Earlier this month, I took the California Zephyr for the first time ever, from Sacramento to Utah, for a football game in Provo that weekend. If the Desert Wind was still around, my trip would've been much easier; however, that train doesn't exist anymore, and a round-trip flight from SoCal to Sacramento was necessary to be able to use the Zephyr.

I boarded 6 in Sacramento. There is a small (and comfortable) first-class waiting area in the Sacramento depot; however, it doesn't have Wi-Fi. I don't recall if it had outlets; thus, I spent most of my time at the adjacent Starbucks (with a homeless person or two). The Sacramento depot is very nice; it looks like much of the building is not used by Amtrak.

I've read here (or on the other site) about the long walk from the depot to the platform at Sacramento -- I didn't think it was any longer than what I'm used to at LA Union Station. There was nice foliage on the walk over from the depot to the platform.

There were three (?) sleepers and either a transition sleeper or a fourth sleeper (which was great to see as Amtrak leadership would have us think otherwise). It's certainly not a fast ride from Sacramento to Reno, but it is incredibly scenic climbing through the Sierra Nevada mountains/Donner Pass. Too bad Colfax or Truckee can't be a smoke stop (I'm not a smoker, but it would be nice to stretch one's legs in the mountains).

Our stop in Reno was rather quick; there was no visit from the local authorities. After Reno/Sparks, wild mustangs can be seen from the train for a brief while. The northern Nevada desert is beautiful. Winnemucca is a good smoke stop, and apparently Elko was too (but sleepers did not open at Elko, and there was a long line in the coaches).

Passing through Utah and seeing the stars (at least those not blocked by the full moon) was a treat. It looked like the tracks skirt the southern shores of the Great Salt Lake, also neat at night. After the crew change at SLC, the conductor stopped by my sleeper in advance of Provo, my final destination. Although unstaffed, Provo is a very nice platform. I did not have to worry about my safety while waiting for the Uber; in fact, I probably could've walked to my hotel (can't say that about LA!). It looked like the first Front Runner of the morning was ready to depart for SLC (or Ogden).

Return leg
While originally I planned to board 5 in Provo, I decided to change the reservation to Salt Lake City, since not much is open on Sundays in Provo. Unfortunately, not much is open late in SLC on Sundays either, so I had to wait on the SLC platform for an hour until the Amshack opened. SLC has Greyhound and Amtrak at the same depot (along with Front Runner and the light-rail). It looked like there were some homeless folks at SLC, but they kept to themselves.

The Amshack at SLC is small; by comparison, the Amshack at "Midway" in St. Paul must be twice or thrice as large. Midway/St. Paul had a first-class waiting area, which SLC unfortunately does not. There was a large crowd of passengers (sleeping and coach) waiting to board 5 at SLC. Apparently, Greyhound contracts with Amtrak for service between SLC and Reno; that must be helping ridership.

After boarding 5 in SLC, I again looked out the window at the stars/desert. We must've been behind a freight for a while, as we were stopping and starting once or twice. Otherwise, we must've done every bit of track speed; I felt it (and I wasn't feeling the bumps, etc. on the way out there).

I woke up somewhere between Winnemucca and Reno, getting breakfast before Reno (and the area east of Sparks along the Truckee River where the wild mustangs are visible). After a brief stop in Reno, we started our climb (and eventual descent) through Donner Pass. It was raining at the high elevation; it might've snowed later that day.

We would've been on time into Sacramento but for a train/vehicle incident somewhere down the line near Davis. The conductor did an incredible job of keeping passengers aware of the delay. Due to train congestion in Sacramento, we ended up waiting at Haggin for almost an hour. Admittedly, I wish the conductor could've made this announcement before Roseville, so Sacramento passengers could've departed one stop earlier in Roseville (and Ubered to our final destinations).

All onboard staff on both legs of the trip were amazing. I hope to take the Zephyr again -- perhaps to Denver -- before the current leadership at Amtrak has its way.