Travel to a national park… by train
Planning a trip to a national park or monument this summer? You may not need to make flight reservations or pack everyone into the car: Amtrak’s new Parks in Your Backyard site helps you plan a trip using rail and public transportation.
Launched earlier this month, the new mini-site exists to make national park travel greener: “Passenger rail and national parks have rolled through history in tandem since the 1880s,” said Dean Reeder, National Tourism Director of the National Park Service. “By facilitating visitor access to the many wondrous experiences available in many of our nation’s parks, Amtrak helps us advance the values of sustainable tourism.”
While still in its infancy (and, thus, needing a little tweaking), the Flash-based site allows you to focus on both local and faraway national treasures. The “Place Your House” feature (still a little imprecise and clunky) allows you to see what national parks and monuments are nearby (and accessible by public transportation from Amtrak stations); the “Find a Park” feature gives you a broader look at sites that are readily accessible by passenger rail.
Some national parks & sites you can travel to by train
Think this service might play into your planning travel? Here are a few well-known parks accessible by Amtrak:
- Florida’s Everglades National Park: The Silver Service/Palmetto line, which run between New York and Florida, can get you there.
- California’s Yosemite National Park: If you want to check out some of this park’s famous waterfalls, the San Joaquin line runs that way.
- Pennsylvania’s Edgar Allen Poe Historical Site: Literary buffs can reach the only surviving residence of this renowned American writer on the Northeast Regional, as well as by several other lines.
- Montana’s Glacier National Park: The hiking’s to die for at Glacier… and you can rest up for you exploring on the The Empire Builder.
Just scratching the surface here: many more sites and parks are listed (though Amtrak’s focused, at this point, on the Northeast corridor).
Traveled to a national park by train? Let us know about your adventure…
MORE FROM SUSTAINABLOG:
- While you’re traveling, you may want to consider staying at a green bed and breakfast.
- Need a snack while traveling? Take some organic snack bars with you.
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/redarrow101/ / CC BY 2.0
