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| Ophir to Silverton & Beyond, CO | |
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| | Ophir to Silverton & Beyond, CO | | | |
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Ophir to Silverton & Beyond, CO
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| Scenic Drive | |
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| no partners | | I got an invite from some friends to join them for a ride on the Cumbres & Toltec narrow gauge steam train out of Chama, New Mexico on Friday, September 26th. I decided to join them, so built a road trip with the train as the focal point. I had been thinking of heading up to the San Juan Mountains anyway to see some fall colors, so this was just the impetus I needed. Initially, I was going to join them camping at Abiquiu Reservoir the night before the train ride, then do the Colorado part afterward, but the weather forecasts made me change plans and hit Colorado first. Left Tucson Wednesday morning and drove 471 miles to a motel in Cortez (by way of Show Low, Saint Johns, Zuni, Gallup, and Shiprock). On the drive up I was only on interstate highway from my place in Tucson to the Miracle Mile exit! 
Spent Wednesday night at the Retro Motel in Cortez, before heading out on the big day of adventuring Thursday. I had driven many times up Highway 145 from Cortez to Lizard Head Pass and beyond, but wanted to explore some new roads. I took forest roads up along the West Dolores River to Dunton and then over to reunite with highway 145 near Lizard Head Pass. This proved to be a wonderful drive! From there it was on to a brief stop at Ames Power Plant, before heading over Ophir Pass to highway 550 near Silverton. With the exception of some clinky, rocky talus driving just below the west side of the pass, this is an easy road. Of course just about anything up there is knockout gorgeous, and the fall colors were in full swing as I had hoped! 
Thursday of course was going to be a very long day, as I was in full photo mode and with a motel in Chama as my final destination, there were a lot of miles to cover. As usual, I almost planned on doing too much in one day, but it worked out.  I stopped in Durango for a few supplies and dinner at Carver's downtown. It was already getting to be late afternoon, so I knew that a part of the trip I wanted to do in daylight wasn't going to happen. While at Carver's munching on a burger and drinking some beer, the last train from Silverton rolled into Durango, a reminder of my train ride the next day!
Usually if I am headed from Durango to Chama I just stay on the main highways (160 east to Pagosa Springs and then 84 south to Chama), but I wanted to drive along roads that pretty much followed the abandoned portion of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad line between Durango and Chama (the two remaining tourist trains are the remnants of this division of the narrow gauge). I had researched this before the trip and taken notes about road names, turns, etc that I had with me. I knew I was going do do most of this in the dark and almost called it off because I was running late and on unknown roads, but decided to go for it anyway. 
Took highway 172 south to Ignacio (where it got dark), then east on highway 151 to Arboles at Navajo Reservoir on the San Juan River near the state line. This is on Southern Ute Reservation land. from there it was on dirt roads east along the San Juan River past Pagosa Junction, then southeast across the state line, where I entered the Jicarilla Apache Reservation, before finally picking up pavement again as I neared Dulce. I could tell from what I could see in the vehcle lights that this would be very interesting country to see in daylight. Just before I entered New Mexico there was a place where my truck lights shined on a decaying rail car on tracks! I definitely will be going back to see that again! From Dulce it was a breeze into Chama, but I got there around 9:30, so I was glad I decided on dinner at Durango. After I checked into my room at the Chama Riverbend Lodge, I headed back to Foster's for a beer. That is an historic old bar, restaurant, and hotel that was built in 1881 when the railroad first arrived in Chama.
So my long and amazing Thursday was over! Now it was time for some sleep before my train ride up over Cumbres Pass to Osier on this historic old line!  |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Moderate
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