The Durago-Silverton Train Ride in the Fall Color

Durango, Colorado
La Plata County Fairgrounds


After 6 months in Colorado, our time is coming to an end.  One of the things we were really looking forward to doing when we arrived back in April was taking the Durango Silverton Railroad ride.  Since it was still snowing we decided to save it for the end of our time here in September hoping it would coincide with the fall color.  Well, it sure did!  Curt and Glenda were still with us and what a day it was!

Steve, Me, Glenda & Curt

Steve & Curt.  We rode in the open-air car.

 

From the website:

On our railroad, you will experience Colorado at its best…wildlife, waterfalls, majestic peaks, all from the view of an 1880s train. You will see places you can get to only by foot or train. You will experience first-hand why the D&SNGRR was voted “One of the World’s Top Ten Most Exciting Train Rides”

The railroad arrived in Durango on August 5, 1881 and construction on the line to Silverton began in the fall of the same year. By July of 1882, the tracks to Silverton were completed and the train began hauling both passengers and freight.

Again, like my previous post about the Skyway drive, not many words are needed.  Enjoy the colors!

A beautiful lake reflection.

 

Look in the picture above and see how close to the mountain the train can get.  Watch you head!

The next few pictures show just how narrow this narrow gauge railroad is!

The edge of the track is very close to the drop off.

 

The fall color is in peak show right now!  Lucky us!

The Aspen were glowing in the sunlight.

Some work being done on the track.

One of the many waterfalls along the way.

 

We're pulling into Silverton.

 

Funny story (looking back).  As we were taking pictures of Silverton coming into view, Curt was getting ready to sit back down and bumped the pole with his arm.  Guess what happened?  Yep, over the edge his phone went.  Oh no! You should've seen the look on his poor face!  A couple of nice women who were sitting next to us overheard us and offered to drive the guys back as far as they could get on a nearby dirt road.  We were within a mile or two of town.  Amazingly, Curt's phone landed on a perfect spot.  Not down a cliff, not in the river, not miles in the middle of nowhere!  And there was barely a scratch on it!  The same women caught up with them and gave them a ride back into town.  They made it back to where Glenda and I chose for lunch and had plenty of time to eat.

 

Silverton, Colorado.

We even had some time to do a little geocaching.  This cache below was funny as it was clearly marked as "cache" and hung in plain view.  The name was "To Too Easy".

Redneck Taxi.

An abandoned silver mine.

Back to Durango we go!

We saw a Bighorn Sheep and a moose but my pictures weren't that great of them, so you'll have to take my word for it!

 

One of the last train stops before we get back.

 

This was the perfect way to end our time in Colorado.  This train ride is definitely a must do if you are in the area.  We head out in a couple of days back to Arizona to see Steve's Dad before spending the holidays in California.

 

To sum up our year in Colorado all I can say is

WOW!

Thank you Colorado!