Trails & Rails Interpretive Guide

Do you have a love of history? Would you like to share the history and beauty of the Pacific Northwest with visitors from all over the world?  Interested in working with a vibrant team of professionals? The Trails & Rails (T&R) program of Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park needs you!

Trails & Rails volunteers provide interpretive narrations on board Amtrak’s Coast Starlight between Seattle and Portland. Our season runs seven days a week from the last weekend in April until the last Sunday in September.

The National Park Service asks each guide to make 8-10 trips per season. Typically, guides make two to five trips a month.

On board the train, our program consists of two activities: in the sightseer lounge car or on the train’s PA system, we call out points of interest along the way, interpreting the history and natural features, and answering questions; and we walk the train to visit with passengers who remain in their seats or rooms, particularly those who are not able to come to the lounge car.

Working on the Coast Starlight to Portland and back consists of a one-day round trip of about 10-12 hours. The train departs Seattle at 9:45 am. We are in the sightseer lounge car for the entire trip, talking to passengers as we travel past Boeing Field, Mt. Rainier, the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, and then south through the Mount St. Helens area, along the Columbia River, and into Portland. After a layover of about two hours in Portland, we catch the northbound Starlight home, repeating the program in reverse. The northbound program ends in Tacoma, and we usually arrive in Seattle around 8-9pm. 

We are front line representatives and the first (sometimes only) contact the passengers have with the National Park Service.

Key Requirements:

 •         physical capabilities: sight, hearing, mobility, stamina (being a guide involves long, active days and a lot of standing), and strength to lift the 35-pound rolling suitcase (that contains our speaker system and supplies) onto the train and up and down the narrow staircase to the upper level,

•         the ability to speak effectively to an audience using a microphone,

•         the facility for being personable and professional with the wide variety of passengers we serve, 

•         the ability to work well with co-workers and represent the National Park Service in a professional demeanor, and

•         a lifetime love of learning.

See Amtrak/National Park Service Trails & Rails Program Requirements & Expectations for details. Provide link to this document.

Uniform:

We wear a uniform while on duty. While you are a trainee, you will have to provide your own dark green shirt. When you graduate to veteran status, you will receive the official Trails & Rails green uniform shirt. Both trainees and veteran guides must provide their own khaki pants and black or brown shoes (with distinct heels, an Amtrak safety rule). 

Training:

You will receive 1 ½ - 2 days of training in March and April. You will then complete 6 trips on the train with a coach.

You don’t need to be an expert coming in the door, but you should expect to invest some time learning the material before and during your first season. You will be expected to study the Route Guide and to practice announcements between trips, and to make more announcements on each successive trip. By your sixth trip, you should be comfortable making many announcements throughout the route. 

We will have an Information Meeting for prospective guides on Sunday afternoon February 9, 2020, from 1-3pm at the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park at 319 Second Ave. S (at South Jackson St.) in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle, two blocks from King Street Station.

Please feel free to contact us at [email protected] if you would like to know more.

Volunteers who earn 250 or more hours can receive a pass entitling them to free entry to all Federal lands for 12 months. The Volunteer Pass is honored nationwide at all National Park Service, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service areas where standard amenity fees are charged.

Availability:  To work on-board the train between April 24, 2020 and September 20, 2020,  and to attend 1-1/2 to 2 days of classroom training in March or April.