California Zephyr - Route Description

Route Description

Leaving Chicago's Union Station the Willis Tower can be glimpsed as the train passes urban industrial zones and bricked residential streets. The Chicago suburbs are expansive but traversed within the first hour of the train's journey, stopping once in Naperville, Illinois.

Heading west from Chicago there are many small towns as the train crosses the great plains towards Denver. The Burlington Rail Bridge across the Mississippi River affords a view of Burlington, Iowa and marks the state line between Illinois and Iowa.

At Denver the California Zephyr departs BNSF Railway-owned track. From Denver west, the train runs along the Union Pacific Railroad's Central Corridor. The scenery changes dramatically departing Denver as the train climbs the Rocky Mountains. After going through the Tunnel District then crossing the Continental Divide via the Moffat Tunnel under James Peak, the tracks follow the Colorado River for several hours. Passengers can see the transition from a narrow, whitewater river (popular with rafters, who habitually moon the train as it passes) to a much wider stream past Glenwood Canyon and Interstate 70 toward Grand Junction. The train finally departs the now much larger Colorado River after exiting Ruby Canyon which is also where the train enters Utah.

In Utah the train follows the southern rim of the Book Cliffs to their end near Helper. The train then crosses the Wasatch Mountains, cresting at Soldier Summit. After passing the Wasatch the train arrives at the Wasatch Front where most of the population of Utah is located.

Once the train reaches Salt Lake City the train loosely follows Interstate 80 until the terminus of the train in California. Both the freeway and railroad pass along the south shore of the Great Salt Lake and across the Bonneville Salt Flats towards Nevada.

The Humboldt River provides the path across most of Nevada. However, before the train reaches the Humboldt river, it crosses through 2 mountain ranges, tunneling under the Pequop Mountains. The tracks cross the center of the Forty Mile Desert, on the other side of this desert valley is the Truckee River which provides the train's path to Reno and up the Sierra Nevada in California.

In California, the train crests the Sierra Nevada at Donner Pass and descends following a high ridge between the American and Yuba Rivers. Eventually, the California Zephyr reaches the lowland areas of the California Central Valley. The trip ends in Emeryville, a suburb of Oakland. From Emeryville the free Emery Go Round shuttle connects passengers to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system, or a Thruway Motorcoach provides connecting service to downtown San Francisco (with sweeping city views along the way).

The original California Zephyr used the Feather River Route as its path through the Sierra Nevada. The rails are still in use for freight; however, anyone wishing to see this portion of the original route must now use State Route 70 which runs parallel to the old Western Pacific track.