A cold day in Echo Canyon. Union Pacific's two heritage steam locomotives stream long, steamy plumes in the cold morning air as the special train races through Echo Canyon on the last leg of the "Great Race to Ogden."
It was a rather cold, wet day when I awoke in Evanston, Wyoming and made my way out to see the newly restored Big Boy Locomotive and her train. It was actually snowing as I watched it pull out of the yard and head west. Knowing that the traffic this day would be a nightmare, I decided to forego some of the spots just outside Evanston and head directly for Echo Canyon. It took a while to get out ahead of the train, because some yo-yos insisted on pacing it on the interstate, holding back a large pack of cars who were just looking to get down the line. When I finally got moving, it was an 80 mph run to the I-80 rest stop in Echo Canyon, where I joined a couple of hundred of my closest friends, trying to find a parking spot and a place to watch. Not only were there a lot of photographers at the rest stop, if you look behind the train, you can see a large number of chasers down on Echo Canyon Road at the bottom of the canyon. After taking my shot, I was more than a little worried about the mad scramble that was about to take place getting out of there. I capped my lens, stowed my camera and calmly walked back to my car. Amazingly, when I got there, there was no one parked in front of me, and I gingerly drove right out of the parking lot, almost before I had to even worry about pedestrians. I guess lots of folks had tripods, drones, and the like to collect. I literally was one of the first out of the I-80 rest stop, and easily drove on to my next spot with plenty of time to get ready. I am still wondering how I did it. I got 4 spots this day, but after I took my last shot, I was a nervous wreck. I elected to forego heading into Ogden and headed over to the Hill AFB Museum to check out some airplanes.....and decompress!