I'm taking another Amtrak adventure. Also, seeking tips for Glacier National Park

In My Humble Opinion
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I enjoyed my last Amtrak trip so much, I decided to take another one. This time, I booked a whole vacation package to Glacier National Park through Amtrak Vacations. Besides the trains, the package includes a stay at the historic Glacier Park Lodge, meals at the lodge, the famed Red Bus Tour, and a boat tour of Two Medicine Lake.

I will be taking the Coast Starlight from Sacramento up to Portland, connecting to the eastbound Empire Builder to East Glacier. Or at least that was the original itinerary. I just found out yesterday that the day I’m traveling the Portland section of the Empire Builder has been canceled and replaced by a bus to Spokane, and I’ll be getting the Empire builder from there. (For those unfamiliar with the Empire Builder, it starts out as two trains, one leaving from Seattle and one leaving from Portland. The trains get combined in Spokane).

That was kind of a bummer, as I was booked in a Roomette, and now I’m getting downgraded to a bus seat. I did at least get a partial refund for the downgrade. I do at least still get my Roomette from Spokane onward, although we don’t arrive in Spokane until after midnight. And this brings us to my first question. Traveling in a sleeper on Amtrak includes meals in the dining car, and while the Portland section doesn’t have a dining car (it’s on the Seattle section), sleeper passengers do still get a meal, albeit a cold one. So do passengers originally booked in a sleeper car still get that meal when the train gets replaced with a bus, or are we all coach passengers now? I realize I probably should ask Amtrak that, but I might as well ask on the off chance someone here knows. (Google’s AI says I will be given a boxed meal before boarding the bus, for what it’s worth).

So, if everything is on schedule I should arrive at East Glacier on Tuesday, August 4 around 9:30 am. I realize of course this is Amtrak, so that arrival time is far from guaranteed. But I have the rest of the day Tuesday free, the Red Bus Tour Wednesday, the Two Medicine boat tour Thursday, and another free day on Friday. Then dinner at the lodge Friday evening and, if it’s on schedule, catching the westbound Empire Builder at 7:48 for the return trip.

So, for my next question, are there any “must see” items that I should do on those free days that I won’t see on the other two tours? I figure I shouldn’t make any big plans for Tuesday in case the train arrives late, but I’ve basically got all day Friday to do something. If anything, if my departing train is running late on Friday that just gives me more time at Glacier. Keep in mind that since I’m arriving by train I won’t have a car to get around the park, but the lodge does offer a bus service to/from the park, and there are shuttle busses within the park.

Also, starting this year Glacier is now requiring reservations for the shuttle buses, so I have to figure out which bus I’m going to need ahead of time, rather that just getting on whatever bus comes along. That’s a little annoying. Does anyone have any experience with the new reservation system for the buses?

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Does the boat tour include any stops? I took a ranger led hike up to Dawson Pass that included a boat ride to the west end of Two Medicine where the hike started. Even if you don’t go all the way to Dawson, you may want to go to Upper Two Medicine or No Name lakes.
I’m not sure where the Red Bus tour goes.
I drove when I camped there and stayed at Two Medicine on the East side – which I think is less busy. I hiked some trails near Two Medicine Campground – they were fine but none were must dos (the best probably being Dawson Pass). I also biked from St Mary to Logan Pass – it was early in the season (Highline Trail was closed due to snow and Hidden Lake trail was mostly snow covered) and early in the morning so traffic was not too bad.

When I too Amtrak from La Crosse to Everett it was dark in Glacier west bound, but east bound it was just after breakfast (this was September).

Brian

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Do note that the electricity onboard goes out while they’re attaching the trains to each other, so you might find yourself sitting in the dark for awhile, assuming you weren’t planning to get to sleep as soon as you board anyway.

