eyewitness
01
ROCKY MOUNTAINEER, US
Best for: Red rocky landscapes & alpine views • Route: Moab (Utah) to Denver (Colorado) • Journey time: Two days
Clockwise from top left: A passenger aboard the Rocky Mountaineer;
Balanced Rock in Arches National Park, Utah;
While some resemble elephantine penises, others are like dizzying whirls of meringue rising from the desert. The one to my left looks uncannily like a piece of fried chicken.
I’m perched on a boulder in Utah’s Arches National Park — a seemingly infinite expanse of red-orange sandstone arches and rocks of varying shapes and sizes. A visit to the park — home to the densest concentration of natural stone arches in the world — is part of the ‘Rockies to the Red Rocks’ itinerary on the Rocky Mountaineer train, a route launched in 2021. It departs from the nearby city of Moab and clicks and clacks its way through hulking canyons, ghost towns and wine regions, ending up in Denver, Colorado. I’m excited for all that awaits me, but as far as passionate biologist and park guide Chris Tull is concerned, it doesn’t get much better than where I’m standing right now.