Rocky Mountain High

Saturday June 9, 2013

It’s our scheduled day to ride the famous Durango-Silverton steam train. We’re booked on the 8:45 am train. It takes 3 ½ hours to get to Silverton, we’ll be there about 2 hours for lunch and sightseeing, and we’ll get back to Durango at 6 pm—a full day! 

 

Our seats on the Silver Vista coach. Click here for a panoramic view of train in station.

This historic, narrow-gauge train has been operating continuously for 131 years, which is amazing when you think about it. It was constructed in 1882 to haul gold and silver ore, as well as passengers, from the San Juan Mountains. It leaves out of the vintage station right in downtown Durango, which I’ve never seen with any of the other steam excursion trains that Jack and I have ridden over the years. They’re usually out in the boonies. A coal-fired steam train creates an amazing amount of pollutants, soot, cinders, smells, etc. and for such a “green” town as Durango to put up with several steam trains coming and going every day in their downtown area is astonishing to me (not to mention the fire hazard). But I guess history (and tourist money!) trumps clean air. At any rate, I think it’s cool that they’ve left it alone—Jack and I are both suckers for the romance of steam trains even if they do pollute the air! (Plus Jack loves the smell of burning coal, it reminds him of his childhood.)

 

Departing Durango.

We have paid a little extra to sit in a special observation car, the Silver Vista, with a glass roof. It’s a replica of a vintage viewing car and the sides are open (which is a bit of a concern with soot and cinders getting all over you, and in your eyes) but, hey, that’s part of the vintage steam train “experience.” We are ushered to our reserved seats by our car attendant, Bob, who is a retired schoolteacher from Tennessee who spends every spring and summer working on this train. He offers us a complimentary cloth bag containing coffee mugs, literature, and water bottles, and takes our orders for complimentary coffee (along with a yummy cinnamon bun). The seats are padded and very comfy. It’s still cool in the early morning and we purchase a small blanket with the train logo on it—this company doesn’t miss an opportunity to market their branded items!

 

Bob, our guide. We are a short arm's length from the canyon wall.

The train departs on time, the whistle echoing through the town. Lots of people are standing around with cameras and smartphones to photograph our departure, and they wave as the train starts to chug and puff, and slowly pulls out of the station. We’re pleased to see that our car is only about a third full, so that gives us lots of room to get up and move about, to get the best angles on views for photos. (Except for one guy, who seems clueless that there are other people trying to take photos too—he steps in front of us and manages to insert himself into just about every photo we try to take!)

 

Stopping so engine can take on water. Guess whose arm is in the photo. Click here for short video.

The initial scenery is quite civilized, as we move through the outskirts of the city and through farming and resort areas. Tears come to my eyes as I listen to the “chug-a-lucka, chug-a-lucka” sound and think about the old steam train, now long gone, that used to run through Surber and was such a big part of my dad’s and his family’s lives. (Note: Tears will come to my eyes frequently throughout this trip, but from here on out, they’re mostly due to cinders!)

Pretty soon, the scenery begins to change dramatically and we find out why this train has become so famous and is so popular as a tourist destination. The mountain and river views become more and more breathtaking the higher we climb—this is really our first look at classic alpine Rocky Mountain views on this trip! We are climbing 3,000 ft (Silverton is at an elevation of 9,300 ft) through canyons of the Animas River, one of the last free-flowing rivers in the West, and we’re in the shadow of numerous 14,000+ ft peaks, many of which have snow year round. 

 

Most beautiful steam train ride we have taken. The train is long, giving us the opportunity to take these dramatic photos of the engine under full power.

Our affable attendant Bob offers tidbits of history and anecdotes that add to the journey: avalanches, rock slides, train wrecks, and hair-raising stories of what the men who built this railroad went through to get it done. As with Arches National Park, we’ll just have to let the photos speak for themselves on this one (and the photos don’t do it justice, unfortunately).

 

Some rocks are so close you can touch them as we go by.

Silverton is an eye-pleasing, historic, Victorian era mining town of about 500 people. It sits in a giant volcanic caldera (depression) ringed by large snow-covered peaks. No more mining exists here; the town is supported by tourism. We only have a couple of hours here so we stroll around (slowly, as the higher elevation is taking a toll on my breathing) admiring the scenery, and have lunch at a small café. We board the train for our return journey at 2:20 pm.

 

As we enter Silverton, another train is leaving. 

 

Some nice old buildings in Silverton.

We get a different perspective on the views going down, plus the light is different—it’s going to be difficult to sort through our many, many photos of this memorable trip. As mentioned earlier, Jack and I have ridden many well-known excursion trains, but we both agree that this one is really special…

Some daring folks.

 

Looking down at the Animas River about 500 feet below.

Bird species count: Vermilion flycatcher, turkey vulture, Bell’s vireo, *golden-fronted woodpecker, Say’s phoebe, northern cardinal, greater roadrunner, house finch, common raven, *northern rough-winged swallow, *summer tanager, *prothonotary warbler, *yellow-breasted chat, *yellow-rumped warbler, northern mockingbird, mourning dove, cliff swallow, Mexican jay, black-headed grosbeak, black-chinned  hummingbird, Wilson’s warbler, *Scott’s oriole, chipping sparrow, house sparrow, lesser goldfinch, black-crested titmouse, acorn woodpecker, scrub jay, *western kingbird, white-winged dove, *canyon towhee, *Grace’s warbler, *zone-tailed hawk, *curve-billed thrasher, Bullock’s oriole, Gambel’s quail, great horned owl, black-throated sparrow, *cactus wren, ladder-backed woodpecker, white-crowned sparrow, brownheaded cowbird, Brewer’s blackbird, *pyrrhuloxia, hooded oriole, verdin, crow, Anna’s hummingbird, dark-eyed junco, white-throated swift, Steller’s jay, mallard, common egret, brown pelican, western bluebird, loggerhead shrike, Audubon’s warbler, robin, Canada goose, black-billed magpie, red-winged blackbird, redtailed hawk

State count: 14 [Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado]   

   

Odometer count:

Surber, VA: 107,435

Durango, CO: 114,004 

 

Accommodations avg cost: 61 nts, avg $13.17/night