Train Tuesday

Dave and I started the morning with a nice 2 mile roundtrip to the Birthing Cave (woo!) while Lynn stayed at the palace and got some work prepared. The trail leaves from the Long Canyon trailhead, then takes off on an unmarked but easily found and well-maintained trail after about .6 miles. We timed the hike perfectly – we didn’t see anybody on the trail and had the cave to ourselves for a good amount of time. It’s not actually a cave, it’s more of a hollowed-out place in the rock that you can scramble up to. When 2 people showed up we decided to head back and enjoyed sharing our wisdom about the trail with the many people we met who all wanted to be reassured that they had, in fact, taken the correct turnoff.

Then it was time for Train Day! We had bought some cheese and salami and crackers and little clementines, so we packed them up and headed out to the hillside town of Jerome, which was a mining town, then a ghost town, and is now a tourist destination, and a place we’d like to spend more time in. We drove up into the mountains a little way past Jerome and looked at the views, and then headed down to Clarkdale to check in for the train, which they want you to do an hour before the train leaves. (Lynn said we could get there later and she was right, but I don’t know if Dave and I could ever do that). 

We had a little picnic lunch, and soon it was time to board the train. You can google why there is a 36 or so mile train track running from Clarkdale to Perkinsville, but you can’t google the feeling you get looking at the massive slag heaps produced by the copper mines. You might also not know that the Monkees song “Last train to Clarksville” actually was written about the train to Clarksdale.

The ride is terrific through Verde Canyon, and they had little snack boxes in case you start to feel a bit peckish on the 4 hour journey. They also have ice cream sandwiches for sale when you get to the turnaround point at Perkinsville, which elevated the entire experience in my opinion. Also in Perkinsville they decouple the two diesel engines and drive them around to the other end of the train, so now that’s the front and you’re ready to head back. The train has both indoor cars, with couches and chairs (assigned), and oudoor cars (1 shared between 2 indoor cars). The indoor cars have a bartender/guide, and the outdoor cars have a guide, and they tell stories and explain the history and point out the important rock formations like the dorito chip and the Budweiser frogs.

We had a late dinner planned at Saltrock Kitchen (8:15, which is waaaay too late), but I was able to move it to 7:00, which turned out to be just the right time. We shared 3 appetizers, and 3 different kinds of street tacos (3 of each), and 3 scoops of ice cream – it was our triple lucky day. The food was very good and it’s one of the places to revisit. 

Want to hear the train rolling along?