Question about cross-country train trip

[jis]

How does a party get from the hostel to Yosemite without a car?

As mentioned in the post, using the YARTS shuttle.

https://www.travelyosemite.com/discover/travel-tips/shuttles/

 

[joelkfla]

The Lyft driver knew about the Amtrak bus too!

General rule: Never count on a Lyft/Uber driver knowing anything they can't find on Google Maps. You might get an experienced driver who knows all the ins and outs, or you might get someone driving his first day in the city.

 

[joelkfla]

As mentioned in the post, using the YARTS shuttle.

https://www.travelyosemite.com/discover/travel-tips/shuttles/

Oh, OK. I thought it was an Amtrak bus.

 

[jis]

Oh, OK. I thought it was an Amtrak bus.

I think it also plays the role of Amtrak Thruway connection from Merced Amtrak to Yosemite Park, but not absolutely sure about that. Maybe @Alice can clarify.

I have actually driven to the vicinity of Yosemite (from Cupertino), parked somewhere and then used the YARTS shuttle to get around locally. That was one long but extremely enjoyable day.

 

[joelkfla]

One thing about SF: they're experiencing a high number of window smash and grab burglaries from parked cars, especially but not exclusively in popular tourist areas. On one newscast, a police official recommended that visitors not rent a car to get around the city.

Fortunately, SF has a good transit system, mostly buses. I think there are also a lot of Lyft and Uber drivers working the area.

 

[jis]

One thing about SF: they're experiencing a high number of window smash and grab burglaries from parked cars, especially but not exclusively in popular tourist areas. On one newscast, a police official recommended that visitors not rent a car to get around the city.

Fortunately, SF has a good transit system, mostly buses. I think there are also a lot of Lyft and Uber drivers working the area.

Indeed, I have spent significant periods of time in the San Francisco are and I have never used a rental car to get around San Francisco. Usually I used to visit Santas Clara/Mountainview/Cupertino/Palo Alto for work (working for HP back then would do that to you ), and while in Silicon Valley I'd use a rental car, but to do anything in San Francisco I'd take Caltrain in and then use transit or Uber.

 

[Rambling Robert]

I’ve only taken on

General rule: Never count on a Lyft/Uber driver knowing anything they can't find on Google Maps. You might get an experienced driver who knows all the ins and outs, or you might get someone driving his first day in the city.

That was the only uber/lift I’ve EVER taken. haha. He had just bought his Honda Accord in Miami and worked his way literally to SF to settle for a while. The Lyft was difficult to find at the airport and cost $32 compared to a taxi $140 or more.

 

[tgstubbs1]

Thank you all again !! How many days could you recommend me at places I could stop like for example : Chicago I thought 3 days, Denver 2 to 3 days (I have no car but take a day tour trip), Salt Lake City : 1 or 2 days, San Francisco : 3 days, Los Angeles 2 or 3 days ?

I think you should try to find the accommodation on the internet exactly where and when you plan to stay to help you decide.

I guess you may need to lay over in Chicago as the trains arrive too late for the afternoon departures of both the California Zepher and SW Chief.



That should give you the next morning to see some Chicago. Do you have a hotel plan in Chicago?

Leaving Chicago first night on the train. Daylight in either West Nebraska or Kansas ( depending on train) or Colorado if the train is late.

I'm not sure what to see in Denver for 3 days. Maybe 1 Denver, 1 Glenwood Springs, 1 ....?

How many nights in a row will you sleep on the train?

 

[BCL]

Oh, OK. I thought it was an Amtrak bus.

It's technically YARTS, but they have an agreement that's similar to an airline codeshare for Amtrak to use a thruway service. There are various ways to board, with an Amtrak ticket, a reserved ticket, cash fare, or a 10-ride commuter ticket. The Amtrak and reserved tickets are obviously reserved and supposedly have priority. I don't know how they deal with it given how many stops they have with no way of knowing exactly how many 10-ride or cash passengers there might be.

It's my understanding that YARTS will wait a reasonable time for Amtrak, but obviously not too long since most of the passengers aren't coming from Amtrak.

This is a pretty good explanation:

https://www.thedistractedwanderer.com/2012/03/yosemite-valley-to-me-is-always-sunrise.html

 

[Alice]

How does a party get from the hostel to Yosemite without a car?

The YARTS bus.

 

[Alice]

I think it also plays the role of Amtrak Thruway connection from Merced Amtrak to Yosemite Park, but not absolutely sure about that. Maybe @Alice can clarify.

