Summer Vacation Idea: Durango, Colorado

Above, one of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad trains. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

If a trip to Japan this summer is out of your wallet's price range, you may want to consider something a little more local.

If you have a good enough car (or can afford to rent one), you may want to take the family on a road trip to Durango, Colorado to ride the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad through the Animas River Gorge in Southwestern Colorado.

I discovered the Durango train in the early 1980s and have ridden it several times. Durango also has river-rafting on the Animas River, if you're so inclined. I have rafted on the Animas River twice and they were both fun trips.

Above, the train is 300 feet above the Animas River at Highline. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

What prompted this blog post is that the Los Angeles Times Travel section has a new article on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.

It starts with:

Without railroads and mines, what would the American West be? Less populous, less prosperous, less polluted. And the town of Durango might not be anything at all. 

Durango, sporty and historic, stands 6,520 feet above sea level among the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado, its downtown streets skirted by the Animas River. Look past the runners, rock climbers, kayakers and fly-fishers, past the rampant Subaru wagons, the snowboarders of winter and the second-home-owners of summer, and you'll notice the narrow-gauge rail tracks alongside the river, leading into the mountains. 

This is the route that brought the town to life in the 1880s. Built by the Denver & Rio Grande Railway in an 11-month blitz of blasting and trestle construction, this track for decades carried gold and silver from the mines outside Silverton (45 miles upriver), following a path that clings to cliffs and squeezes through narrow canyons.

The former Denver & Rio Grande no longer carries ore out of the mountains, but now carries tourists under the banner of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. It is a spectacular ride and will thrill family members of all ages.

If you are a camper, there are plenty of campgrounds in the Durango area.

To read the L.A. Times article, go here.