Continental Divide (1981)

This 1981 "fish-out-of-water" film stars John Belushi as Chicago writer Ernie Souchak who takes to the Colorado Rockies to study an eagle researcher Nell (Blair Brown). Wilderness scenes were shot in Glacier National Park of Montana as well as Washington and Colorado.

Scenes of Ernie and Nell camping in a tent were filmed near the Summit House at Crystal Mountain Ski Area east of Mount Rainier - and Rainier is clearly visible in the background of the shot.

The final scene of the film takes place in "Victory, Wyoming" but is actually the old Cedar Falls train depot on Rattlesnake Lake near North Bend, WA. The station building is now gone (apparently now being used as a house in Covington) and the railroad line is now the John Wayne Pioneer Trail/Snoqualmie Valley Trail, a popular biking route.

In the final shots of the film, Ernie runs off to catch the departing train across the railyard. Rattlesnake Lake can be seen in the background of several shots. While searching for this location, I ran across an interesting article written by Andrew Craig Magnuson about the history of this area and his experiences working on the railroad.

GPS Coordinates:

47.423425,-121.783501