After a two-day stop in Montana, I re-boarded the Empire Builder in the morning, heading east toward Chicago. Shortly after departing Whitefish, MT, the train travels along the southern edge of Glacier National Park, the highlight of the entire 2,210-mile Empire Builder route. The tracks pass over the Continental Divide, treating passengers to a panorama view of wilderness and mountains.
In late March the mountains were white with snow and the trees sparkled with frost. The train traversed over silver rivers and valleys carved by ancient glaciers.
The exciting up-close mountain views didn’t last long, however. Within a few hours, the terrain flattened out into the snowy plains of eastern Montana and North Dakota. Though the scenery was monotonous, it was beautiful in its own serene way.
While paralleling the Mississippi River in Minnesota the next morning, I saw a moose lumbering along the train tracks. Minnesota and Wisconsin were covered in a fresh bed of snow from a midwest storm the day before. I was grateful the storm hadn’t affected my train.
One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about train travel is the convenient location of train stations. Unlike airports, which are often far on the outskirts of a city, train stations tend to be very centrally located. When I got off the train in Chicago, I was already downtown and just a few blocks from my hostel. The next morning it was a short walk to the Lakefront Trail, where I walked along Lake Michigan, to Millenium Park, and of course, The Bean.
The central location of train stations is a boon to short visits. You don’t have to waste any time renting a car, sitting in traffic, or arriving at the airport two hours early. You just hop off the train and you’re already there. Within minutes, you can be walking around some of the city’s main highlights. It really makes for an efficient way to see a city.
This is particularly helpful on a blitzkrieg trip such as mine. Most of my stops are not more than a day or two, so it is convenient to not have to waste additional travel time to get into the heart of things.
Even so, I don’t have a lot of time to explore each stop. My stop in Chicago, for example, was less than 24 hours. I barely got to scratch the surface.
I don’t mind too much though. Chicago will be waiting for me when I want to have a more in-depth visit, but by design, this is a different kind of trip. Although I’m enjoying my stops, the real point of this trip is the journey itself.
It’s a reverse model for travel. Normally, when you travel the transportation portion is simply a means to an end. The point is to get where you’re going. This type of travel flips that on its head.
It’s not that different from thru-hiking actually. Every hiker looks forward to town stops as an opportunity to rest, eat, and get clean, but it’s the hiking that is the main event. Perhaps it was my experience on the Appalachian Trail last year that oriented me toward this unconventional mode of travel.
On this USA by Rail adventure, the destinations are a component of the journey, but they are not the point. The real meat of this trip occurs on the train itself. On the train I have seen more of the U.S. than I have ever seen before. I have rubbed elbows (literally) with people from all walks of life. I have sat next to Amish families, homeless people, international students, and retired full-time travelers. From my window I have watched the landscape change from wetlands to desert, and from mountains to plains. I’m looking forward to heading west again, back toward the mountains.
Thanks Chicago, gotta go!