One of the goals I set for my trip was to take the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (D&SNGR) from Durango to Silverton, which goes through high mountain wilderness. This was the day! Cool morning (like low 40s, high 30s) but sunny. Arrived at the D&SNGR station by 7 am. Loaded down with backpack, camera, warm coat (wearing jeans, tee shirt and fleece jacket), binoculars, purse stuff, 2 bottles of water (required in high, dry altitudes), hat, sunscreen and lip protector. I was trying to be prepared. The coach car I had a ticket for was open air (some are open and some are closed). Picked up my ticket and scouted around the gift shop looking at exhibits. Boarded the train about 7:30. My car was the Rio Grande, an open car with wide leather seats facing either right or left in the car. I later found out this was a newer car, built a little narrower and less likely to sway (a good thing). Everyone in the car got a big D&SNGR mug and we could get it filled with coffee, hot chocolate or soft drinks as often as we wanted (offering coffee to passengers was a tradition started by train employees years ago). The trip to Silverton follows the Animas River through the Animas Valley (more a deep gorge in places) of the San Juan Mountains (some of the highest in Colorado, which has over 50 fourteener, mountains over 14,000 feet). Silverton is close to the headwaters of the Animas. The rail line was originally built to serve the mining industry at Silverton, which is nestled at 9,000 feet at the base of some of the tallest mountains in the U.S.
Although the weather was cool when we started, the sun was out (my seat was on the sunny side of the car) and kept me warm enough that the heavier coat was not needed. The only thing it was used for was to soak up my coffee which spilled out of my coffee cup unnoticed. The nine people to my left were celebrating the 50th anniversary of Ruth and Tom. Their granddaughter Kelsey sat (stood) next to me except when chatting with her dad and brother. What nice people!! I felt like one of the family during the ride. I teased Ed that marrying a 12 year old girl mighthave been considered illegal as Ruth sure looked younger than a woman celebrating 50 years of marriage!! Kelsey is an engineering student at Baylor University in Texas on an equistrian scholarship in jumping. So some of our conversation focused on school and horses–imagine that. My neighbors to the right were from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, so we chatted a little about Milwaukee. Anyway, the conversations made me feel part of a bigger adventure.
The ride starts out passing through Durango and climbing past a few small settlements with lots of new and old houses and ski areas before entering uninhabited (by people) wilderness along the Animas River. The track bed was blasted out of the canyon walls to form a shelf in many places and you can reach out and touch the rock face (if you’re real careful). In some places you can look over the edge of the track a long, long way down. I cannot describe the beauty. Durango is at an altitude similar to Denver, a little more than 5,000 ft. As we climbed the vegetation changed to tall Ponderosa pines then became infused with aspen (which only grow at about 6.000-7,000 ft) then morphed into firs and spruces, typical of altitude vegetation changes. We passed though mountain meadows flooded with snow runoff. Water ran off the sides of the canyon and we saw many waterfalls (and missed probably ust as man). As the train climbed higher, the mountain peaks and sides had more snow. The snow on the sides looked like white ribbons and are actually areas where avalanches are likely to occur. The time passed quickly. I took so many pictures, my battery died even though I had charged it last night (and I forgot to bring my spare–damn). Everytime I sat down, I quickly stood up again to ooh and ahh. A great trip.
It was lunchtime when the train stopped at Silverton. It was bright and sunny, maybe in the high 60s. The Conductor told us that yesterday you couldn’t see much of Silverton because of falling snow. I put most of my “stuff” in a locker and time to walk around the central part of town, which reflects it’s mining heritage. The mines are closed now so there are few full-time residents through the winter. I bought a few more souvenirs and had lunch at the Handlebar Restaurant. There are 100s of pictures of men with handlebar moustaches surrounding the bar.
I took the D&SNGR bus back to Durango. The bus driver was a hoot. He talked the whole way down the mountain road. He kept referring to the bus passengers as “well guys” even though many were female. But it was a great history talk. There is no railing along the dropoff side of the road. This is because road crews must keep the road open all winter. Guard rails would be an impediment to clearing to clear the road of rock slides, snow fall and avalanches. There were a lot of switchbacks and relatively steep inclines (and declines) along the way back and the over-the-side views were breathtaking (to say the least). We had to cross two high passes to get back (Den, Jim and Sue will remember Molas Pass) but the ride returned us to Durango about two hours before the train arrived.
I did a little sightseeing, took a hot shower (to remove any left-over soot and cinders plus just plain dirt) and retired for the night listening to birds and water in the creek rushing by.
