First Rail Journey

[ThePittsburghLeft]

My inaugural post to STP; so I apologize for any mistakes. I know this belongs on /TH but no access yet.

shoutout the the dude with the sick ass pitty coming off the train at whitefish 8/10.

Did my first hop this weekend. Been planning it for a while but it finally happened.

Saturday 8/10 waking up in a random neighborhood wood to the sound of the 6am inbound westward IM. Clean up my trash, wrap up my tarp, ready to go in less than 10. (No radio, so little did I know this was Cicero-Portland bi-daily.) I had been waiting almost 13 hours at that point, with nothing by Eastbound grain and oil showing up. I decided this was it, whatever the fate of the train may be.

Talked with a rad dude coming into WF from Havre. He knows who he is 🤟🏼 Boarded my car, not the best ride with a shallow floor, but serviceable for hiding.

Train peeled out not a minute later. Beautiful scenery over whitefish lake, from what I could see since I was keeping my head down. The train opened up into the western Monday valley prairies before the flathead tunnel.

The tunnel was rough. I wetted my shirt and it did a number on me. (Time to quit smoking). After that the Kootenai River which was really spectacular. A lot of boaters out on a Sunday, so scenery was scarce. I got tired & paranoid approaching sandpoint with another Amtrak station to roll through so I ended up falling asleep until we hit the bridge at Pend Orielle.

I was under the impression that we would be stopping at Hauser Yard, ID. (I was going to meet a friend for a night in Spokane.) Once the train proceeded to keep speed thru Rathdrum I had a kind of karma epiphany moment. I had completely planned on walking 28 miles from
Hauser to Spokane, hitchhiking or no. My unknowing luck that day had culminated in a random train that happened to work Spokane. 4.5 miles later, and I’m at the crashpad with a shower and a beer.

It may have been just a weekend trip. But I learned a lot; didn’t bring enough water, radio almost necessary without intimate knowledge, exposed at times because of bad car choice. But learning experiences all the same, I value the trip and have learned a great deal from it. Peace to all travelers this late summer in the Pacific Northwest5 and if you’re ever in Hungry Horse, MT. HMU 🤙

-C.H.

 

[Shorelines11]

Spectacular images and writing here. Hoping to see more trip reports from ya. Best of luck!

 

[sectornaut]

Great pics and I love your attitude about it all! I really want to understand train hopping. How did you start learning the ropes?

 

[sevedemanos]

was staying on the north side of that river near bonners ferry that same week. right across from the hi-line siding. [edit: basically right across from that tunnel in vid. mightve even seen your train] often they will go into the hole there for amtrak, or else at the siding over in town. gorgeous area. the kootenais super dangerous for kayakers/innertubers in spots.

caught something back into missoula out of sandpoint since

lucky you were getting off in spokane, else the railcop would likely have spotted you on west side after it went to depart

great pics

 

[ThePittsburghLeft]

Great pics and I love your attitude about it all! I really want to understand train hopping. How did you start learning the ropes?

did it by myself. No one was around to show me the ropes and I'd been planning it for almost years; so meticulous research, intense preparation, and a willingness to just let go and get the fuck out. you can only do so much prep and study before you kinda stall out and just have to leap. I learned way more by just being okay with a short hop and learning from that experience whatever happened rather than being way too ambitious. Even just sitting around the trainyard for a few days teaches you a lot about where you wanna sit and where you might be seen, or how the yard operates.

As I said, no radio for this one so I was raw-doggin it. Went totally fine, partially due to luck.

lots of good resources out there, mostly railfan ones, but all the same they provide valuable info like train symbols, popular spots, and other shit. you just have to know where to look.

it was also much easier out of whitefish, which is notoriously chill Imo.