Durango, Colorado

Monday, May 12, we left Heron Lake SP in northern NM and drove north on Hwy 84 to Pagosa Springs, Colorado and then on to Durango on Hwy 160. We enjoyed our stay in New Mexico with its beautiful buttes, mesas, colorful rocks, adobe ruins, and SW food. However, as soon as we crossed over the Colorado state line, we were in completely different terrain (green fields, forests, snowy mountain peaks, fast moving mountain streams). It was good to be out of the dust and high winds that we experienced for many days in NM.

We were happy to be back in Durango. I think it’s one of our favorite cities. It’s located at an elevation of 6,500 ft and has a population of 13,900. The whole downtown area is designated an historical site. The many Victorian buildings hold quaint shops and period restaurants, hotels, and bars. It’s a mixture of ski bums, cowboys and tourists.

Our first day in town, we drove west out of Durango about 36 miles to visit Mesa Verde National Park. The drive to the top of the mesa was a gain of 2,000 ft.

We were surprised by the size and variety of the cliff dwellings. The park consists of 5,000 archeological sites, which include 600 cliff dwellings. Photo 1 is one of the larger ones.

There are ranger guided tours but we opted to do the self-guided tour in our own car. You can see lots of dwellings from your car, but to be able to go into the dwellings you need to take a ranger tour. We had already done many of these so we did our own thing.

(Besides, one of us had seen enough cliff dwellings.)

The highest point on the mesa was 8,572 ft. and as we descended down the mountain it started to snow. The road down to the valley floor was curvy and right on the edge of the mesa, so we were happy to get out of the snow and head back to Durango.

The next day we took the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad from Durango to Silverton, an old mining town up in the mountains. The train is a coal-fired steam locomotive and has been in continuous use since 1881. The ride followed the Animas River through a 2,000 ft gain in elevation and passed through beautiful forests and mountains. Photo 2 is taken in Silverton, where it was still cold.

We decided to take the 3 ½ hour ride up on the train but take the motor coach bus back that took only 1 ½ hours. The ride up on the train was gorgeous and very comfortable but slow. We were glad that we had taken the bus back, because it was faster and it took the “Million Dollar Highway” with its majestic mountain scenery. We enjoyed the bus ride as much as the train ride.