Travel Reference
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through the restored downtown, with its gas lit street lamps and Victorian shops that sell
everything from Mail Pouch tobacco to mink earmuffs. Mexican cantinas, Irish pubs, and
vintage Old West honky-tonks invoke the robust days when miners and cattlemen clomped
in for a pint of brew.
Another way to relive the town's halcyon past is to board the Durango-Silverton Nar-
row Gauge Railroad, which runs between May and October, for a daylong round-trip jour-
neythroughstunningmountainscenery.Inthewinterthesteamtrainrunsashortenedroute
toCascadeCanyon.Inoneofthegreatengineeringfeatsofitstime,apartofthisroutewas
blastedintoasheerrockwall400feetabovetheAnimasCanyon.Today,withguestssettled
into a variety of cars—open gondolas, coaches, or 1882 parlor cars—the train sounds a
plaintive whistle as it chugs up the Animas River valley through the San Juan-Rio Grande
National Forest, making occasional stops for backpackers. The end of the line is Silverton,
a mining town seemingly frozen in time.
2.
Animas River Valley
Departing from Durango, the Skyway itself (here Rte. 550) roughly parallels the rail route
from Durango to Silverton, meandering along the Animas River. Passing green pastures
grazed by cattle, and red-rock cliffs that rise abruptly from the valley, the Skyway climbs
to the alpine heights enfolding the ski resort, Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort. Its
unpretentious spirit is touted in an ad that proudly declares, “No Movie Stars Here!”
Looming above are the San Juan Mountains, a jumble ofimposing peaks draped across
southwestern Colorado. Two million years of periodic glaciation sculpted this awesome
landscape, leaving behind precipitous gorges, broad valleys, craggy ridges, and skyscrap-
ingpeaks—morethan100ofwhichexceed13,000feetinheight.Volcaniceruptionsplayed
a part as well, spewing lava and ash over the region. Deposits of gold, silver, lead, cop-
per, zinc, and other metals enriched the landscape, ultimately yielding billions of dollars to
those with the fortitude to retrieve them.
Approaching Silverton, the Skyway zigzags to 10,643-foot Coal Bank Pass and
10,910-footMolasPass,overlookinganarrayofloftypeaks,ridgesstaircasing upfromthe
canyon floor, and the turquoise gem known as Molas Lake.
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