Southwest Colorado, October 1973

The parents decided that they would take the three younger kids for a tour of Southwest Colorado -- being possibly more educational than attending classes at the Junior High or grade school. Sarah and Paul were left behind, to attend classes and take care of the dog.

Mom and Peter, Lookout Mountain(?)

Lise and the Dodge Van

The first day, we drove out I-70 through Genesee Park behind Lookout Mountain. We made a brief stop which may be the backside of Lookout Mountain. 

The Climax Mine

We drove on to Dillon and then South over Fremont pass to Leadville. At the top of Fremont Pass is the Climax Molybdenum Mine. My father never passed up the opportunity to disparage the operation and demonstrate how it was destroying the mountain to extract the ore. He had some admiration for the mining engineers who managed to extract the ore while collapsing the mountain above it, but it was clear he disliked the operation on the whole.

Mount Massive

From Leadville, we drove south past Mount Massive and Mount Elbert to Twin Lakes. Then, we headed west over Monarch Pass through Aspen and Snowmass. It may have been faster to go through Glenwood Springs, but Monarch Pass usually has some nice displays of turning aspen. I think Dad chose the route for that reason. and finally south to Redstone. I had thought that we stopped at the trail to Hanging Lake in Glenwood Canyon, but we could not logically have gone there on the same trip. 

From a Gravel Pit, near Redstone?

We stayed in Redstone for the night. We got to Redstone early enough that there was time for a walk after dinner. The whole of Redstone is about 4 blocks long, so it didn't take us long to reach the other end. We saw a sign on the gate there, and I was impressed that Dad could read the Spanish on it even though I knew he had not studied Spanish. He had however studied Latin, so it was not too hard for him to reason out its meaning.

On the way back, we met a woman who was out walking her dog. The dog was a wreck: missing a foreleg and blind in one eye. There was a big grey scar running up most of the length of his other foreleg. Evidently, he had been hit by a car at some time in the past. What impressed me about this dog was he seemed happy. He was gentle and allowed himself to be petted. Getting around on three legs was okay with him, and he couldn't feel sorry for himself that he was not complete.

Poplars along the Gunnison River

The next day, we started out from Redstone and went over McClure Pass. The aspen were turning and it was a glorious day. I was glued to the windows as we passed miles of scenery. We passed Paonia Reservoir, whose presence seemed at odds with the western Colorado desert. Some ways further on, Dad stopped to photograph Mt. Sneffels in the distance.

Mount Sneffels

The second night, we stayed at a condo in Telluride. The town was being built out as a ski area, but it was off-season and hadn't really been discovered yet. We got to Telluride late enough that the sun was already setting. I remember the slanting rays accentuating the relief in the wall of rock that is the southern face of the canyon.

Looking east from Telluride

In the morning, we drove through the town and attempted to get as close as possible to Bridal Veil Falls. There is a jeep road that reportedly goes over the ridge -- east from Telluride to Ouray. Three miles via jeep and 60 miles via the highway. In any case, the road was impassible for the van at just about the first turn, so we had to admire the falls from a distance. Driving to Ouray that way was clearly out of the question.

Looking south from Telluride

After that, we drove over Lizard Head Pass toward Cortez. I think we stayed in Cortez for the night.

Lizard Head Pass

The Lizard Head

The next day, we visited Hovenweep National Monument. To reach there, we drove for miles and miles on a dirt road. We kept the windows closed so the back of the van would not fill up with dust. Looking back, we could see our plume of dust stretching back 10 miles across the desert. Dad made the comment that there were no great deductive powers implied by the movie scene where the native American chief looks out and announces, "White man coming". Our progress was obvious to anyone within hundreds of square miles.

The ruins at Hovenweep National Monument

I remember having a picnic lunch near the parking lot at Hovenweep.Then it was back in the van and on to the next attraction.

I think Dad was not particularly keen on seeing the Four Corners, but there were enough votes that we made the 2 mile detour from the highway to have exist in 4 different states simultaneously. Like visiting the geographic center of the country, it's worth doing exactly once.

Onward and southward. I have this record shot of Shiprock, so we must have been headed toward Farmington, NM. I don't recall whether we stayed there for the night, but I do recall buying a turquoise and silver ring while we were there.

Shiprock

It is possible that we returned to Durango the same day. In any case, we ended up at a restaurant in Durango after dark. I remember ordering a 14" pizza, which seemed like an extravagance at the time. However, it played a role in our adventure. We had not arrived early enough to get tickets for the Durango-Silverton train, and that was a big part of our plans. Mom was in a bad mood -- plausibly because our plans were in peril, so I resolved to rescue the operation by getting up early and being first in line at the ticket office when they opened the following morining. I had cold pizza for breakfast before leaving the motel room.

