my life.

But it's a fascinating river and it really is so iconic

because it figures so strongly in the history of the American West.

So much wildlife.

So many living beings, plants and animals thrive along here.

It's a 1,500-mile river.

It starts up in the mountains in the state of Colorado.

For Kathryn, rafting on the Colorado River

is an almost spiritual experience.

I think it's about 75%

of the people on this planet, or more, live near water.

It's the stuff of life.

We relate to it in ways that we can't even understand.

But it makes us feel at home.

You know, they say there's no time like river time, and...

..being on a river, you're so present, you're just...

It just really...

..it really fulfils the soul.

Today, Kathryn shares her love of rafting the Colorado

with budding thrill-seekers.

You know, people come here on vacation

and they don't necessarily want to talk about back home,

they want to soak this place up.

And we pulled into a place where they can't have self-service,

it's this whole other world, there's all these interesting ecosystems

and there's stunning, endless scenery.

And they can't help but be enveloped by it.

You tap out of your life and tap into river life.

Despite the blustery weather,

nothing can dampen Kathryn's enthusiasm for river life.

A rapid's coming up.

It's very rocky, it's wonderful.

Whoo!

Drying off back on the train,

we are entering the very last stretch of our epic journey,

and the views are spectacular.

Utah is famed for its huge, red-rock maces,

flat-topped hills or mountains

shaped by millions of years of erosion.

The landscape gets its deep-red colour

from the oxidised iron in the rock

that is abundant in this part of the state.

As the train pulls into its final stop on the outskirts of Moab,

a local welcoming party comes to greet us.

Having arrived in the true heart of the Wild West,

it's time for us passengers to hang up our spurs

and go our separate ways...

..with the Rocky Mountaineer parked in a desert siding.

It's time to reflect on our epic, two-day journey

through Colorado and Utah.

We have climbed into the snow-covered peaks

of the Rocky Mountains...

..followed the banks of the mighty Colorado River

through majestic canyons...

..marvelled at lush, green valleys

and felt the wind in our hair

through desert vistas...

..travelling through an ever-changing landscape,

from the plains of Denver

to the red-rock mountains of Utah.