This morning, I woke up at around 7:30 am and immediately began walking toward the sand dunes. By that time, the sun was already up so I wasn’t able to be on top of the sand dunes for sunrise. It was a cloudy morning though, which helped shield me from the sun and heat.
The first step was to cross the river to the other side where the sand dunes were located. Here is some information on how the sand dunes were formed. (https://www.nps.gov/grsa/learn/nature/sanddunes.htm) At the suggestion of another hiker, I decided to take off my shoes for the entire hike including crossing the river. Although the river was shallow, it was extremely cold and uncomfortable. After crossing the river, I slowly climbed and then descended the sand dunes, which took approximately an hour. It was a beautiful landscape, especially because of the vast dune landscape , views of the rockies, and views of the river.
Continuing along toward Durango, I stopped by a visitor center in South Fork, CO. The volunteer at the visitor center explained that there’s a 20-mile scenic byway that extends to Creede (40 miles total). Hearing that it was a “scenic byway” was enough to encourage me to make the trip.
The Scenic Byway rode along the Rio Grande River. The drive was very beautiful, but not much more beautiful than than the other roads I’d been traveling on all day. Upon arriving in Creede, I visited the underground mining museum (https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g33376-d524135-Reviews-Creede_Underground_Mining_Museum-Creede_Colorado.html). The museum, adjacent community center, and adjacent fire station are all built into a mined mountainside. The facilities were never an actual mine, but were rather mined in 1992 to create a museum/fire station/community center, and to educate the public about Creede’s history. The temperature inside the mountainside was about 20 degrees colder than the outdoor temperature. It was an interesting experience, but I wasn’t willing to spend 45 minutes listening to details about mining methods and processes. After about 15 minutes, I just left to continue toward Durango. On the way back to South Fork, I stopped to take pictures of the Rio Grande River and scenic surroundings.
Near Pagosa Springs, there was a road sign for an upcoming waterfall named Treasure Falls. I hiked about 15 minutes to the falls, overlook, and mist deck. On the mist deck, there was a constant mist created by strong impact of the waterfalls on the rocks below.
After hiking Treasure Falls, I continued another 30 minutes until Chimney Rock. Unfortunately, access was still closed for winter but I was able to take a photo from the main road.
Upon arriving in Durango, I showered at the Durango Recreation Center. Afterwards, I walked along the Animas River, which runs through the center of Durango. It’s a wide, strong river which is lined by a River walk on one side and homes on the other side. There were several pedestrian bridges spanning the river. After walking along the river, I walked to Main Street, to the center of the Historical District. The Historical District is a character-filled street retail area with historical hotels, restaurants, sporting good stores, and other specialty stores.
Main St ends at the historical Durango train station. The train station was the main transportation hub for the 45 mile train ride between Durango and Silverton.
Nowadays, the train still operates between Durango and Silverton, primarily as a tourist attraction or leisure activity. The round-trip train ride takes approximately 9 hours. (3 hours each way plus 3 hours free time to spend in Silverton)
Shown in the picture below, a real estate developer named Mr. Fassbinder, acquired hundreds of acres at the edge of the Historical Durango city limits. At the time, nobody thought that people would ever want to live on Mr. Fassbinder’s land. But, as Durango grew over the years, the location of Fassbinder’s land (view of land shown in the picture directly across the river) became very central and is just a few blocks away from Downtown Durango.
After spending a few hours attempting to find somewhere to use my computer, I decided to just drive to Cortez, CO and spend the night there. Cortez is just a few minutes from Mesa Verde National Park which I’d be visiting on Saturday.
