Home > Rafi on the Rails > Archives > 2007 > October > 05 > Entry
Day 4, 5 & 6: Hello Pacific Northwest
To try and describe the sights we encountered on our trip through Washington State, Oregon, and Northern California would take much, much too long for a blog entry. So, instead, I’m going to fill this blog item with pictures and some brief narration. If you’re reading this on the blog index page, make sure to click here to see all of the pictures and content.
The Empire Builder
In all my years of riding Amtrak, whenever I asked people about their impressions of the Empire Builder, the response I’d almost always get went something like this:
“Oh, that’s a wonderful train, but the scenery just isn’t quite as good as the California Zephyr.”
Now, I’ve been on the Zephyr twice, and yes, the scenery on that route is spectacular—possibly the best in North America. But to compare that route’s scenery to the Empire Builder is an apples and oranges kind of thing, I discovered. The Empire Builder’s scenery pretty much sneaks up on you when you’re heading westward, like Jon and I did. One minute you’re in the high desert and badlands:
and the next, you’re heading into what looks like Mordor. I’m serious. You look out the window and you literally see this:
Yeah, holy crap.
That’s Glacier National Park. And from there on out, the scenery just kicks into high gear and doesn’t let up until you’re in Seattle, or in our case, in Portland (remember, the train splits in Spokane). The air changes from a dry, sun-warmed breeze to a crisp chill. If you stick your head out, you smell the pine needles and you hear the rush of the mountain streams. It’s invigorating and relaxing at the same time, if you can imagine that.
Since our section split off in Spokane to head to Portland, we woke up Sunday morning to the sight of the Columbia River, which is this monolithic chasm of water in the middle of the mountains. It was foggy, cold, and rainy, but it was still breathtaking:
The Coast Starlight
I had been on the Coast Starlight once before, back in 2004 when I rode from Seattle to San Jose. On that trip, I was able to capture some fantastic scenery on film because our train was 8 hours late, ironically. So, for example, I took this lucky shot under Mount Shasta in northern California:
Even though our train wasn’t 8 hours late this time around (shucks!), we were still able to get some great pictures of the Oregon countryside:
But from there on out, it was too dark to really capture anything. Suffice it to say, the Coast Starlight’s northern scenery is, in fact, spectacular. You just have to time it to see it in daylight (heading north is probably better for that).
For more pictures, make sure you check out both the Coast Starlight and Empire Builder photo galleries.
-Rafi
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