Silverton (and Durango)

The RV repairman came Friday and found that the RV did not have a problem - but the Honda CR-V had a loose connection.  Who would have thunk?  I really thought Buddy had done his thing - but glad after a quick fix we are good to go this coming Tuesday.

We had Rocky Mountain High!

Mountain Lake

Pretty mountain waterfall

First View of Silverton

We wanted to visit the towns of Silverton and Durango while here and yesterday was the perfect day to go.  We were going to drive up to Silverton first, and by driving up - I mean UP.  Elevation of that town is 9,318.  In the heart of the San Juan Mountains, one of the ranges that makes up the Rocky Mountains. Saw snow on the peaks and the temperature was a cool 62 degrees.  We were not bothered by the elevation change all the time we were there.  On the drive up we passed the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge excursion train that we thought we would take out of Durango but decided to drive there instead and not worry about cutting our time short.  Hah! We drove it in 45 minutes and the train took 3 1/2 hours!  More time for us to shop and look around.

Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Train

Had breakfast at Grumpy's which is located inside the Grand Imperial Hotel which was built in 1882.  The discovery of gold, silver, copper, and diamond in 1874 started the boom of Silverton.  Mining continued until 1991.  However, the town is booming with tourism today.  Full time residents are a mere 600 during the winter months. Got to be hardy folks with the roads being shut down once the snow flies! We found out that this past winter they had enough snow on the mountain that the passes have only been open for the past two weeks - had over 500 inches of snow at the passes.  One of the claim to fame for the town is that Gold Medalist Shaun White of the 2010 Olympics trained here on the famous Red Mountain - an extreme mountain course, perfecting his snowboarding skills with little attention.

Imperial Hotel/Grumpy's Restaurant

Original buildings - small shops

Stage Coach Tour if want

Cutesy little town.  We went to the Historical Museum and was very impressed with the 14,000 square feet of exhibits. From the first jail to life in the town in the 1800s to workings of the mines to an amazing mineral display which showed all the different types of products  that came from the mines.  Well documented.

We noticed a a number of Jeeps and when we toured the town to see other buildings we saw a welcome Mile High Jeep Club All-4-Fun sign and tents  for the event.  And low and behold - our neighbor at the campground is heading there today for the week long event.  He has two Jeeps strapped down inside his cargo van that he pulls with a huge super Class C.  Wow.

By 2pm we decided we had enough and drove back down into Durango.  We were on a mission to find the hotel/restaurant we visited 28 years ago - we remembered the red velvet curtains and gaudy wall paper, the old wood bar and the waitresses dressed as saloon girls.  Found it!  At the Strater Hotel.  We picked a bad day to be in town - it was Fiesta Day and the town was packed.  Much larger town than Silverton.  Walked to the hotel, stepped inside the restaurant, snapped a few pics, and grabbed a quick cup of coffee from a local shop and drove on home.  If you like a college town, Durango is it.

Durango's Strater Hotel

The bar we remembered from 28 years ago

Some memories we will keep of Silverton:  the smell of the mountain air and the cleanness of it; lupine and phlox wildflowers abundant along the roadway; mountain lakes; narrow twisty turn roads and driving over the Moline and Coal Bench Passes; the yellow of the small river flowing through town - runoff from the mines as well as leaching of minerals; the coolness of the temperatures; the Narrow Gauge train as it came into town belching smoke; there were times I wanted to start signing John Denver's song Rocky Mountain High!; the Mile High Jeep club and all the Jeeps running around.  Durango will be remembered as way way too busy for us.

Our neighbor heading to the Mile High Jeep event

Within an hour of getting down back down into Durango, we both felt very ill.  Mountain sickness (elevation change).  As soon as we got back to the RV we gulped lots of water and had snacks.  Felt much better. This was a good lesson - we cannot handle the altitude changes.  So, we will scrap our plans next week to visit Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs and move on towards Denver.