Road Trip and Verde Canyon Railroad

Road trip to Verde Canyon Railroad

We got away in good time in the morning for a nice drive to the railway in Clarkdale where we had tickets for the 1pm departure.  Here's some pics from the highway out of Phoenix.  The terrain changes from cactus to evergreens.

 

There's an amazing lookout point we always stop to admire the view.  There is actually a ranch home at the bottom of this canyon. 

We arrived in plenty of time to have lunch before boarding the train.  They actually have a nice lunch there and the prices are not crazy although I read reviews that said they were.  Even on the train a chocolate bar was $1.  Not stupid crazy prices at all.  The four-hour excursion takes you on a 20-mile return journey (20 out, 20 miles back). FP7 locomotives, two of only 10 remaining in North America, are the muscle that pulls the renovated cars.  I took an excess of photo's but here's some of the best ones.  Love the eagle on this, so well done.

 

Here's the caboose and Craig.

 The views were amazing from the train and we spent most of the journey on the open air car.  It was a perfect day weather-wise and we seemed to have a nice bunch of riders so it was very enjoyable.  A lady told me they have over 400 passengers daily when the train is running.  They also have special event rides with wine tastings or beer and at certain times of the year they do evening runs as well.  Here's a view from the train.

Here's Craig enjoying the open air car.  For every passenger car there was a corresponding open rail car so most people went back and forth between the two.  

Here we are stopped in Perkinsville at the 20 mile mark.  This is a farmer working away on the ranch.  It was lovely and green right alongside the river.  There were a few cattle there but probably very few people.

A view of the canyon and the Verde River.  I did see a deer but some people are lucky enough to see bald eagles.  There is an eagles nest along the rail by one of the tunnels that is not distubed by the train so the train is allowed to continue running. 

 Selfie!!  I usually have the camera (and Craig takes terrible photo's of me!) so I tried a selfie from the train and it actually worked!!

You can see the ancient home built into the side of the cliff.  These homes were abandoned around the time that Montezuma's Castle was abandoned as well.  No one knows why but they assume it was due to drought and these people were assimilated into other larger tribes like the Hopi Indians.

This large black "mountain" on the left in the photo below is the 40 years of slag from the copper mines in nearby Jerome.  The slag covers over 100 acres. This slag is the by-product of the copper-based mining process for silver, copper, malachite, chrysocolla, azurite, etc. This year a reclamation process has begun for this slag pile and that process will take years. The last public access to the slag pile was in December, 2014.

 

There are ridges from the corrugated steel that used to hold the slag back.  Most of it has rusted away now but you can see remnants of the ridges still.

It was a really relaxing day with perfect weather to enjoy the fantastic views of the Verde Valley and the river.   We may have to try this ride again for an evening run as more animals can be seen during dusk. 

We are off now to have dinner and a good nighs sleep in Sedona!! 

g'nite!! 

Lynn and Craig