Day 9:

This morning we got up around 5:00 AM. Fr. Doug was up before me as I couldn’t hear the alarm due to my ear plugs (think ear protection worn by workers on the tarmac). We were on the road by 6:00 AM headed for Durango, Colorado. Colorado is a very diverse state. We saw it unfold before our eyes today. The Rocky Mountains can change dramatically and quickly; some are covered with trees, others are without any vegetation, others are “canyon-like” and have an orange/red hue, others are gray. The topography changes dramatically: desert, prairie, farmland, forest, alpine, and tundra. Temperatures also change quickly; at 7:00 PM in one location the temperature registered 104 degrees, at 6:00 AM two hours away the temperature was 47 degrees.  This morning when we left we needed jackets.

Wolf Creek Pass

Departing Monte Vista we headed out on Route 160 which cuts across the bottom of Colorado. This route goes over the somewhat famous Wolf Creek Pass, a pass described in the C.W. McCall song by the same name as “switchback county and hairpin city.” I think I am one of only four people who have ever heard this song. Well the song exaggerates the pass a bit, but truth be told if I were going down the pass in a big rig loaded with chickens counting telephone poles going by “at the rate of 4 to 7^th power” I would probably think differently.

Eventually we arrived in downtown Durango. Durango is a small modern city. It seems to be bustling with tourists and young adults. Everyone seems to be on a bike. Actually Durango seems to be a place where everyone is healthy, rides a bike, and wears expensive hiking clothing everywhere.

Durango is also the terminus of the Durango & Silverton Railroad, a narrow gauge railroad that used to haul passengers and tons of gold and silver. It is the railroad featured in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Like the East Broad Top, the Durango & Silverton is a rare gem – a working narrow gauge. We boarded the train at 9:15 AM and headed up the mountain to Silverton, Colorado. At first I was disgusted about the high price of the affair. However as we got out of town and into the mountains I realized it was worth every penny. The ride is 7 hours long. It takes 3.5 hours to get to Silverton, and 3.5 to get back. In between there is a 2 hour layover in Silverton. The railroad is worthwhile not only because of the antique equipment, but more importantly because of the scenery. I feel like I am employed by the Colorado tourism bureau but I cannot endorse this ride enough. The train chugs up the mountain and goes through passes and along rivers that you have to see in person. In all honesty I actually had a headache because I felt the need to take a picture of every scenic vista.

This horseless carriage will never catch onEventually the train ends up in Silverton. Silverton is somewhere between Victor and Idlewild Park's Hootn' Holler (i.e. a  totally fake Old West attraction). It is an old town, with real dirt streets and old buildings. There are old miners and genuine locals who actually live here. That being said there are many tourist traps that play on the “Old West” genre. I have to admit that when I walked into a real late 19^th Century saloon, complete with piano player and genuine period aesthetics, I was somewhat turned off by the yuppies in Birkenstocks playing with their I-phones. Unlike Victor, a genuine old mining town where I felt  that someone was going to beat the tar out of me at any second, Silverton, while a little touristy, did nevertheless have something authentic about it with its three steam locomotives arriving daily. As I was walking down the hall in an old hotel and heard the steam whistle blow I could not help but feel I was back in 1910.  I can die saying that I have only been to Silverton on a steam locomotive. Years from now I can recount, “Back in ‘12 I caught a train to Silverton one afternoon.”

                                                        Bigfoot and Fr. Doug discuss the fine points of Cryptozoology

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our railroad excursion we left in short order for Ouray, Colorado, about 2 hours away. The road that runs between the two towns is Route 550. I wonder what C.W. McCall would say about this road. It is the craziest highway I have ever traveled on to date. The road contains a ridiculous number of switchbacks and sharp curves (they are sharper than you are imagining right now), in addition to shear drops with no guardrails. It was rare to even see a reflector. Basically this road (called the Million Dollar Highway) was designed either as a joke or a way to thin out the human race. We came through here at dusk so I don’t have many pictures, especially of the worst parts. Fr. Doug, who drives with one hand and seems for some reason to accelerate right before a hill, handled the road with such ease I would think he lived in these mountains. We saw a number of Mule Deer along the way and almost hit a pair of foxes.

 

The Ho Chi Minh trail that is Rt. 550 brought us to the town of Ouray, Colorado where we are lodged for the night at the Western Hotel. You may not have heard to Ouray but you have probably seen it many times. Ouray plays the part of Fort Smith in John Wayne’s classic, True Grit (one of my top 3 favorite movies). Tonight we ate supper at the Outlaw restaurant where the Duke liked to dine when he was filming True Grit. The hotel here is old, inside and out. The prices are cheap. As a tradeoff the toilet is down the hall and so is the bath. There is no air conditioning, we don’t have a fan, and there is no screen for the window. But for $21 a night (each) it is hard to beat.