Rio Grande train 179, the Ford Fast Freight, hugs the bank of the Arkansas River as it winds through Cotopaxi, Colorado. My friends opted for a rock outcropping over the river just west of here, while I took the car and returned to make a relatively easy, but ambitious climb up a rocky embankment, arriving at this point with the train approaching. This foray to the main line west of Pueblo was a one-day side trip as we moved south from Denver to spend a week on Raton Pass and Abo Canyon. After getting screwed by a cloud, I vowed to return to this location on a future trip. I never made it.
