The expected highlight of this trip is traveling on the Rocky Mountaineer, and today is the day! But we have to admire the view out of our hotel window one last time.
BTW, at the triangular point you can see the divided bike/pedestrian lanes, and to the left there's a significant hill. One of the worst places is where the pathway bends around out of our sight. Bikes come down that hill quite fast, turn the blind corner, and there just might be a pedestrian in the wrong spot. We saw several people nearly come to grief when we were down there. (There's a SUBWAY in the row of shops on the lower level. Dinner last night.)
After checking that our bags were in the lobby for RM, it was outside to wait for the bus to the station.
The bus was less than 15 minutes to the station...
...and we get our first look at the car. The upstairs is the normal travel area while the downstairs is the dining room, toilets and open vestibule for picture taking.
"Our first view of wildlife" as our narrator proclaimed. At every departure there was a line of RM employees waving us off. No doubt glad to see us go. This was the only departure with bagpipes.
We had passed here on our way in to Vancouver. Impressive engineering.
A bald eagle not interested in us.
Our route follows the Fraser River.
Hells Gate, originally a major impediment to river travel up the river, is now a major tourist attraction. You can ride the Swiss built AirTram across the gorge, rising 500 feet above it, or just walk across the bridge.
The confluence of the Thompson and Fraser rivers. The Rocky Mountaineer shifts to tracks along the Thompson. Our train trip parallels not only these rivers, but also the Trans-Canada Highway, #1.
A random grouping of rail maintenance equipment, a reminder of how much effort there is in keeping the tracks safe for travel. We frequently saw large piles of railroad ties which need to be replaced frequently.
We're traveling along the Canadian Pacific rails, the original trans-Canada railway. On the other side of the river are the Canadian National rail tracks. CN got the tougher side of the river since they were second and you see the effort they had to make. On the left is a bridge, on the right is a tunnel.
CN and CP were fierce competitors along these tracks until it became obvious that working together would make more money for both. Nowadays eastbound travel is along one set of tracks, westbound along the other. We'll be over there in a week.
Thompson River
Here's the place where the CN and CP rails cross over each other. We'll cross the river just out of view ahead, while the CN bridge is right here.
Rock slides are a problem wherever a cut was made. You can see rocks gathered in a catch fencing. At other places there was a grid of wires along the track. Anything breaking those wires would signal that the track was blocked, send the maintenance team.
Here are the remains of a forest fire two years ago. Fortunately for us, we traveled before the 2023 fires in British Columbia became a problem.
The other side of the river, and the other tracks.
Here's a solution to the avalanche/rock slide problem. Chutes are constructed to guide the rocks over the trains. Also notice that there is a LONG freight train going the other way. Lots of freight travels along these rails, leading to trains over 200 cars long.
A good view of the Rocky Mountaineer train. We were near the end of the train. The smaller cars are for Silver Leaf guests, while the taller dome cars are for Gold Leaf passengers. Gold Leaf means you pay more money for a more elegant experience. Also better viewing.
Although you can purchase Gold Leaf travel, you can't get priority over the freight travel. Rocky Mountaineer uses the CN and CP tracks, and yields to freight. Here we are stuck on a siding waiting for 230 (I counted, so I might be off by a little) coal cars to go by. Fortunately we never had to wait more than 15 minutes. There are horror stories online about RM stuck for hours because of freight.
The Rocky Mountaineer train does not travel at night. The intermediate stop in our travel east is the town of Kamloops. Travelers are put up in a variety of hotels in town and are on their own for dinner. Since the food on the train was very good for both breakfast and lunch, we split a turkey sandwich from a convenience store for dinner. We had been up early to get the bus to the train, we were tired and went to bed. More train tomorrow!
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