National Park Trekkers: Day 21 -- #1 US Train trip! 7/13

Woke to a stately breakfast of warm cranberry scones in the breakfast nook of the General Putnam. And the sound of steam train whistles at the nearby depot.

Today we embarked on our adventure aboard the Durango to Silverton narrow gauge railroad. Built in 1881 to haul ore from the mts -- gold, silver, iron, and lead -- it's now a Natl Historic landmark using coal fired engines and original cars from the 1920's when it was refurbished.

Someone shovels coal 3 1/2 hours each way, and they stop to fill with water twice It uses 1500 gallons of water and 5 tons of coal per trip! Someone follows the train on a little car to make sure no stray embers have started a fire in this dry area

We had the caboose car, with own table and chairs. But we spent most of our time hanging out on the little ledge out back to see all the beautiful views!

Silverton was a cool destination. Also a National Historic landmark, it has a Main Street lined with old restored saloons, boarding houses and shops. Even stage coaches! But it gets 160 inches of snow each year and is cutoff by road once or twice a year by avalanches! Kinda tough!

Had lunch at Grumpy's, an old saloon with every kind of local animal's head on the walls, and a honky tonk piano player.

The railroad's big claim to game is called the Highliner, a stretch cut out from a cliff over a deep ravine with rapids below. It was actually beautiful, but a little unner-ving clanking along those 36" wide, 150 year old tracks! Jarad will post some scenic photos from the "good camera!"

But the fun didn't end there. We drove 150 miles to our motel over Wolf Pass in a pouring rain and lightning storm. Steep road, hairpin curves. Snow shelters over the road in places, like manmade tunnels in spots that are avalanche prone. Had never seen those. Made it to Monte Vista though, just in time to see -- the drive-in movie from our room! Above is how it looked by day, below by night.

Cool! A drive-in motel! "Best Western Movie Manor." The show was "Monsters University," very funny and cute. And we could watch it in our PJ's!

Day 21 continued --

And now as promised -- more photos of the train ride from the "good camera!"