2021-12-03 09:16:06
Spending just a few days in Durango, Silverton and Pagosa Springs will give you a taste of the glories of true Southwest living, inspiring ancient monuments and plenty of ways to get the heart racing. Day 1 In Durango, historic buildings housing restaurants, breweries and art galleries line Main Avenue and nearby blocks. Cyclists zip through the streets and you hear the toot-toot of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. Durango was named one of Outside Magazine’s best adventure hubs for its access to skiing, whitewater, fishing, hiking, byways and mountain-bike trails. Visit the Main Street welcome center to find out how to access it all. The train has been operating continuously for nearly 140 years, and a ride on its rails is a must. The tracks take the train through parts of the San Juan National Forest that are impenetrable by car. There’s a stop (and combo packages available) at Soaring Tree Top Adventures, an ecotour on 27 ziplines that carries riders across the Animas River and through aspen groves and ponderosa pines. Or stay on the train to visit Silverton, a the storybook mining village with well-preserved splendor. The entire town is a designated National Historic Landmark and an archetypal example of a mining town that reinvented itself after the ore disappeared. There are shops and restaurants to explore, as well as historical sites, including the Mayflower Mill, Old Hundred Gold Mine and Silverton Museum and Jail. If you extend your stay in Silverton, you have plenty of options for enjoying the surrounding San Juans, including Jeep and OHV tours, rafting, horseback riding, amazing day hikes up to the waterfalls of Cunningham Gulch and the ghost towns of Eureka and Howardsville. Thanks to a wealth of historical and scenic 4x4 roads, the area is incredibly popular for Jeep and ATV tours. Summer and fall offer glimpses into seldom-accessed fields of wildflowers and autumn color. Hundreds of miles of groomed trails await in the winter. Back in Durango, make plans for excellent eats at the town’s new 11th Street Station foodtruck coop, serving everything from sushi to coffee. Or head out to the new James Ranch Grill’s “table on the farm,” with a menu that couldn’t be more locally sourced. Just 40 minutes away, consider visiting Vallecito Lake, one of the state’s largest and most spectacular, with plenty of fishing, boating, hiking, Jeeping, snowmobiling and other activities. The Vallecito Creek Trail hike is located near beautiful Vallecito Reservoir and is great for all ages. Day 2 East of Durango, Pagosa Springs offers record-holding deep mineral waters, used by The Springs Resort and Spa (known for a luxurious yet familyfriendly feel), as well as Overlook Hot Springs and Healing Waters Resort & Spa. West of town, find Chimney Rock National Monument’s other-worldly rock formations and Ancestral Puebloan history. Self-guided tours show you the most important spots, and night-sky programs will take your breath away. Seek out Pagosa’s San Juan River with rafting, kayaking, tubing and fishing. There are also ATV tours, 2.5 million acres of wilderness and national forest, 650 miles of trails, the Wolf Creek Pass drive, waterfall and wildflower hikes, and camping. Williams Creek Reservoir is popular with fishers, mountain bikers and picnickers. There’s also miles of singletrack in the Turkey Springs Recreation Area and the Dakota Springs trail system. Pop into the visitor center for trail maps. In town, there’s a new urban single track trail system, a climbing/ bouldering park and skatepark, not to mention three craft breweries, a handful of great restaurants and year-round horse-drawn carriage tours. Stay & Play Options Arboles, Bayfield, Durango (page 182), Ignacio (page 184), Pagosa Springs (page 185), Silverton (page 186), Vallecito Lake (page 187) Sidetrips Ignacio is a ranching community bordered by the La Plata Mountains. The Southern Ute Tribe, a descendant of two of the seven original Ute tribes that inhabited Colorado, is headquartered just north of Ignacio, but its reservation spans more than 680,000 acres. The modern Sky Ute Casino Resort’s gaming halls, hotel rooms and restaurants are popular with visitors. Recreational spots include Navajo State Park, which provides ample opportunity to enjoy water activities like jet skiing, house boating and fishing, as well as the reservation’s top trout-fishing hole, Lake Capote. SUMMER FUN AT SKI RESORTS DURANGO’S PURGATORY RESORT IS A SUMMER PLAYGROUND, with mountainbike rentals, lifts and trails, as well as camps, a mountain coaster, alpine slide, scenic chair lifts and ziplines. THERE ARE LITERALLY HUNDREDS OF MILES OF HIKING AND BIKING TRAILS WITHIN MINUTES OF ALL THREE DOWNTOWNS, AND LIFT TICKETS AT THE LOCAL SKI AREAS ARE AMONG THE MOST AFFORDABLE. YEAR-ROUND DOG-SLED TOURS, HOT-AIR BALLOON RIDES AND HELICOPTER TOURS CAPTURE SAN JUAN BACKCOUNTRY WONDER LIKE FEW OTHER ACTIVITIES CAN. WINTER FUN PURGATORY, OUTSIDE DURANGO, IS KNOWN FOR AFFORDABLE PACKAGES AND A LOW-KEY VIBE. Silverton Mountain serves up ungroomed expert terrain, while those seeking less intense terrain head to Kendall Mountain Ski Area (Silverton) or Hesperus (Durango). Just 23 miles from Pagosa Springs, Wolf Creek Ski Resort is known for “the most snow in Colorado” each season. Beyond the slopes, Durango, Silverton and Pagosa Springs all take advantage of their deep San Juan Mountain powder with trails perfect for backcountry snowshoeing, crosscountry skiing, snowmobiling and dogsled tours.
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