Day Six - Thursday, May 8, 2009

Everyone says "Take the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad" so of course we didn't! The train is an historic coal-powered steam train that travels through remote areas of the San Juan Mountains from Durango to Silverton. It takes almost four hours each way (bus service for one way is available) plus a couple of hours to tour Silverton and have lunch. We figured that in the same amount of time we can travel via car over a 200+ mile route and see a lot more - not the same - but a lot more of what we consider gorgeous country, too. So off we went.

The route between Durango and Silverton and especially the route from Silverton to Ouray is known as the "Million Dollar Highway," in part because the rich ores (aka silver and gold) that were in the dirt used to lay the road bed and in part because of the cost of building the road through, in, and around the mountains. By the time we got to Ouray, I already had three notepad pages of notes! I probably was making up for yesterday but everywhere there seemed to be things I wanted to remember.

Driving north from Durango on US550, we experienced a beautiful spring morning. Lilacs and crab apples were blooming everywhere. Trees were budding out in that glorious chartreuse spring green that I love. It's the color of peridot, perhaps that's why! New housing developments - upscale - around golf courses - seem to be respecting the environment and providing opportunities for architects and builders as well. My notes say "green green green" so I must say that I was struck by the range of greens in Nature's Palate. Against the robin's egg blue sky the budding aspens and the wintering evergreens glistened in the sun. I hear it's been raining all week in parts of Ohio.

We passed the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train and were glad to be on our way on up the mountain. We entered the San Juan National Forest in the San Juan Mountains just as the daffodils and horses began to appear on the roadway. We climbed and climbed - 1,000 feet, another 1,000 feet, another 1,000 feet and on and on. Here the aspens were still dormant. Their white and black trunks appeared eerie - as though they had been burned by some mysterious fire in the night. It was ghostly and lovely simultaneously.

Ski resorts and the range cattle signs began to appear along the way. At four miles from the Coal Bank Summit we were into the snow cover. And the bicyclists! At 10,000 feet you'd think we'd see Lance Armstrong, but alas we did not. At the Molas Pass (10,910 feet) the snow melt created rushing creeks and waterfalls along the crevices in the rock walls along the road. I began to think of my mother - it's Mother's Day soon - who always loved living vicariously through our trips and looking at photos and seeing details we did not see when we were having the experience. Good memories, of course, but still bringing tears to my eyes.

We passed Andres Lake - still covered in snow - and crossed a rushing Mineral Creek as we drove into Silverton about 10AM - at least an hour and a half prior to the train's arrival! We enjoyed some chai latte at the local coffee shop and visited with the owner who was celebrating her one year of operation this week. We drove around the historic mining town and continued our way up the road on the San Juan Skyway.

When we reached the Red Mountain Summit (sorry we didn't get the elevation - we still need to get an altimeter for our car for these trips!), the temperature was 55 degrees and the color exploded once again. Rocks in every color of red, gold, gray, and green. So colorful that the dust on the snow gave the snow an orangey-pink cast far superior to the black dirt of our cities. Granted, along the roadway the tint was more in the gray to black shades here, too. And again, kudos to the road crews for constructing, maintaining, and getting these roads open expressly for our enjoyment. :) Multiple gates could have been closed and stopped our adventure, but we were lucky to find every set open.

Before we reached the next town we saw more bicyclists, multiple hairpin turns and back-to-back reverse double hairpin turns (we took a photo of our GPS of this one which we'll post to the blog eventually), a concrete snow shed over the road above our car to move the snow from the mountain above to the mountain below without blocking the road, a major mine reclamation project, multiple old mining shafts, lots of rivulets of water streaming down the rocky mountainside, and more bicyclists.

We reached Ouray (Pronounced U-Ray) (temperature 66 degrees) and found that the owners of the mines must have lived here in contrast to the workers who must have lived in Silverton. The quality of the housing stock was substantial and the stores, hotels, saloons and restaurants and shops definitely were superior to those in Silverton in appearance. In reading the AAA book, we learned that from 1896 to 1902 over $24 million in gold was mined here. The mine owner bought his place in Washington DC society and his daughter Evalyn the Hope Diamond. Gotta love AAA once again!

From here we entered the Uncompahgre (no idea how to pronounce this!) National Forest and saw our first long haired yaks in a wide valley along with lots of horses and cattle. At Ridgway we turned west on Colorado 62 toward Placerville. Here's where my driving shift started so here's pretty much where my notes end, but there's lots more to tell, so I'll do my best. From Ridgway to Placerville we passed through the Dallas Divide at 8,970 feet. The road bed was wider and the valley put the mountains into the distance for a short while.

From Placerville we took Colorado 145 to Telluride. The mountains returned to our side as we approached the famous ski resort. We stopped for a long telephone conversation with Jennifer (our daughter whose graduation is our reason for this trip) to catch up on all her plans for the near future. Then we drove and walked around the old town of Telluride. It's another lovely mountain town where the commercial area has shops and restaurants and galleries and the other usual things you'd expect for the tourist trade. The side streets have quaint little homes mostly of wood construction and well kept for their historical significance. We had our best Mexican meal of the trip at Emilio's. Huevos Rancheros were on the menu and so I enjoyed that. Harold had taco and tamale and beans. We both dubbed the place the best!

Our route back south on Colorado 145 took us through a continuous scenic adventure of more mountains, more bubbling and sparkling streams and rivers, more cattle and horses, more bicyclists, etc. The mountains in the distance exceeded 14,000 feet and provided a great vista. We stopped only to trade out the driving. By now the views still intrigued and thrilled us but we had to be honest with ourselves about how similar they all would look to others we had photographed already today. It's amazing how much mileage you can cover when you're not stopping every few miles for the photo opportunity - officially designated or personally designed!

By the time we got back to Durango it was obvious that the symptoms of mild altitude sickness were upon me. I stretched out on the sofa, covered myself with a blanket, and spent the evening resting, drinking lots of water, and eating carbohydrates. Harold splurged on McDonald's. I am happy to say that as of this writing 24 hours later, I feel fine, and Harold had no similar symptoms.