The ‘US Four Corners’ have been misplaced! Seriously, the four corners landmark is genuinely in the wrong place according to GPS but it hasn’t stopped the Navajo charging $8 per person to visit. The ‘Four Corners’ is the intersection of the states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona and having built an underwhelming monument there, the Navajo weren’t going to shift it. Needing our $’s worth, we did what all good tourists do, take photos doing a press up in all 4 corners…. Well one of us acted the goat anyway!
From there we headed for a sleepover with some folks we’d met at Zion last year. A really fun and interesting couple who’d worked for the National Parks, it became a 4 night sleepover before we sadly hard to part ways. More friends for life on a different continent we hope! Jigsaw had such a fun time there too, tormenting their cat, tree climbing and rolling in their flower beds. Seeking out the quirky, we were taken to a decaying outdoor art installation known locally as ‘Creations from Mufflers’ (a silencer to us Euro’s) Decaying, as the genius behind it has passed, but it was still a fun and unusual sight. A whimsical roadside community!
Mesa Verde is a nearby National Park. Bill gave us the expert tour and wow, it was incredible. I think society thinks we have intelligence nailed these days, but seeing the Pueblo ruins (Cliff Dwellings) that date from between 700 and 1200 years ago, we don’t. Their sophistication ingenuity to build structures and villages and civilised societies and to create a way of life is fascinating. Personally, its wrong to think they were all hunting fishing kind of people struggling to survive as they clearly were not, and did amazing things, using their brains and being be resourceful. Anyhow, the pictures tell their story and demo their engineering skills. Square Tower and Cliff Palace the most spectacular, the latter having over 150 rooms. The whole area is a vast community of small villages linked by farming on the plateaus.
Moving on we headed to Durango where we took a steam loco up into the Rocky Mountains to Cascade Canyon. An early start, we saw an otter crossing the road in the early light. The Durango & Silverton Railroad is a superb way to see scenery otherwise virtually impossible to access and at snow melt time of year, trundle past the cascading orange/mustard waters within the San Juan National Forest. The canyon walls are angular, sharp and sheer and we felt pretty close to the edge at times. A fun experience without the seasonal crowds pending next month. Afterwards, we explored Durango and its fine architecture from the late 1800’s. There’s plenty of mining towns in Colorado from the boom times and thankfully, many heritage towns are respectfully conserving the buildings.
Like so many places in the US and Canada there’s a lot of mountain biking so out we went on the trails via a super River Animas riverside bike/run/walk path with lots of outdoor sculpture. The views from high over Durango were great. We also enjoyed seeing three large child cycling groups, even if they did nearly have us off our bikes. It’s just great seeing small children getting exercise, learning skills and having fun… outdoors! Such a great town.
We are getting used to mountain passes and breaking our van altitude record so the route from Durango through Silverton to Ouray was no exception. Known as The Million Dollar Highway, but no one really knows why, its one of the US’s ‘Most Scenic Drives’ and it so deserves the accolade. Pre season quiet we were able to dawdle along among the snow covered mountains taking in breathtaking scenery. Three passes over 10k ft, the highest was Red Mountain Pass at 11017ft, we drove through dense forests of aspen and pine in this western part of Colorado. It was like a different world, lakes still frozen and snow laden branches. The colours of Colorado were certainly showing themselves in all their glory before the town of Silverton appeared in the valley.
The whole Western Colorado zone has a huge mining heritage from numerous rushes in the 1800’s and Silverton was at the heart of it due to 4 railroads passing through. Prospecting began in 1874. It has a fab City Hall dated 1908 and the turn of the century Court House with San Juan County Jail next door, which was only needed until 1920 when the rush was over. The town itself is also, a fabulously preserved Victorian centre, and off season was very quiet as we discovered. Avalanche hazards rather than Fire for a change. The shops retained their tin ceilings and the bars were very authentic! Doc Holliday was in the Shady Lady Saloon. It survives off tourism, either people passing through or the seasonal railway trips out of Durango bringing hundreds of passengers daily, to eat and spend in gift shops. Glad they do as the town would become a ghost otherwise. We really liked the T shirt and hat irony! (see pic)
Continuing the $1m drive we caught glimpses of old mining buildings in the valleys, Gold and Silver mainly with lead, zinc and copper for good measure. There were 100’s of miles of tunnels. Old mining railway sections still stand and the modern day skidoo tracks and skier trails are everywhere. Such a beautiful part of the world to see at this time of year. The rock colours were vibrant, the minerals bringing oranges, yellows, mustards, greens etc against the white snow.
Ouray, another mining town is more well known for it’s hot springs but again, lots of great Victorian buildings and with a bit more life than Silverton. In between Spring Break and Summer holidays, the folks in the shops said they were catching their breath, it clearly gets a bit overrun and judging by the amount of building, it’s a big second home place. Many had ‘lock up and leave’ all over them, lifeless. We hiked up to Box Canyon Falls, a noisy and spectacular flow but tricky to see as it is genuinely, in a rock box of sorts. Cascade Falls are more visible. We walked back through town, admiring more buildings, inside and out, and seeing that the police were at the library doing their homework (pic) Then along the Uncompahgre River Trail with its shallow rapids, but noting the hot spring pools were $26 each, we opted for a hot shower instead 🙂
The Curious Adventures of the Cat in the Camper Van 