Date: 07/21/2005
In late July of 2005, one of my brother-in-laws, along with his brother and two of their high school buddies embarked on an epic trek through Glacier National Park in Montana.
My brother-in-law and I met up with the rest of the group in Chicago where we spent about 6 hours hiking around downtown before catching a train at Union Station. The train was called the Empire Builder and is a commuter rail line run by Amtrak which follows the trans-continental railway along the northern US border.
Starting in Chicago, the train travels to Minneapolis/St. Paul, then on to Fargo, North Dakota. It then goes west all the way to Washington and Oregon. The Dakota and Montana plains are so vast they seem to never end and being a city dweller, I wondered how anyone lives out there. There’s no Walmart stores or even grocery stores or gas stations out there it seems. Just an occasional homestead surrounded by an endless plain of land.
The train made many small town stops along the way including a stop right in front of the scenic Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier Village at the southeastern edge of Glacier National Park in western Montana where we departed. The lodge is impressive with huge Douglas Fir pillars towering overhead in the expansive lobby. It was completed in 1913, shortly after Glacier National Park was established in 1910. It features a small store and a nice restaurant. Rooms rent between $180 and $440 (see link below for current rates), depending on how luxurious you want as well as cottages on the lodge property. There is also a few motels, rental cars, and a couple restaurants just a short walk in East Glacier Village. A link to google maps is provided below if you plan on making a visit.
The train goes on from here to Spokane, Washington, where it splits in half. One half goes to Portland while the other goes to Seattle. The train then returns back the opposite direction. It has a couple of trains that do this trip constantly.
The total round trip cost was an amazing $220 (see link below for current rates). The trip from Chicago to Glacier took about 36 hours. There were things to do including a glass car where you can view bison roaming the plains, a dining car, and a bar car for beverage entertainment. For a small price more you can even have your own sleeper car.
It’s been a few years, so I’m sure prices have gone up (see link below for more info on current rates), but this ride is a great experience.
Links:
East Glacier Park Village on Google Maps
This is the first post of a series on my trip to Glacier National Park. Other posts can be found here.