Never posted about this trip here and feeling a little nostalgic for good times traveling across America. In Jul-Aug 2024 I had the opportunity to spend a month and a half taking Amtrak to link up a couple bike trips.
Amtrak leg 1: Coast Starlight, LA to PDX. Easy and ahead of schedule!
Bike leg 1: Portland to Seattle via Columbia River Gorge, the Gifford Pinchot NF, and Mt. Rainier NP. Several days of beautiful dirt roads and day-long climbs, capped off by spectacular hiking in the snow in MRNP. In this section I biked with friends, but I was on my own after Seattle.
Amtrak leg 2: Empire Builder, Seattle to Whitefish MT. Worryingly delayed.
Bike Leg 2: Whitefish to Glacier NP via bikepacking.com’s Red Meadow Pass Loop. Worth it for the bearclaw's at Polebridge Mercantile alone. I then camped at Glacier and biked (unloaded) up the Going-to-the-Sun Road. A real high water mark, physically speaking, even if the descent was not fun due to all the car traffic.
Amtrak leg 3: Empire Builder, Glacier to Williston, ND. Perfectly on-time
Bike leg 3: I had plans to bike from Williston to Theodore Roosevelt NP, but was discouraged by wide highways and heavy truck traffic. Rented a u-haul pick-up (lol) to get me there, where I camped in the park and biked through the north section and did a small loop along the Maah Daah Hay mountain biking trail. A spectacular trail where I pushed my underbiking to the limits. Looking forward to tackling the entire MDH with a real mountain bike in the future.
Amtrak leg 4: Empire Builder, Williston, ND to St. Paul, MN. Mostly on-time.
Bike leg 4: A bit of a break from touring, just city riding exploring the Twin Cities (including the very cool Indian Mounds, the Chain of Lakes and riding along the mythical Mississippi). Minneapolis is a wonderful city that is absolutely under siege right now by my so-called government. Stay strong MPLS.
Amtrak leg 5: Empire Builder St. Paul to Milwaukee. Sadly very delayed so I did not get much time to explore Milwaukee.
Bike Leg 5: Milwaukee to Chicago!
After a night of spectacular cocktails at Bryant’s, I soaked up beautiful views of Lake Michigan, in particular on the bluffs of Bender Park. A good amount of off street cycling paths made this pretty easy, but many of those trails had stops at every crossing, which really zapped my energy over the course of this long day. You know when you’re many miles into a ride and you just sit by a gas station with a Gatorade and candy bar and zone out? Chicago, of course, is an amazing city. Until visiting, I did not appreciate how the Lake Michigan lakeshore basically makes Chicago a beach city in the summer.
Amtrak leg 6: Capitol Limited, Chicago to Pittsburgh. My seat mate was a real asshole on this leg, but the staff took pity on me. By and large Amtrak staff were incredibly friendly and helpful on every leg of the journey.
Bike Leg 6: Pittsburgh to DC via the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal Path. A great contrast to the mountains of the West, this ride was equal parts delightful and a slog. At one point, I left the canal path just to get a change of scenery (and cut 10 miles of winding next to the Potomac), passing through Antietam. Pushed myself physically in a new way: doing multiple 90+ days in a row, really felt the fitness built over the trip. I needed the speed and endurance to outrun a terrible thunder storm on my 2nd to last night. Made it to a hiker hostel in Harpers Ferry right before the deluge struck. Phew. Reaching the Lincoln Memorial was the spiritual end of this trip.
Epilogue Amtrak: NEC DC to Philly
Bike Epilogue: 30th Street to my in-laws in the suburbs, plus some jaunts around the Wissahickon.
Closing thoughts: Multiple trips-of-a-lifetime in one summer. 11 states, 6 NPS parks/sites, 5 of the nation’s great historic rivers (Columbia, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Potomac), two continental divides, countless historic sites, the joys of lake and river swimming, trains, saw some of the world's great masterpieces of art at museums in Minneapolis, Chicago, Pittsburgh and DC.
I left the trip feeling I saw the best of America. Obviously the physical beauty, but also the human beauty: from taking nature walks with NPS park rangers to making new friends playing trivia at a St Paul gay bar, to an amazing Turkish restaurant in North Dakota. The country’s full of amazing and friendly people who want to do good by their neighbors and strangers. The symbolism of ending in DC and Philly, the birthplace of America made me feel like the ideals of this county are worth fighting for. Maybe that’s why I’m posting today, as I’m trying to remember that feeling.
by j_slash_k