The Pritchard Creek Horseshoe is a truly spectacular railroad location. The climb for Encina begins at Huntington travels thru the Burnt River Canyon to Durkee. Near Durkee the steep 2.2% grade begins and also where steam helpers were once added. This steep section to the summit was also known as Hindman Hill. Ken Kuehne posted a shot from near this spot a couple months ago and reminded me of this overlook I ran across on a family vacation a few years back. I had been there at the wrong time of day had always wanted to go back. I finally did. On this September morning a Soda Ash load battles the grade and curvature. Note there is another DPU helper out of sight on the rear of the train.... If you look really hard to the far upper left, near the last bunch of trees, you can see the track continuing the climb far above this location. The mountain range in the background is the Blue Mountains.
