Planning
Colorado has long been on my shortlist of vacation destinations since I was a child. My aunt and uncle on my Father’s side lived just outside of Denver and the last time we visited I was a small child. I only have foggy memories of playing on a snowy hill, and the fact that their house had a basement. We don’t have basements where I’m from in Texas. I spent much of my time growing up and my time in the service along coastal regions. After driving through the Rockies on my way home from Utah, I dreamed of the day I could return and actually spend time vacationing in the area.
What I thought would end up just another Friday night of board games with the family suddenly became an excited conversation about a winter getaway. I had been used to taking most of my trips in the summertime, so when the topic came up I was pretty excited, and when they ultimately settled on Colorado, my excitement only grew. In the next few weeks the trip was booked, and the ultimate destination was Durango. A few short months away, it was now time to buy some stuff!
I already possessed most of the gear I’d need, so that left me with a focus on obtaining some good winter wear. I acquired gloves, a pair of Columbia hiking boots, wool socks, and a couple pairs of waterproof fleece-lined snow pants. I’d make do with the sweaters and Jackets I already owned, including a 10 year old ski parka from my time in the Washington Cascades. After all, the real trick for the cold isn’t special clothes as much as it is learning how to wear layers.
Road Trip to Durango
The next few months came and went and suddenly the trip was looming. We would drive up to Fort Worth, meet with more family around 9pm, then continue west through Amarillo, to Albuquerque, then north to Durango. Our caravan of 4 automobiles would not stop for sleep as we travelled throughout the night, only stopping for meals and restroom breaks. We were in Albuquerque by morning eating breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. Exhausted and sleep deprived, we were three and a half hours from our destination.
The interstate stretches of New Mexico are some of the most lonely and deserted highways in the country. The distant mesas and plateaus barely make up for the dry sands, cactus, and tumbleweed as far as the eye can see. To make matters worse, it seems that whoever delineated the northern border of New Mexico and said “everything north of here is Colorado” must have been a devious land grabber. This is visually apparent as soon as you pass the border signs leaving New Mexico and entering Colorado. The actual terrain changes from empty dessert to red rock mountains, green trees, and ravines, less than a mile past the border. The change was so abrupt we even joked about it as we witnessed it in front of us.
Destination Reached: Colorado
Less than an hour later we arrived at our hillside rental cabin overlooking Durango and the Animas River valley. After unpacking and settling in we all reviewed the itinerary for the week. The next day we’d visit downtown Durango. Monday we would head west to explore Mesa Verde National Park (I’ve detailed that visit in its own separate blog post: link). Tuesday we all had booked seats on the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway. For Wednesday we split up and did our own thing. For us that meant my wife and I headed for a day trip to the town of Silverton. Thursday would be a special Colorado Thanksgiving. And Friday we’d relax in the cabin then pack up for the Drive home.
Durango: Origins
Durango was organized as a town from September 1880 to April 1881 by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad (D&RG) as part of their efforts to reach Silverton, and to service the San Juan mining district. The city was named after Durango, Mexico, by then ex-governor Alexander C. Hunt based on his favorable impression of that city from when he scouted it for his friend D&RG President William Jackson Palmer.
Durango lies in the Animas River Valley on the Western edge of the San Juan Mountains, a highly mineralized range of the Rocky Mountains in Southwestern Colorado and Northwestern New Mexico. The high mineral content of the San Juan Mountains led to a thriving gold and silver mining industry in early Colorado. Most major towns including Telluride and Silverton were historically founded as old mining camps.
Geology
The city of Durango (elevation: 6512 ft.) is built on Animas River gravels which rest upon late Cretaceous sedimentary rocks, principally the Mancos Shale. Approximately fifteen times in the last 2 million years, ice filled the valley wall-to-wall up to 1,500 feet deep, sliding slowly southward. These periods of movement of the Animus Glacier carried gravel, cobbles, and boulders of rock from the high country. Then pushed along in the glacial ice they sculpted, straightened, and smoothed the valley walls. The visual effects of this process can still be seen today. The walls of the mountains show off freshly cut layers of colorful rock and soil in its strata. See my explanation of stratification in the Mesa Verde post.
Surrounding peaks are also visible from the town itself. Perins Peak (west) and Raider Ridge (east) are capped by the Point Lookout Sandstone. Animas City Mountain (north) is capped by the Dakota Sandstone and forms a conspicuous sloping surface dipping to the southwest about 7 degrees. All formations in the Durango area dip to the south towards the center of the San Juan basin, a structural basin with a sedimentary thickness of nearly 12,000 ft (3,700 m). (1)
River terraces form the flat areas upon which Durango is constructed. For example, Main Street is built upon an 18,000 to 25,000 year old Wisconsin glacial outwash terrace, and East Second Avenue is built upon a higher 36,000 to 40,000 year old glacial outwash terrace. The steep rises between these terraces can be seen along any east-west street in downtown Durango. These terraces merge to the north with late Wisconsin glacial end moraines. The Lions Club shelter provides the best views of north Durango and the Animas Valley. The shelter is built upon approximately 300,000 year old end moraines called the Durango Moraines. (1) Moraines are accumulations of unconsolidated debris carried along and then left behind by glaciers. It is sometimes called glacial till. This till is comprised of unsorted debris ranging from silt size to boulders.
Visiting Durango: Downtown
Many people often make the trip to Durango to experience the multitudes of scenic locations, outdoor activities, trails, and parks nearby. While we weren’t able to see all of them, as it is likely impossible to experience all of the many nearby attractions in one week, we tried to hit the highlights. Morning was spent having breakfast and spying on the deer in the backyard without spooking them. Others had coffee on the front deck and enjoyed the view of the sun rising above the mountains across the river valley.