Steaming up in Durango

I think I left the motel about 6am and the station opened up at 8. It was pretty darn cold waiting out on the open platform for those two lonely hours. But in the end it was worth it. The rest of the family showed up in time, we secured tickets for the excursion, and had a memorable time riding the narrow gauge through mountains painted with turning aspen trees.

Turning on the Blowers

We stopped at the level crossing north of Durango the next morning to watch the excursion train pass by. As we watched, the locomotive started to put out an impressive plume of black smoke. For years, I though that the engineer had just done this for show. But what is more likely is that he turned the blowers on for the last level stretch before the steep climb began. He'd need the extra steam for climbing up the Animas Canyon.

The narrow gauge line in the Animas River Gorge is spectacular -- clinging to the rock face 100' or more above the river. The highway takes a different route, so it really gives the feeling of riding the train at a time when it was the only mechanized transporation available.

Animas Canyon

During the first part of the trip, I spent a lot of time walking backward and forward through the train, trying to find the perfect view. Most of the platforms were occupied by other train enthusiasts, camera in-hand.

The last car of the train was an open gondola. One really got the full experience of early train travel there, since a stead rain of ash fell on the occupants throughout. One fellow had stationed himself at the center of the rear car, and was filming the trip with a Super8 movie camera held upside-down. He explained that by turning the processed film end-for-end, it would appear that he was at the front of the train moving in the other direction.

Along the Animas River

In the gorge, we passed a waterfall that was so close, it almost seemed like one could reach out and touch it. It was hidden by the surrounding foliage, and the rainy weather made it seem darker and more mysterious. It passed the left side of the train quickly, so I imagined I was one of the few people on board to have seen it. I resolved to try to photograph those falls on the return trip.

Magic Waterfall

Before we descended into the gorge on the return trip, the train stopped to pick up backpackers who had been out hiking in the San Juans. The magic falls seemed more accessible, since I imagined returning and hiking to them at some future time.

The train made a stop for water about halfway up. Passengers were invited to step off the train to take posed pictures of the engine at the water tank (and smokers to grab a smoke). I did not want to be left behind, so I did not try to run up to the front of the train. I was happy enough to get a shot of the water tank from close to the rear of the train.

San Juan Mountains

The rest of the trip was view after view of the train and tracks winding beneath steep mountainsides. The canyon finally widens out onto a flat area about a mile square, on which is situated the town of Silverton. Passengers were encouraged to spend freely in the tourist shops there and reassemble in time for the return trip. In the mean time, the train was run off onto a wye, and turned around for the downhill run.

I remember spending some time in the jewelry stores there But everything seemed expensive, so I did not bring back any souvenirs. I did expose 3 rolls of film, one of which was purchased in the drugstore there, and that has proven more than enough to cement the memories in my brain.

After we were able to get tickets for the train ride, it was probably a foregone conclusion that we would stay in Durango another night. A proposal to drive from Durango to Ouray in the dark would have been vetoed instantly. According to legend we had already done that. It must have been either during the summer (1966) that we spent in Boulder while Dad was visiting at the High Altitude Observatory, or during the first year (1969-1970) that Dad worked at NCAR -- before the VW van was replaced by the Dodge. I vaguely remember staring anxiously at the road ahead -- illuminated only by the VW's headlights. Periodically, a yellow hairpin turn sign would emerge from the gloom while the road snaked this way and that.

The Million Dollar Highway

Lime Creek and Twilight Mountain

This time in contrast, we made the trip from Durango to Ouray in the daytime -- and it was glorious. The hairpin turn signs were still there, but they were no long the main attraction. We made this stop at Lime Creek, to snap photos of Twilight Mountain.

Years later, I saw a camera ad boasting the ruggedness of their camera, which supposedly took the shot at -30F. The view accompanying the add was from the same location. "I know where that is."

Even though it is only about 60 miles from Durango to Ouray, it seemed like an all-day trip to do the drive. All the twists and turns probably limit the average speed to around 30mph. It seemed like it was late afternoon when we checked into our motel in Ouray.

Box Canyon in Ouray

Whether it was the same morning or the next day, we hiked to the head of Box Canyon to view the falls. I'm sure I enjoyed the scenery on the return trip, but that was the end of my roll of film.