I have actually driven to the vicinity of Yosemite (from Cupertino), parked somewhere and then used the YARTS shuttle to get around locally. That was one long but extremely enjoyable day.

Suspect Amtrak is just a stop for YARTS. It also serves the airport and is used by people not going all the way to Yosemite, although all routes from all directions end at Yosemite Valley. The route from Merced is the only year-round route.

 

[Willbridge]

Indeed, I have spent significant periods of time in the San Francisco are and I have never used a rental car to get around San Francisco. Usually I used to visit Santas Clara/Mountainview/Cupertino/Palo Alto for work (working for HP back then would do that to you ), and while in Silicon Valley I'd use a rental car, but to do anything in San Francisco I'd take Caltrain in and then use transit or Uber.

Yes! I can only recall taking a big station wagon into SF once on a weekend and that was the idea of a fellow Fort Ord soldier from Joplin, MO. I tried to talk him into riding the Del Monte in and the Muni around town, but he wouldn't listen. We spent a good amount of time looking for parking places or hiking from the places we found. He and the three Chicano NM National Guardsmen in our expedition were great guys but had never been in SF before. After the trip they agreed: "next time try the train."

I did ride in and out between Marin County and Haight-Ashbury on Spring Break in 1967, but that was driven by a native who knew an obscure, small place in the Haight to park a VW. I'm not sure if a "commuter hippie" counts in discussing visitor transportation.

 

[Kevinx244974]

Thanks! About Denver, I thought : the first day I'm arriving at 07.15 (without delay) so just visiting the city itself. Then, the day after take a day tour trip to the Rocky Mountains for the day and the day after taking a day tour trip for Garden of the gods and Pike peaks. Do you think that too much for just Denver ?

 

[MARC Rider]

Yes! I can only recall taking a big station wagon into SF once on a weekend and that was the idea of a fellow Fort Ord soldier from Joplin, MO. I tried to talk him into riding the Del Monte in and the Muni around town, but he wouldn't listen. We spent a good amount of time looking for parking places or hiking from the places we found. He and the three Chicano NM National Guardsmen in our expedition were great guys but had never been in SF before. After the trip they agreed: "next time try the train."

I did ride in and out between Marin County and Haight-Ashbury on Spring Break in 1967, but that was driven by a native who knew an obscure, small place in the Haight to park a VW. I'm not sure if a "commuter hippie" counts in discussing visitor transportation.

The first trip I ever made to San Francisco was for a conference in the city, but I rented a car because I wanted to visit my sister in Berkely, and I stayed over a weekend and toured around a bit, going to Miur Woods and the Napa Valley. The car they gave me had a stick shift, which was a bit of a nuisance in a city like San Francisco with all the steep hills. Years later, we took a family camping trip to the Sierra Nevada, which ended with a few days in San Francisco. The rental car agency gave us a nice big station wagon, which was great with all our camping gear, but we needed to take it into the city and unload our stuff at the hotel. We then returned it to the downtown office of the rental car company, but not before we took a drive down Lombard Street, "the crookedest street in the world." Fortunately, that station wagon had an automatic transmission.

 

[Trollopian]

That is a lot of cities, it would be too much for me and I love cities. (But, I'm 43 years older than you.) I've spent several days in each of those cities, and prefer Chicago and San Francisco among them, but also Seattle and Portland. My favorite big cities in the US are New Orleans, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia, all very compact and walkable...

Thank you, thank you, Balmy Zephyr! Pittsburgh is well worth a stop. Extremely walkable, around downtown (take one of the History and Landmark Foundation's walking tours, phlf.org) and to the Incline and the Point and the ballpark and the Warhol and the Strip and the Heinz Museum, and an easy bus ride to the museum and university district. Brendan Gill, the New Yorker's longtime architecture critic, famously wrote that “If Pittsburgh were situated somewhere in the heart of Europe, tourists would eagerly journey hundreds of miles out of their way to visit it.” But in fact it's not at all out of the way. I heartily recommend NYC to Pittsburgh via Philadelphia (also worth a stopover) on the Pennsylvanian, a little over 24 hours in Pittsburgh, then on to Chicago on the Capitol Limited. 48 hours, even better. Yinz welcome.

