Time to go home...

It's been a great trip, but it's definitely time to head for home. (Even introverts get lonely after a while).

My original plan was to head North today and loop through Gunnison, CO on my way to Colorado Springs and up to I-70. But Snow... The road north is snowy and icy this morning - maybe even closed. The motor coach bus service into Silverton was canceled yesterday because of it... So, I think I will head East this morning through Pagosa Springs and on into the Pueblo CO area, then North to I-70 to avoid the snow. It's like a local guy told me a couple of days ago - "Just when you start to take the mountains for granted, they get your attention.". True.

I didn't: do much deep thinking or writing on this trip - thought I would.

I did: practice my guitar and mando, watched almost no TV (caught a little playoff hockey & basketball) , read a couple of books, did a ton of hiking, caught up on my scripture memory, wrote in this blog, drove a ton of miles and had a great, relaxing time.

So now it's east through Omaha to see Calvin & Liz and then back home to Hanover, MI....

See ya.
Spi

The San Juan Mountains or Durango to Silverton on the Steam Train

Snowing in the San Juans, in May... I guess that is not an unusual event. A guy in Silverton told me that May is a schizophrenic month - you never know about the weather or the tourists.

The Durango to Silverton narrow gauge train line goes somewhat parallel to the San Juan Skyway up into the heart of the San Juan Mountain range from Durango to Silverton. The Railroad goes up the Animas River canyon, in some places clinging to its very walls.

My view from Coach Car 2

Silverton is a very small western mountain town that would like to still be mining (the last operation closed in the early 1990s), but is only there now for tourism. It at 9130 ft above sea level, so when it started to snow, I should not have been surprised.

Durango, CO

I ended up spending two very nice days in Durango. It turned out to be my favorite locale for this trip.What did I like: an active Steam train line with tons of history, a cool Western feel - but not excessively touristy, mountains looming over the city in all directions - with hiking trails, a really nice river through the city with a river walk along its length, a really nice downtown with nice eateries and places to look into, a college in town, big emphasis on biking (when there's no snow). It's a small enough, yet big enough city.

Historic Downtown Hotel

The Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Train leaving Downtown Durango

On the Animas River Walk in Durango

Looking out to the mountains behind my Motel

Chama, Chama, Chama...

Last place in New Mexico - Chama. Up and over the mountains, through Chama and onto Durango, CO for the last local of my trip out west.

Here are the mountains just East of Chama - with a bunch of snow drifts left from winter...

This was the highest point of my trip between Taos and Durango, but it was not labeled as the "Continental Divide", so I looked it up. I figured the Continental Divide ran along the highest peaks of the Rockies, but that's not necessarily so, it is the line which demarcates the Atlantic and Pacific watersheds. So the line follows the break point for where the water flows, east or west. Turns out that line was a number of miles down the road towards Durango yet, on a large flat plateau between the Eastern and Western prevailing mountain ranges. These images above are part of the Eastern range. Durango is nestled in the Western range.

Cimarron Canyon State Park

Here is my beautiful place for the day! I found a great trail (the Maverick Trail) up into the Sangre De Christo mountains in this State Park. A little over a mile short of Black Jack peak I found a perfect little mountain stream to sit by and eat my lunch. Most of the park focuses on a little stream running 13 miles or so along the main park road. Trout season was on, so most of the visitors seemed to be focusing on fishing. I had this mountain trail all to myself for about 4 hours.

Bobcat Pass on the Enchanted Circle Drive above Taos

The Enchanted Circle drive leaves Taos and goes 98 miles around one of the largest peaks in the Sangre De Christos mountain range - Wheeler Peak.  The highest point on the journey, about half way around is Bobcat Pass at about 9800 ft. above sea level. The view was spectacular from the pass area. Unfortunately, all the land around the pass is private and there was no place to hike around. I would have loved to hike into one of these alpine meadows.

The View from Bobcat Pass

Just down the road from the pass was this little beaver dam and house. Way up here in the mountains this little beaver made his home. No wonder there were mountain man trappers in the Rockies (think Jeremiah Johnson).

The Beaver's Dam

The Beaver's Home

The whole pond

The Rio Grande Gorge at Taos, NM

I drove across this bridge (back and forth), but I wasn't one of those brave souls to walk out there and get some pictures. I was down beside the Rio Grande yesterday, upstream too, and it looks a lot bigger from that perspective than from the top of this gorge.

The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge at Taos, NM

Looking down into the Gorge