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A Globetrotting Guide to
the Internet San Francisco to Seattle The following information is from the Coast Starlight Route Guide, traveling from San Francisco to Seattle. We boarded our return trip at Emmeryville, California the Amtrak connecting point for San Francisco, at 9 p.m. As we passed through Richmond, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) trains come into view. BART provides rail transit service throughout the region. As night falls, our train skirts the shore of San Pablo Bay, an arm of San Francisco Bay, passing through Crockett. Departing Martinez (home of the martini and birthplace of Joe Dimaggio,) we approach the double-track steel Carqinez Strait bridge across Suisan Bay. To the right we could see the Mothball Fleet. Mostly WWII vintage merchant marine ships. We soon reached Davis. The 1913 adobe-style station at Davis is an historic landmark. East of town we crossed the "Yolo Bypass" on a long low trestle. It was built to divert flood waters during particularly wet years. Beyond the east end of the trestle is Sacramento. This is the capital of California and the largest inland city in the state. We stop awhile for train maintenance. Since the Coast Starlight is a non-smoking train, this was the last chance for smokers to get the last cigarette for the night. Continuing our journey north into the night, we travel the length of the Sacramento Valley. To the east is the Sierra Nevada, and on the west, the Coast Range. With over 12 million acres, the Sacramento Valley extends 160 miles south and is 60 miles wide at its greatest extent. At Roseville, a great railroad center with classification yards and locomotive shops, we turn north, pausing briefly at Marysville and the college town of Chico. Beyond Red Bluff, gateway to Lassen Volcanic National Park, we leave the fertile Sacramento Valley pausing briefly at Redding, before heading to the foothills. Between a succession of tunnels and bridges we catch glimpses of Shasta Lake, created by the waters of the Pit, McCloud and Sacramento Rivers impounded by the Shasta Dam. For the next 32 miles we follow the winding Sacramento River. The country gets more rugged as we ascend the Sacramento River Canyon. Pausing briefly at the railroad town of Dunsmuir, we continue north into the canyon, we catch our first glimpse of Mt. Shasta. At Black Butte, there is a perfectly formed 6,250-ft. cinder cone on the right. Skirting the base of Mt. Shasta our pace slows and we cut directly through lava flows as we continue to ascend towards Grass Lake, (elevation 5,063 ft.) the highest point on the route of the Coast Starlight. Above Grass Lake we wind through a remote pine-covered landscape characteristic of the Modoc Plateau country. Later, in Butte Valley we race through the rural communities of Mt. Hebron and Dorris, then enter the first of two short tunnels and cross the state line entering Oregon. Twenty miles further north is Klamath Falls, a lumbering center and distribution point for some of the nations finest potatoes. Lying on ancient volcanic ground, many homes in town are heated from natural hot-water springs. We stopped here for a few moments and went out for a breath of the crisp-clean air. North of town we reach the eastern shore of Upper Klamath Lake which we follow for 18 miles. At Modoc Point we could see the sharp peak of Mt. McLoughlin across the lake to the left. Upper Klamath Lake is one of the largest bodies of fresh water west of the Rockies. We could see many types of birds, including pelicans which are protected here. Leaving the lake, we climb Calimus Hill into Chiloquin. << Next: Continue to Oregon >> Return to Table of Contents
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