Hiking the Colorado Trail is a perfect way to spend the day! The scenery is picture perfect! I hiked a portion of the Molas Trail, an 8 mile round trip hike, that descends to the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, and follows the Colorado Trail for a little ways.
We left our rental near Durango, Colorado about 9:30am to drive to Santa Fe. Along the way we saw some stunning scenery…
The route we took was through Pagosa Springs…Chama…Abiquiu and the photo below is of Chimney Rock.
We stopped at “Ghost Ranch“…
We arrived at our VRBO…which was another great deal…$59.00 per night with great views…
This was in the backyard…
I understand why so many artists live in Santa Fe now…
If you are ever in Durango, go to the Durango Diner for breakfast…the portions are huge and the food is great! We had eggs, hash browns, and split blueberry pancakes…delicious! We needed energy for hiking Smelter Mountain, which is located right in Durango. It’s not a long hike, but it is rather steep…
You’re rewarded with a nice view of Durango!
We showered afterwards and then did some girly things…Kathy had a hair appointment, so I got my nails done and then we looked through shops!
We enjoyed the Balcony Bar and Grill so much, we went back for $2.50 Fish Tacos, good live music, and more strong drinks!
This morning I made us an omelet, 12-grain toast, strawberries, blueberries and banana for breakfast. We drove 1 1/2 hrs. to the Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I was driving and after we paid the $15 entrance fee, there was another somewhat “scary” mountain road to traverse before arriving at the top where the Park was located.
We waited in line for about 30 minutes for tickets to the Cliff Palace and then went to the Museum for a 20 minute video about the Park. We then toured Spruce Tree House. This is the walk down to it…
After eating our picnic lunch, we were ready for the 1:30pm tour of Cliff Palace. It almost looks like a miniature reproduction…
The tour guide was very friendly and made the tour interesting…
We had to climb some ladders…
We got back to Durango at 4pm…explored the town some…ran into Oprah…(not really)…
This is a Hummingbird Moth…at first I thought it was a Hummingbird!
We had dinner at Francisco’s, which was very good. Next stop was the Balcony Bar & Grill, where there was live music and very strong drinks! We had a long island, which we nicknamed “After Mesa..Got Verde Wasta”. This is the duo…it looks like she’s naked, but she’s not!
It was another great day!!
We got out of bed about 6am…had a leisurely cup of coffee and breakfast…then drove a few miles towards Silverton, Colorado to the Molas Trail, which is part of the Colorado Trail. It was recommended by the couples we met at our Resort. We hiked part of the 8 mile round trip trail that descends to the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Train.
After hiking, we drove the 20 something miles (1 hour drive time) to Silverton on the million dollar, mountain road. Kathy did the driving…because for some reason (probably a combination of factors…caffeine and altitude) I was very jumpy and nervous. The town of Silverton is cute…
We had lunch at the Brown Bear Cafe, which was recommended by a local. It was tasty!
We drove back towards Durango and stopped at the other Molas trail…across the highway from the first one…and hiked for another 1 1/2 hrs. There were a lot of wild flowers…It was a beautiful day and hike!
Feeling invigorated and filled with the love of nature, we drove back to our VRBO and made a fresh grilled fish and vegetable ke-bob dinner. Life is good!
My friend Kathy, from a hiking club through Meetup.com, picked me up from the Albuquerque airport. She had been in New Mexico for a couple of weeks with another friend who left the day before I arrived. She usually comes to Santa Fe every year. She’s a school teacher and this is her escape from reality. We were spending four nights in Durango, Colorado, five nights in Santa Fe, and the last evening in Albuquerque, where we would fly home to Ohio from. We set off for the 4 1/2 hr. drive to Durango and stopped at the Aztec Ruins National Monument. The Indians prefer that we refer to them as “ancestral grounds” rather than ruins. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and dates back to the 11th century!
This shaft of light coming through the ceiling was cool! A tourist was throwing sand into the path of it, as you can see in the second photo below…
After leaving there, we drove on to Durango. The drive was nice…the skies were blue and the rock formations varied in colors of pink, salmon, beige and brown. We stopped at the grocery and then arrived at our VRBO (Vacation Rental by Owner) in the Cascade Village Resort, located 30 minutes north of Durango. We got a great deal…$55 per night! I made us a drink with Vodka and Mango Martini mix…so we named it the “Durango Mango…I want to Tango” martini. While sitting on the patio soaking up the clean pine sky, we met some neighbors and spent an hour or two talking. Two lovely couples – Craig, Steve, Sandy and Kay. They gave us a tour of their beautiful condos.
It was a great start to our trip!
I’ve been to Colorado and New Mexico, snow-skiing, but never in the summer and not to these areas…so I was looking forward to the trip!