As we headed out, all eyes were pointed toward downtown. I think that trekking through downtown on the first morning happened to be a good idea for many reasons other than the fact that it is quaint and beautiful. Considering that there are hundreds of shops in the district, and that we visited many of them, yet still only a fraction, I’d only like to point out some of the highlights.
The Durango Welcome Center in the 800 block of Main Ave contains shelves of brochures and displays detailing all the area has to offer along with some simple Durango branded tourist swag. Anyone coming out to the area looking for more to do after the typical skiing and climbing should stop by and fill the rest of their schedule from the multitudes of options presented.
There are many shops to choose from down Main when it comes to gearing up for your activity. I chose Pine Needle Mountaineering just inside the Main Mall. Between two floors and a sister store across the street further down, I browsed all of outdoor clothing, supplies, and gear for almost every local activity and was able to purchase some extra pieces winter clothing and climbing equipment.
Making your way down, there are many stops for coffee, multitudes of souvenir, Jewelry, and craft shops, along with tons of wine and dine options. Far too many to visit every single one, but you can sure try and make your way inside a large sample of them if you have a couple of hours to kill. At the southern end of Main Ave lies the station for the biggest tourist attraction in town, the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway. We would be back for that after Mesa Verde.
Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway:
Origins:
The D&RG and the Rio Grande Southern Railroad were vital resources to many places including Durango before the major introduction of the automobile. Mineral traffic and other businesses such as the Durango Smelter immensely supported the local economy. The railroad industry suffered greatly following the Great Depression and the aftermath of World War II and eventually suspended operations. However the natural scenery along the Silverton branch was recognized as a major tourist attraction. The railroad decided to make the area into a major tourism hub by transporting visitors up to Silverton and back. This attracted many visitors from Hollywood in its earlier operation.
All Aboard:
Due to hazardous conditions, the Cascade Canyon Express was the only option available to us. The more lengthy round trip to Silverton was not operating at this time. Due to the holidays quickly approaching, The Polar Express was still running, but that is another story entirely. Cascade Canyon Express is a roundtrip of just over 5 hours up to Cascade Canyon and back. Upon arrival for our tour we were placed in a queue to await boarding.
Standing in the line we patiently waited while observing the train starting up. The train bellowed audibly while releasing smoke from its stack as it approached. At this point there were many groups of excited friends and family watching in amazement as boarding time was almost upon us. When the whistle finally blew, we all found our train cars and boarded, quickly finding our assigned seats.
The Train Ride
Once inside the train you will find that the experience is quite familiar provided you’ve ever travelled by modern train. Instead of the padded seats and modern cloth, plastic, and climate control, you sit upon wooden seats surrounded by metal and glass. The layout is still quite comparable. Each car has rows of seats, aisle and window options, and restroom closets in the back.
Just like most modern trains, you can make your way through the aisles to the nearby Café car. The most often mentioned menu option during our trip was the “Apple Jack”. It is a warm mixture of apple cider and Jack Daniels. It proved to be so popular that supplies of Jack ran low. Toward the end they were serving it with Crown Royal instead. I was able to purchase a warm meal. They even offer souvenirs in the Café. I picked up a Geologic Guide of the route
Another way in which this steam powered tourist train differs from modern commuters is the open air car. These are cars with no seats or windows, just railing and a roof. You can experience the tour out in the open. There are railings to hold on to and you can reach your arms out and feel the wind. The wide open scenery you are afforded on these types of cars offer breathtaking views and photo opportunities.
Scenery
The tour itself follows the Animas River overlooking it Cliffside. For half of the tour the river is down on one side. Then the train crosses a bridge and the remainder of the tour the river is down on the other. There are times where one side of the car passes within a foot of the vertical granite walls. You could reach out and touch the mountainside. This is quite dangerous and frowned upon. Nevertheless, when the train slowed down I couldn’t help but brush my hand against the granite.
Staff was there periodically to offer friendly reminders to keep body parts inside the train’s perimeter. The conductors were always friendly and never rude. In fact, on one portion of the tour the train had to stop to work on a malfunction. I was standing on the train car examining chunks of coal lying on the ground. Then one of the friendly conductors walked by down on the tracks. I asked him a question about the coal along the tracks. So he picked up two chunks and handed them to me, to keep. He explained that they fall from the cargo car from time to time. These chunks sell for $3 back at the souvenir shop.
Cascade Canyon Hike
The final stop of the tour before heading back to Durango is the Cascade Canyon. At this particular stop we were allowed to exit the train for about an hour and hike around. This was the highlight of the adventure for me. Upon exit there is a gradual slope where you can hike through the pine trees and down to the river itself. This particular section of the river is relatively wide and quite beautiful. Large portions around the banks were frozen. Most of the banks and shallows were made up of large rounded rocks.
Toward the east there was a large wooden bridge were you could cross the river and explore the other side. If you were daring you could traverse the frozen areas of the river. Then see how far you could make it out into the shallows. I spent some time standing on the ice admiring the flowing stream of the river. Then I headed back to the banks where I was able to rock hunt for a bit. After countless photo opportunities in the canyon we boarded the train once again to head back to Durango.
Part 2 including Silverton is Coming Soon. For Mesa Verde, see the standalone Post.
Sources:
(1)GEOLOGY OF THE WESTERN SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS AND A TOUR OF THE SAN JUAN SKYWAY, SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO By Rob Blair Fort Lewis College Durango, CO 81301
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