I Think I Can...

Today's adventure took us to Historic Downtown Durango where we boarded

the Durango & Silverton Scenic train.

  This is a narrow gage railroad. The Denver & Rio Grande Railway arrived in Durango on August 5, 1880, and construction on the line began in the fall of that same year.  By July of 1882, the tracks to Silverton were completed.  The line was originally constructed to haul silver and gold ore from the mountains.  However, passengers soon realized it was the view that was truly precious.  This scenic line has been in continuous operation ever since.

The coal fired, steam powered train uses from 3 to 5 tons of coal every trip.

  Today, it chugged out of the

out of the Durango Depot and headed through town across 550 and into

the back country.  It passed by

beautiful lakes, and climbed up and up, and

around the mountain.

We entered

the San Juan National Forest and while the train keep chugging along, we continued to enjoy...

beautiful flowers,

wildlife,

crazy people on raging rivers, and

mountain shadows on calm waters.

There were places that the train

ducked under bridges,

let off steam, took on water, and

crept by the rocky walls of the canyon.

And, after a 3-1/2 hours of a breath taking trip, we arrived in

Silverton.

We pulled into the

Depot just after noon.  After posing for a

picture or

two, we decided it was time

for lunch.

  Afterwards, we had plenty of time to do a little

shopping and laughing.  When we had shopped until we dropped, we stopped off by the local ice cream shop before it was time to

board our bus for the trip back to the

Durango Depot.

Thanks to the little engine that said, "I think I can" and chugged all the way up and through the back country from Durango to Silverton, we were able to enjoy yet another view of this beautiful area of Colorado.