 

[tgstubbs1]

Thanks! About Denver, I thought : the first day I'm arriving at 07.15 (without delay) so just visiting the city itself. Then, the day after take a day tour trip to the Rocky Mountains for the day and the day after taking a day tour trip for Garden of the gods and Pike peaks. Do you think that too much for just Denver ?

Many consider the Amtrak west from Denver a good tour of the Rockies just looking out the window.

Denver is a big city with lots of things to see and do. Many other cities have similar attractions so it is a matter to choose.

Estes Park and Boulder are close to Rocky Mountain National Park.

There are day tours on this web site:
https://www.denver.org/things-to-do/day-trips-around-colorado/around-colorado/
The Cog Railway up Pikes Pike is in operation from Manitou Spring or you can hike or drive up. Garden of the Gods is near so a good pair.

If you check the schedule can you manage?


https://www.cograilway.com
Amtrak stops at Winter Park which is very high altitude. Glenwood Springs is lower elevation but many say it is an excellent stop with reasonable hotels near the Amtrak station.

I should add when I did the Chicagoi - Denver Amtrak it was 4-5 hours late, which changes plans

 

[tgstubbs1]

I wonder if Amtrak will have this again next year?

Currently the only pass available seems to be a 10 segment, 30 day pass - normally $499, but on sale for $299 until June 22, 2021.

This makes every segment only $30.

If you plan on using even more stops you could pay cash for a short segment. That is an important advantage to day tours on your trip.

The month and day of travel could affect your options, especially after early May through September.

 

[tgstubbs1]

Chicago accommodation here

Airport hotels are generally less expensive than downtown hotels - - -

Arriving Amtrak -

Blue line goes to O'Hare about $5 and an hour long ride - then the hotel shuttle -
Blue line Clinton stop 2 blocks south of Union Station - 1 block north of Holiday Inn

Orange line goes to Midway about $2.50 and a shorter half hour ride - BUT not as many hotels close by
Orange line cross the Chicago River (Adams or Jackson) and catch it at midblock at Quincy
Optional you can use the Blue line cross the river and connect with the Orange line

There are other better (expensive) ways to go to an airport hotel limo taxi

Stay just out of the Downtown Loop (Chicago River junction) for less expensive rates;

I have always been pleased with the Hampton Inn on Jefferson - West Loop 5 blocks from Union 3 from Ogilive
And slightly more $$ the Holiday Inn 3.5 blocks south on Clinton

Do your homework research for lodging and hotel space - when there is a major athletic event the hotels are
a problem as well as standing room only on the metra rail and the "L"

And of course your rates and opinions --- YMMV ---

 

[BCL]

Suspect Amtrak is just a stop for YARTS. It also serves the airport and is used by people not going all the way to Yosemite, although all routes from all directions end at Yosemite Valley. The route from Merced is the only year-round route.

Again, it is an interesting combination of a commuter shuttle, visitor transportation, and Amtrak Thruway service. The biggest source of funding is the federal government (obviously because a lot of park workers use it on top of bringing in visitors), but then also with state and local government sources. The revenue they get from Amtrak is substantial, although they seem to have an agreement with Greyhound. I suspect that they wouldn't be able to justify the service if they didn't include Amtrak given how many Amtrak riders use it.

https://yarts.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/YARTS-Approved-19-20-Budget.pdf

 

[BCL]

Again, it is an interesting combination of a commuter shuttle, visitor transportation, and Amtrak Thruway service. The biggest source of funding is the federal government (obviously because a lot of park workers use it on top of bringing in visitors), but then also with state and local government sources. The revenue they get from Amtrak is substantial, although they seem to have an agreement with Greyhound. I suspect that they wouldn't be able to justify the service if they didn't include Amtrak given how many Amtrak riders use it.

https://yarts.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/YARTS-Approved-19-20-Budget.pdf

I was looking at the revenue stream, and either that's a massive coincidence that both years have the same amount of revenue from Amtrak, or Amtrak just pays YARTS a fixed annual amount under contract.

 

[Kevinx244974]

Hello guys ! After a moment of absence because of winter holidays I want to thanks you all for your answers, I'm keeping the most information I can aside.