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A fan of Amtrak’s California Zephyr here. There are some very informative, enjoyable YouTubes about Amtrak travel. They are “Grounded Life Travel”.

https://youtube/4IRRHgBqXgk?is=RVp1lBYhwlXf7IQz

You’re going to be on 2 of their top 3 routes. The Coastal Starlight is on my bucket list, as is the Empire Builder.

My grandchildren and their parents just came back from a week in Glacier NP. They were glad they’d packed a wide range of clothing layers as it was cooler there than they expected.

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Where does that tour go? The famed Red Buses do head up into Waterton Lakes National Park, in Alberta,Canada. If yours does, remember your passport, but more importantly, give me a heads-up. I can meet for a beer and/or lunch at the Prince of Wales Hotel, which is where the Red Buses typically go in Waterton. Waterton isn’t that far from where I live; it’s a nice daytrip.

Other than that, I’m a little jealous, because I love train travel. Never been on Amtrak, but I’ve been on plenty of Via trains in Canada. And before there was Via, I was on CN and CP trains. Even if your Red Bus doesn’t go to Waterton, have a great trip anyway!

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Oh, and for those who have no idea what the Red Buses we are talking about are, here’s a photo:

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Aside from catching rotavirus from the sleeper car bathroom and almost shitting myself to death (literally - I lost 20 pounds of water weight in 12 hours and went into shock with a blood pressure of 95/55) and spending a week in the hospital instead of enjoying my vacation, riding the Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago is probably the most amazing travel experience I’ve had in my life. (Just make sure you do a better job washing your hands than I did.) I went in late April, when western Montana was still covered in snow, and the view out of my roomette window on the second morning was amazing. I did the Coast Starlight from Portland to LA in coach when I was younger, and it was still nice, but I need to do it the “right way” with a roomette one of these days.

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I visited Glacier last year. I can’t offer any train wisdom, and I know some of this doesn’t apply to you, but here is an excerpt of my response to a friend who was planning a trip there:

Glacier is huge, and the west side is very different than the east side. There is a road, the Going to the Sun Road, that bisects the park. We purposely waited until school was back in to avoid the crowds – which I recommend. The road is 50 miles long and takes a couple of hours with no stops and normal traffic. I hear that, in the summer peak hours, the road is one long parking lot. It’s a twisty, winding road, with breathtaking scenery; there are pull-outs and parking areas, which are the only spots you can stop. Tip: While driving, if you notice there is a line of cars behind you, pull over into one of the pull-outs and let them all pass you. There are places where some folks get anxious – rock wall on one side, sheer cliff on the other, but I never felt unsafe driving on it. The mid-point is Logan Pass, from which you can access several popular hiking trails and a large gift shop, of course. It is very busy, and parking fills up very early (the only day we were able to park at Logan was the day we arrived at 7am). There are dozens and dozens of hiking trails throughout the park. There is also a welcome center (with gift shops, of course) at each entrance, east and west. There are also occasional restrooms.

Like I said, the east and west sides are different. The towns around the east entrance are few, and don’t offer much by way of entertainment, lodging, or shopping. And what you can find is very expensive. However, the scenery on the east side, once you are inside the park, is more magnificent than the western part of the park, much of which is basically a nice, winding road going through trees. The area on the west side, outside of the park, is much more built up. Lots of stuff do do, places to stay, restaurants, etc. For these reasons we decided to spend half our time on the east, half on the west (although we traveled the entire Going to the Sun Road back and forth 3 or 4 times). You do need a special pass entering on the west side after 7am, no pass needed entering east side. This changes from time to time, so check the park website. There are also bus tours that we would have done but they were sold out for us.

Highly recommended: We spent one night at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Alberta, Canada. It’s about an hour drive from where we stayed in Babb, MT. It is an old, fancy, famous (expensive) hotel in an incredibly scenic setting. It is in a very nice little town (Waterton). There are also a lot of great hiking areas around Waterton (less crowded than Glacier).

mmm

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You won’t have a car, but if you did I’d recommend a drive up the Polebridge Mercantile on the west side of the park and some hikes up there. So ignore this. :slight_smile:

There are some nice relatively gentle hiking options from East Glacier, we went up to Grinnell Lake but that’s a fairly long hike. How much hiking are you willing to do? Not sure how much time the Red Bus tour gives you at Logan Pass, but if the weather is nice I would want to hang out up there for a few hours, taking the gentle nature trails and viewing wildlife.

