C.Z. and National Park
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greatcats
Engineer
To plan such a trip, your options are limited: For Yellowstone, I believe the most practical advice is to go to Salt Lake City and rent a car. Doable, yes, but a fairly considerable drive, but then you have the car to tour the Park, which is wonderful. You also have a rather large group, involving more than just a regular car. I do highly recommend the evening chuck wagon dinner tour from Roosevelt Lodge on the north side of the park, which takes you from the Lodge in wagons out to a lavish cowboy cookout. Sounds a bit hokey, but the food ( almost 10 years ago ) and the setting were right out of the Old West.
Another idea involving the CZ would be to go to California, and rent a car from say Sacramento, or take an Inland train to Merced for a bus connection to Yosemite, not involving a car.
The only National Park directly accessible by Amtrak is Glacier in Montana, and in that case, a rental vehicle not a necessity. Grand Canyon is accessible by rail by Amtrak to Williams, then Grand Canyon Railway to the Canyon, which is doable, but the connections at Williams are a bit awkward. Hope this helps. I used to work at Grand Canyon - feel free to message me.
Another idea involving the CZ would be to go to California, and rent a car from say Sacramento, or take an Inland train to Merced for a bus connection to Yosemite, not involving a car.
The only National Park directly accessible by Amtrak is Glacier in Montana, and in that case, a rental vehicle not a necessity. Grand Canyon is accessible by rail by Amtrak to Williams, then Grand Canyon Railway to the Canyon, which is doable, but the connections at Williams are a bit awkward. Hope this helps. I used to work at Grand Canyon - feel free to message me.
ehbowen
Engineer
If the main purpose of your trip is the train ride, then the California Zephyr probably is your best bet. However, as was pointed out, the options for connecting from it to one of the major National Parks are limited and virtually all of those options involve a long drive in a rental car (from the few stations along the route which actually offer rental cars). If the main purpose of your trip is to visit a National Park and the train ride is essentially an "appetizer" or "dessert" (or both), then, as greatcats pointed out, Grand Canyon National Park on the Southwest Chief route or otherwise Glacier National Park on the Empire Builder line are much easier from a logistics and planning perspective.
greatcats
Engineer
Google Maps tells me it is321 highway miles Salt Lake City to West Yellowstone, Montana.
crescent-zephyr
Engineer
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Granby Colorado is the closest to Rocky Mountain National Park (Avalanche rentals will deliver rental car to Amtrak station).
From Grand Junction Colorado, (or Thompson Springs or Green River Utah) you are close to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.
As long as you plan on renting a car, lots of options to choose from!
From Grand Junction Colorado, (or Thompson Springs or Green River Utah) you are close to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.
As long as you plan on renting a car, lots of options to choose from!
BCL
Engineer
You can book a trip to Yosemite National Park via Amtrak. It will include a combination of Amtrak California's San Joaquin, as well as a bus ride on the Yosemite Area Regional Transit System. It's considered an Amtrak thruway service even though it's mainly a regional transit bus with its own ticketing system.
Not sure where you plan on arriving, but from Chicago to Yosemite Village I only see it showing up going through Los Angeles (Texas Eagle or Southwest Chief), a bus to Bakersfield, the San Joaquin, and finally YARTS. If you really insist on taking the CZ, then there are a variety of routes where you would probably want to force a transfer to the San Joaquin, and the typical stations would be Sacramento, Martinez, or Emeryville.
Not sure where you plan on arriving, but from Chicago to Yosemite Village I only see it showing up going through Los Angeles (Texas Eagle or Southwest Chief), a bus to Bakersfield, the San Joaquin, and finally YARTS. If you really insist on taking the CZ, then there are a variety of routes where you would probably want to force a transfer to the San Joaquin, and the typical stations would be Sacramento, Martinez, or Emeryville.
greatcats
Engineer
Crescent Zephyr- You gave some good information. Thanks.
tricia
Conductor
Been there, done that. Avalanche was really easy to work with (even when Amtrak was delayed). They're small, and their variety of rentals is limited. I'd suggest calling them to ask if they have minivans, or at least two larger cars for your large group.
And Rocky Mtn NP is lovely. Very different from anyplace else.
A lot depends on what you consider scenic. I'm considering one of two similar trips this summer: either to Grand Junction and doing a circle tour of Colorado or to Green River and doing a circle tour of southern Utah. Yellowstone/Grand Teton is gorgeous - I've done it multiple times - but the westbound time at SLC is awkward and the eastbound downright inhuman. Yosemite is another possibility - unlike BCL above, the Amtrak site did show me some possibilities using the CZ, though they involve an overnight at Merced.
You can also get off of AmTrak in Denver and rent a car. From there to Rocky Mountain Park via Boulder / Estes Park is less than a 2 hour drive.
I would suggest the CZ to Grand Junction, CO and a rental car from Enterprise, which is 4 blocks from the Amtrak station and they will pick you up. There are 5 national parks in Utah within a few hours drive from Grand Junction, plus some other spectacular drives on state highways between the parks.
I did an Amtrak trip to Yellowstone in 2007. Took the Empire Builder to Havre and rented a car. Did this mainly for the sane (~1pm) arrival and departures times. Spent a night in Great Falls and Bozeman before entering the park, but on return trip to Havre only needed to spend night in Great Falls. A caution: the car rental place (a GM) dealership is closed on Sunday. But they will let you park the car at the station with the keys locked inside.
We have done: CZ to SLC and then up to West Yellowstone. stayed in park for four days and then south to Grand Tetons and back to SLC via nice ride through Idaho.
Also CZ to Denver. Drive through Wyoming and then over to S. Dakota to Mt Rushmore, nw to Custer & Little Bighorn and back to Denver.
Also took San Jouquins to Merced and Yartz bus to Yosemite.
All are nice trips and saves a long car ride from eastern US.
Also CZ to Denver. Drive through Wyoming and then over to S. Dakota to Mt Rushmore, nw to Custer & Little Bighorn and back to Denver.
Also took San Jouquins to Merced and Yartz bus to Yosemite.
All are nice trips and saves a long car ride from eastern US.
If you want to see Rocky Mountain National Park, I agree, this is the best choice. You can either rent your own car (probably the best way to really see what you want to see in the park), with a far better choice of car rental's than you could possibly get in Granby. Or, you could take a bus tour that takes you to and through the park, if you don't desire to drive...much more limited, if at all available in Granby.
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