Opinion By Staff, National Parks Traveler; September 2, 2019
It’s early morning in Whitefish, Montana, and the sun slowly climbs over the Rocky Mountains to the east and begins to warm the crisp night air at the beautifully restored Amtrak passenger depot and touches on the gleaming eastbound Empire Builder that has paused there.
While some people depart the train, many others—tourists, backpacking explorers, Amish families, local Montanans with distant appointments—climb aboard, and many settle in the lounge car, which provides beautiful views out large windows on both sides of the train. As the Builder slowly begins to move eastward, the volunteer National Park Service interpretive guides in the lounge car begin their presentation, which will cover the geography, geology, history, and biological diversity of this marvelous part of our nation.