Scenic Drive to Silverton

August 19-20, 2008
Durango, CO

Yesterday, we took a scenic drive from where we're parked (just a few miles north of Durango) to the old mining town of Silverton. Today, we puttered around the house. Yesterday was much more interesting.
We've actually been to Silverton before, around a year ago, when we made our way west after last summer's adventures. Then, we traveled along I-70 and stayed for a few days in Grand Junction, and one of our day trips was to drive the "Million Dollar Highway" (so named for the value of the silver it carried, or its cost, or some other suitable tall tale), aka US-550, from Grand Junction to Silverton. Unfortunately, one of us (that would be me) pushed for bringing the dogs with us on last year's drive so our out-of-the-car options were limited. This year: "the dogs will be fine for 1/2 day guarding the motorhome".

This year's drive was a lot shorter, about 50 miles as opposed to over 100 from Grand Junction. It was quite a nice days, and we timed it to be able to stop as desired for photo opps and to have lunch in Silverton before our return trip. As it turns out, we had the chance to finish driving the "Million Dollar Highway" this year, as that designation extends all the way to just outside Durango. We made numerous stops for pictures, since there was a new vista around every corner, and the road's pretty twisty. We crossed over two passes (Coal Bank Pass at 10,640 feet and Molas Pass at 10,910 feet) before descending into Silverton.

Silverton only has just over 500 residents, but that's a lot for this area. In fact, it's the only incorporated town in San Juan County, making it the county seat by default. It's also one of the highest towns in the US at just over 9,300 feet (yes, we felt the altitude - we sound like a broken record). The town itself is nestled into a small valley with large peaks on all sides. There's one paved street, no traffic lights or stop signs (plenty of "yield to pedestrians" crosswalks, though), and enough tourist traps to keep anyone busy.

We had lunch at a small Mexican restaurant on the main drag, chosen because Geri saw the sign in the window advertising "George's Famous Margaritas". I was angling for "The Bent Elbow", a burger and beer joint on the back street, but how could I argue? It turns out that George and Lucy Romero started the place in the '60s and it's been family-run ever since. The food was decent if not stellar (remember, we've eaten in the best Mexican restaurants in NYC) and the Margaritas (yes, we had to try them) were 7 on a scale of 10 (10 being mine, of course J). Once Geri found George's name on more than the Margaritas (it was on the door to the loo), we figured other people may have the same opinion. Gotta love places that don't take themselves too seriously!

The drive back was just as nice even though we were backtracking. It's amazing how much more you'd see if you had eyes in the back of your head. The different point-of-view, coupled with a different angle of the sun, made additional stops for pictures necessary. We passed several sets of bicyclists on the return trip (only two on the morning segment), and Dave would have surely been interested in how they were managing the climbs with over 4,000 feet of change (with little amplitude - all "up") in 20 miles or so with no sign of support vehicles. That's hard core, for sure.

Other than the typical mountain vistas, the only other things of note we stopped for were a stray llama and a hot spring. The llama was in a meadow (if you can call it that with a 45° slope) overlooking Coal Bank Pass. I spotted it on the way out but stopped on the way back for better pictures with the telephoto lens (another reason I should have bought that 500mm lens or 1.7/2.0x tele-converter - shoot!). With the longer lens, I could see that it had a halter and lead on it, so it must have escaped from somewhere and was living large on the side of the mountain. Of course, it's probably not the only thing living on the side of the mountain, so we wish it well…

The hot spring was right on the side of the road, and I barely saw it in the morning. I was glad we stopped in the afternoon, though, as the light was much better for pictures. It's called the "Pinkerton Hot Spring" and was apparently named for a local rancher. It's one of several highly-carbonated springs in the area and it's created a mound of travertine about 10' high and 20' around, right along the side of the highway. It was like something you'd see in Yellowstone, and we didn't expect to see it here. I'm surprised that the road construction didn't destroy it, but they certainly made a nice pull-out for travelers to use. The colors in the mound were quite bright, and the patterns reminded me of something from an Impressionist painting - if Impressionists did abstracts, I suppose (OK, so I'm not the art history guy).

Anyway, click here for more pictures from the day trip to Silverton.

After the hot spring, we headed home. From there, the story turns mundane. Second meal of veal parm (second meal is a euphemism for "leftovers", nothing on TV, downloading pictures from the cameras, early to bed. Today, Geri did some more laundry and I gave myself a hair and beard trim. Other than that, we relaxed. We'll probably do more of the same tomorrow, with some shopping and packing in advance of our Friday departure.