Adventure Awaits

 Wednesday September 13, 2023

We haven't been on a "real" road trip for a while, and September is a good month to go somewhere. It all started when a friend of mine posted a picture of himself at Independence Pass, Colorado, elevation 12,000 feet. Gotta go there! So we are off to explore the mountains west of Denver and visit familiar places in Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.  

Day one was an uneventful drive down to Elko, Nevada. Whenever we start a trip in that direction, we almost always stop at Boise Stage for a truck stop breakfast. But, alas, it was "closed for repairs". The whole place looks pretty ratty; we wonder if it will ever re-open? There is no other breakfast place for 50 miles in any direction, so we survived on a pastry.

We headed south across the desert on Simco Road which takes you all the way down to Grand View; without going through Kuna. We stopped at the Cove recreation area on CJ Strike Reservoir, like we always do, then down through the Shoshone/Paiute Reservation and up the Owyhee River canyons to Horsethief Reservoir.

We were surprised to learn that Northern Nevada is actually in the Pacific Time Zone. We arrived at our Comfort Inn about 4:00 local time. Had a nice dinner at our usual place - the Stockman.

Sam's ankle is acting up again; hopefully it won't be a problem.

Here's the final route we took:

Horsethief Res

Stockmen's

Thursday Sept 14 to Ely

 After a decent breakfast at the hotel, we went off to find Lamoille Canyon. A beautiful crispy, cloudless morning! The drive up to the trailhead at the top of road is beautiful, going along a series of U-shaped glacial valleys. Parking area is at 8700'. (I did a hike there a few years ago - it was awesome!)

Back down the mountain, we turned right to the village of Lamoille and the beautiful little church on the corner. Then a "short cut" of about 20 miles on a gravel road along the foot of the Ruby Mountains to the paved road and a straight shot down to Ely on Rt 93. There's a rest stop with an interesting Pony Express exhibit about 40 miles north of Ely..

We have a room at the Ramada. Great prime rib dinner in a cell at The Jailhouse. Tomorrow on to Torrey.

Lamoille Canyon

Lamoille

Pony Express Exhibit

The Jailhouse

Friday September 15 to Torrey, UT

Beautiful day again, left Ely about 9:00. We drove an hour on Rt 50, over scenic passes, to the Border Inn and Casino. We'd known this place from previous visits. On the border of Nevada and Utah, in the middle of nowhere, it has everything: C-store, campground, restaurant, motel, casino, everything. We enjoyed a nice breakfast before heading across the desert, leaving Rt 50 and taking the "scenic route", Rt 21.

After one crosses I-15 the roads go into the mountains, over 8000' with great views. When you get close to Torrey, you begin to see the beautiful red cliffs.

Forgettable dinner at a Mexican place next to the forgettable Noor Hotel. Tomorrow we continue east to Durango. Our day will start going through Capital Reef National Park, one of our favorites.

Border Inn and more

Noor Hotel in 
Torrey

Saturday September 16 to Durango

 Another beautiful day! We spent some time poking around Capitol Reef NP, one of our favorite parks. The Red rock cliffs are amazing! Lots of orchards here, too, mostly apples....some U-Pick.

We continued west on Rt 24 to Hanksville, then south on Rt 95. This is a great road!! First interesting stop was where we crossed the Colorado River and upper reaches of Lake Powell. We learned about a guy named Hike who lived around here. His town was buried under water. The lake is nowhere near here now, but you can see a launching place down below, high and dry. Views from here are awesome!

Next stop was Natural Bridges National Monument. Quite a surprise! A 10 mile loop road takes you to viewpoints and hikes to a number of natural bridges. We enjoyed lunch at their picnic area.

Continuing on 95 and just beyond the Colorado line, we leave the rocky formations and canyons and enter rich agricultural land. The mountains return as we come into Cortez and on to Durango. We reached our hotel at about 6:30. Dinner at a wild pizza place called Home Town Pizza.

Ride the rails tomorrow!

Sunday September 17 - Ridin' the Rails

We arrived at the Durango and Silverton RR depot right on time, we found our assigned coach seat and were off to Silverton at 9:00 sharp! The morning trip up the mountain was a bit of a disappointment. Its 3.5 hours of rockin' and rollin' and not much to see. That's a long time! We had "bad" seats on the wrong side of the car so most of what we saw was cliff faces on the left side.

Silverton is a mountain town, elevation 9300 feet. The only paved road is US 550 which runs through as Main St. Lots and lots of restaurants, saloons, tourist places. We had a great lunch at Lacey Rose saloon, complete with classic ragtime by an old guy at the piano! We had some time left to walk around the town "shopping".

The trip back to Durango was 100% better! Quite a few people had taken bus back down so there were far fewer people on the train, meaning we could move about a bit. This time, we had a window on the downhill side which improved the view immensely. There was an incredible section, hugging the side of the mountain with the river far below. At the end, the D&S has a fascinating museum, too!

So, the advice to anyone wanting to do this: take the bus up to Silverton; take the train back to Durango and be sure to sit on the left side of the coach!

We were back in town at 6:15 sharp (RR schedule is precise!) Rather than go back to the hotel, we had dinner at the Diamond Belle saloon in the historic Strater Hotel. We were blessed with a great surprise: Live music by a cowboy band! They were awesome!

Durango seems like a "happenin" place! Its home of Fort Lewis College so lots of students and tourists. Reminds one of Sun Valley and Bend.

Tomorrow we drive north on the Million Dollar Highway.

Main St Silverton

 

D&S RR Museum in Durango

Monday September 18 Trains, Passes and Salisa

 After a quick stop to pick up some Palisade Peaches, and a stop at the Honeyville honey store, our goal this morning was to “catch” the D&S train at a crossing, on its way up to Silverton. We knew, from our ride yesterday, that the track follows the road for the first hour or so.

It started raining this morning but, in spite of that, we caught two different trains and got some interesting photos and videos, up close and personal! (Watch the video, sound on)

It rained really hard as we got to Silverton, got gas, and continued north up to Ouray. Along the way, spectacular scenery and two 11,000’ passes! Its called the “Million Dollar Highway” but honestly, we weren’t that impressed. The road between Silverton and Ouray is beautiful. Many examples of silver mining back in the day and we learned that iron in the Silver ore is what turns the river water orange and stains the rocks. There is a massive reclamation project underway.

By the time we got to Ouray, the skies had cleared. Ouray is another fun looking, old Colorado silver mining town that has reinvented itself as a tourist and outdoor activity mecca. We had a fun lunch at Maggie’s Kitchen.

Leaving Ouray (he was a Ute chief) at Montrose we turned east on our old friend US 50. The terrain becomes completely different, treeless hills, some agriculture, many miles through the Curecanti National Recreation Area and the large Blue Mesa Reservoir, into the town of Gunnison, obviously a farming town.

Then back into the mountains over the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass (11,312’) and on down to the town of Salida, which appears to be another one of those reinvented mining towns. Excellent dinner at the Boathouse Pub watching Monday night football. The Arkansas River runs through town. They were preparing the course for a white water competition.

Love this shot!

Ouray

The Boathouse

Salina