This New Luxury Train Journey Tells the Stories of the American Southwest

"On my first trip to the desert, I'm struck by how the dry, inhospitable landscape of dust and red rock invokes the same vastness as looking out to sea. "It just makes you feel so small," I hear more than one passenger whisper as we gaze at the shifting scenery of Southern Utah through the windows of our train car."

"It's hour four of our three-day rail journey, and I've given up on taking photos of every view and vista. Instead, I give into the lull of the train-a blissful surrender that can only exist within the perpetual motion of a locomotive, with no ability to pull over or veer off track. I relish the opportunity to slip in and out of daydreams, watching the desert bake and glow in the afternoon sun from the comfort of my leather seat."

"I'm one of the first passengers to experience this route, aptly named "Rockies to Red Rocks" aboard the Canyon Spirit, a new US product from the Rocky Mountaineer that launched this April. Over the course of the next three days, our blue-and-gold chariot will carry us from Salt Lake City to Denver with overnight stops in Moab and Glenwood Springs."

"The newly expanded itinerary (the only passenger train to stop in Moab, the gateway to Arches National Park) is designed to spotlight the wild magic of the American Southwest. There is no official border designating where this storied region begins and ends-instead of a map boundary, the transition is color-coded in the rock. A few miles outside of Moab, a thick band of light-green jade cuts between layers of pale pink within the crumbling cliffside, delicate pastels that seem more suited to a Georgia O'Keeffe painting than real life."

A three-day rail journey aboard the Canyon Spirit travels from Salt Lake City to Denver with overnight stops in Moab and Glenwood Springs. Passengers watch Southern Utah’s desert scenery shift through the windows, moving from dry dust and red rock to softer sedimentary layers and pine-dotted mountains. The route, called “Rockies to Red Rocks,” is designed to spotlight the wild magic of the American Southwest, without a strict boundary defining where the region begins or ends. The landscape transitions are visible in the rock’s color-coded layers, including light-green jade bands cutting through pale pink strata near Moab. The experience emphasizes comfort, daydreaming, and the sense of scale created by vast terrain.

Read at Conde Nast Traveler