My current trip idea is about 3 weeks trying to mix very interesting places and most scenic routes :

- NYC (juste one day because I already visited)
- Taking the Cardinal from NYC to Chicago (seem to be the most scenic ride on east side?),
- 2 or 3 days in Chicago
- Taking the CZ to Denver
- 1 or 2 days in Denver (Do you recommend more an excursion in the Rockies mountains or Pike peaks with garden of the Gods?)
- Taking the CZ to SLC
- 1 day in SLC
- Taking the CZ to SF
- 2 or 3 days in SF
- Taking the CS to LA, I know that I will probably not see the pacific coast passing trough southbound
- 2 days in LA
- Taking the CS from LA to Seattle : for the landscapes !
- 1 day finishing in Seattle

Do you recommend this ? This don't seem too tiring ?

As a French I would love to see New Orleans but it's far from others cities and it will cost me a surplus
then it may not be interesting as a first trip :/.

 

[BalmyZephyr]

Hello guys ! After a moment of absence because of winter holidays I want to thanks you all for your answers, I'm keeping the most information I can aside.

My current trip idea is about 3 weeks trying to mix very interesting places and most scenic routes :

- NYC (juste one day because I already visited)
- Taking the Cardinal from NYC to Chicago (seem to be the most scenic ride on east side?),
- 2 or 3 days in Chicago
- Taking the CZ to Denver
- 1 or 2 days in Denver (Do you recommend more an excursion in the Rockies mountains or Pike peaks with garden of the Gods?)
- Taking the CZ to SLC
- 1 day in SLC
- Taking the CZ to SF
- 2 or 3 days in SF
- Taking the CS to LA, I know that I will probably not see the pacific coast passing trough southbound
- 2 days in LA
- Taking the CS from LA to Seattle : for the landscapes !
- 1 day finishing in Seattle

Do you recommend this ? This don't seem too tiring ?

As a French I would love to see New Orleans but it's far from others cities and it will cost me a surplus
then it may not be interesting as a first trip :/.

That's a great trip! As long as you have a good bed to sleep in between train segments, it shouldn't be too tiring. The Cardinal would have more daylight in the scenic New River Gorge going East, but if it's spring or summer you'll have longer days than we did in December. But, the views in the Eastern US are more open in winter or very early spring, as I probably mentioned before. You might consider skipping NYC, since you've been there, or taking a Northeast Corridor train to DC, and spending a day + night in DC visiting a few free museums and seeing the grand buildings and monuments on the Washington Mall. The Vietnam memorial is amazing. You can board the Cardinal in DC late morning to head for Chicago. Either way, it sounds fantastic. In Denver, if the Rockies baseball team are in town, try to catch a game. They have one row of purple seats high in the ballpark. That's exactly one mile high!

 

[tgstubbs1]

Hello guys ! After a moment of absence because of winter holidays I want to thanks you all for your answers, I'm keeping the most information I can aside.

My current trip idea is about 3 weeks trying to mix very interesting places and most scenic routes :

- NYC (juste one day because I already visited)
- Taking the Cardinal from NYC to Chicago (seem to be the most scenic ride on east side?),
- 2 or 3 days in Chicago
- Taking the CZ to Denver
- 1 or 2 days in Denver (Do you recommend more an excursion in the Rockies mountains or Pike peaks with garden of the Gods?)
- Taking the CZ to SLC
- 1 day in SLC
- Taking the CZ to SF
- 2 or 3 days in SF
- Taking the CS to LA, I know that I will probably not see the pacific coast passing trough southbound
- 2 days in LA
- Taking the CS from LA to Seattle : for the landscapes !
- 1 day finishing in Seattle

Do you recommend this ? This don't seem too tiring ?

As a French I would love to see New Orleans but it's far from others cities and it will cost me a surplus
then it may not be interesting as a first trip :/.

Looks like a pretty good plan! Especially if you have carefully planned your itinerary.

Also make plans for the train being late and behind schedule.

Sometimes 'late' you get better views because of more daylight, but you could also have problems with hotels, etc.

 

[jiml]

Instead of breaking your CZ trip in Denver, you might want to consider Glenwood Springs, CO. Historic hot springs town in the mountains, with almost everything you need in walking distance of the Amtrak station. There are lots of searchable posts here on Glenwood Springs. Denver is fine, but just another average big city unless you have a car.

 

[Sidney]

Instead of breaking your CZ trip in Denver, you might want to consider Glenwood Springs, CO. Historic hot springs town in the mountains, with almost everything you need in walking distance of the Amtrak station. There are lots of searchable posts here on Glenwood Springs. Denver is fine, but just another average big city unless you have a car.

Concur on Glenwood Springs. Broke up my rail pass earlier this year. Beautiful setting,downtown restaurants and shopping are close to the station and hotels are within walking distance.