Amtrak just posted its best year yet — 34.5 million riders in 2025, up 5.1 percent — and most of them are going point to point. But the Empire Builder, the railroad's storied northern route between Chicago and Seattle, rewards a different approach: getting off along the way. The full ride takes roughly three days and two nights, tracing the Mississippi, crossing the prairies of North Dakota and Montana, climbing through the Rockies, and winding through the Cascades. Coach fares average about $600 round trip; a private bedroom can top $1,500 in peak summer.
Start in Chicago with a warm-up: the Outerbelt, a 210-mile backpacking loop linking the city's forest preserves via paved paths, gravel and single-track. Camp at spots like Camp Bullfrog Lake, or hotel-hop for a soft-pedal thru-hike, and finish downtown in time for the 3:05 p.m. departure from Union Station.
Wisconsin Dells, reached at 6:42 p.m., puts sandstone cliffs right outside your window. Day-hike the two-mile Chapel Gorge Trail, squeeze through the mossy slot canyon at Witches Gulch, or rideshare to Devil's Lake State Park for its quartzite bluffs. Next up, Winona, Minnesota (8:34 p.m.), is your gateway to Mississippi bluffs at Perrot and Great River Bluffs State Parks — the 3.5-mile Perrot Ridge to Brady's Bluff Loop bags two summits, and spring brings shooting stars and Dutchman's breeches in bloom.
The middle of nowhere has its own pull. Williston, North Dakota — arrive 11:59 a.m., rent a car — is 90 minutes from Little Missouri State Park, where 45-plus miles of trail thread through buttes and coulees in some of the state's least-visited badlands. Keep an eye out for golden eagles above and rattlesnakes below.
Then the showstopper: East Glacier Park, Montana, arriving 7:48 p.m. Step off at the same 1913-era station where railroad tourists once did, and head for Two Medicine, a quiet corner of Glacier National Park. The 7.4-mile Scenic Point Trail shows you where the Great Plains meet the Rockies; the flat half-mile Running Eagle Falls Trail leads to a waterfall spilling from a hidden cave. An East Side Shuttle runs from Glacier Park Lodge, June through September, dropping you at Two Medicine Lake and St. Mary Village, where you can also catch the park shuttle along Going-to-the-Sun Road.
Idaho's lone stop, Sandpoint, arrives before dawn heading east, so plan an overnight for the lakeside Pend d'Oreille Bay Trail or chairlift-accessed trails below Schweitzer Mountain. Seattle's King Street Station is the finale — Metro buses get you to Discovery Park's 2.8-mile loop, the birding paths of Magnuson Park, or the old-growth perimeter loop at Seward Park within the hour.
Practical notes: Amtrak allows two carry-ons up to 50 pounds plus a personal item, so big packs are fine, but stove fuel and bear spray are banned on board — buy those at your destination. Some stops like the Dells and Whitefish are walkable to trails; others need shuttles or rentals. For anyone who'd rather earn their views than watch them through glass, this is a genuinely different way to see the northern U.S.