Blogs from Durango, Colorado, United States, North America - page 3

Got to sleep in today. We took a 2 hour rafting trip down the Animas River with the Durango Rafting Company. The water is pretty low this time of year and even lower this year with the little rain they've had. Sean hopped out of the raft at one spot to test the water - a bit cold even for August. We passed under a number of bridges and bumped off of a lot of rocks along the way. Both Sean and Dean fell into the boat after a couple of these bumps. Only got hung up on a few rocks that we had to push off of and at the end we got to "surf" against the last set of rapids. In the afternoon we headed north to Silverton along highway 550. Very scenic with ... read more

A one-nighter, we arrived in Durango, Colorado in the late afternoon and were met by a thunderstorm. But that didn't stop us from devouring the city, mostly to cleanse our palate following a disappointing two night stay in Taos. Happy to be moving on, we hit the ground running! This town was a perfect salve to a crowded, uneventful last stop in New Mexico. Colorado is always like coming home. Every time I've ever traveled here (Colorado Springs, Grand Junction and now Durango), I've immediately felt right at home. This stop was no different. A college town with a historic downtown area, we set off to make the best of our overnight stay. We ran a few errands and picked up missing provisions and then walked down mainstreet, visiting a few shops and ending up on ... read more

Today we are scheduled to go and ride the Narrow Gauge Railway from Silverton to Durango. We have breakfast at the hotel and set off on a coach at 08:30. The coach will take us to Silverton, we will then ride the railway from Silverton to Durango and the coach will pick us up in Durango and take us to our hotel. It is a warm sunny day when we set off. The first stop is at a small boom town from the Gold and Silver prospecting days called Ouray. It is known for its hot springs and is sometimes called "Little Switzerland". We stop for a coffee and we also visit an authentic Western Saloon. We set off again and start to climb up through the mountains, there are some terrifying drops on the side ... read more

In the San Juan mountains, high mountain scenery is not restricted to just the backwoods jeep drivers. Regular roads cross territory almost as special. Today is my turn on one of Colorado’s highest paved roads, Red Mountain Pass. While the scenery is incredible, the drive can be scary. Remember that snow line from yesterday? Rain fell in Ouray throughout the night, so the line dropped elevation. I’m almost certainly going to reach snow today. Rocky Mountain snow requires a wholly different level of skill, one I’m not used to. Regular drivers all carry tire chains to deal with it. California in particular is known for chain controls, roadblocks where drivers without chains must turn around. I have none. The adventure begins ... read more

OK Steph had her go so now it's my turn. We headed away from Monument Valley and headed north towards Natural Bridges NP. On the way stopped when I saw a very familiar view in the rear view mirror. Those Eagles aficionados will recognize one of the photos and if you aren't interested in The Eagles then hopefully you watched Forrest Gump when he stopped his cross America run. Familiar? Anyway on we go. We climbed out of the area up a windy steep gravel road which would make the Skippers Canyon look like a walk in the park. It went straight up the side of a Mesa switching back on itself constantly. We stopped half way up at the only pull off area and I informed a very scared French tourist who had stopped to ... read more