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Regarding getting switched to the bus for Portland → Spokane and getting a meal, if that bus is like other Amtrak connector buses, it will just stop in some place about mid-way in between (probably the Tri-Cities area: Pasco/Kennewick) for a quick meal, usually something of the fast food variety. And I would expect it to be on you to pay for it. My experience is via the SLO → San Jose bus and the Martinez → Eureka bus, both of which branch off the Capitol Corridor route and also serve the Coast Starlight and California Zephyr routes. If your bus experience turns out to be something different, that would be good to know!

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I’m not sure what can be managed if you don’t have a car, but my go-to would be getting to the Grinnell Glacier trailhead via the Many Glaciers hotel, and hiking all the different trails around that area. The trail that goes between Mt Wilbur and Mt Grinnell was IMO perfection. You can eat lunch or dinner at the hotel. The food isn’t great, but it’s just fine if you’ve hiked enough miles.

Honestly there are so many nice trails on the east side, I didn’t see them all, so there are probably even better ones than what I visited. It’s such a nice area that I doubt you can really go wrong. But if it was a short stay and I didn’t want to risk landing on a second tier trail, I’d go straight for the Grinnell trails. Two Medicine is also a good one if you can’t get all the way up to the east gate.

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I think it technically does, the boat tour operator mentions an optional self-guided hike. However, the package I booked through Amtrak includes transportation to/from the lodge and Two Medicine. So I think if I actually did the hike I’d miss my ride back to the lodge.

The one I’m doing is the Big Sky Circle tour, which starts at Glacier Park Lodge, goes up to St. Mary, travels the whole length of the Going to the Sun Road, then loops back to the lodge via a more southerly route. It doesn’t go up into Canada as far as I know. I assume they would have warned me to bring my passport if it did.

Vintage vehicle seem to be a hallmark of Glacier. Besides the red busses, Glacier Park Lodge uses a 1969 Checker Aerobus as their shuttle from the train station. Even though it’s technically walkable from the station, I’m going to have to ride it, just because I’ve never ridden in a Checker before.

Admittedly my physical fitness isn’t the best at the moment. An easy, flat hike is fine, but nothing too steep or long.

That might be my best bet, as it looks like the lodge offers frequent shuttles to Two Medicine, but only one daily shuttle to the East Gate, and from there getting anywhere would require a transfer to the park’s shuttles.

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“Other than that, how did you enjoy the play, Mrs. Lincoln?”

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When I stayed at East Glacier, the Whistling Swan was reasonable, but it was 10 years ago, and shoulder season – I don’t remember exactly where I ate (maybe Whistle Stop which is now Solterra) but it was a bit pricy but not extreme (again, 10 years ago)

Back to the OP: I’d verify the timing of your boat tour package.
If there isn’t time to hike on that, it may be worth it to go to Two Medicine again and take the Boat and hike to No Name or Upper Two Medicine – if that is too long you could just go to Twin Falls Paradise Point is an easy hike from near the campground.
The website seems to indicate the Big Sky Circle goes clockwise (south first) – in any case, I’m sure the tour folks will give suggestions if they stop (e.g – we are staying here 15 min, try the XYZ trail)

Brian

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I’m thinking / hoping it will be, since this bus service is a replacement for what was meant to be a real train, rather than a normal connecting bus service, and I effectively already paid for my meal when I paid for my Roomette. I did say I got a partial refund, but it wasn’t all that much and seems like mainly compensation for not getting a bed / private compartment on that leg. It didn’t seem like enough to also cover the meal I was supposed to get.