Click on a photo to enlarge it.
We drove into Colorado and went to Durango but it was a very noisy night at the Wal-Mart there. Then we drove up to Coal Bank Pass on
the way to Silverton to meet Barry who we first met in Baja California 7 years ago and have met up with since.
Originally we were going to stay at a camping area near a lake which was supposed to be free. But when we got there we found it would
be $17-50 for no facilities. So we continued along the road and decided to stay at the Coal Bank Pass for the night. We were at over 10,000ft
and it got a bit chilly!
The next day we went for a 6 mile walk to the base of Engineer Mountain - over 1,000ft of elevation gain. It was a really nice walk,
mainly through forest and up to the mountain for great views. There were people climbing up the mountain and they set off a rock fall.
We were on the path at the bottom but quite a distance away. The sound of the rock fall made us think there was an avalanche coming
our way!! We strained to see but couldn't see any rocks falling at all! No bodies either! The sound was phenomenal.
We drove to Silverton and over yet another high pass - Molas Pass, 10,910ft. Then drove down into the town and got to the visitor
centre just in time to see the Steam train leaving. It's a big attraction here and most tourists get on at Durango and come to
Silverton for the day. The train goes a different route through the mountains but I imagine that the views are about the same as
coming over the two mountain passes by road.
Silverton-Durango steam train
We drove into the small town and took more photos of the second train. We even climbed on board. We went to the BLM office but it
was closed for the season. We were just reading the notice on the door when Barry was staring at us from inside the BLM office!!!
He had been working for the BLM for the summer and was working on his computer when he saw us at the door!! We chatted for a while
to catch up on whats been happening and then we went out to the dispersed camping area 2 miles out of the town and Barry came around
for a couple of hours later and we arranged to go on a tour with him in his 4 wheel drive.
It was freezing the next morning when we got up and Barry picked us up at 8am. We went on a 4 wheel drive loop called the Alpine
loop which is just over 100 miles long. There was absolutely no way we could have done this in Winnie and the views were fantastic.
We went over a number of high passes and to an old mining town in Animas Forks where there was a cabin that had the first indoor toilets!
We were shaken and bumped a great deal and had to hold onto the hand rail inside the truck. The route was quite steep and treacherous
but it was lots of fun and we would never have been able to see it otherwise.
Bumping along on the Alpine loop
We invited Barry out for a meal when we got back to Silverton, not just because we really enjoyed the day but because we got back in one piece!!!
The next day we went on a very steep hike up to Ice Lake. The lake is beautiful but it is 2,500 ft higher than the trailhead and is
about 10 miles total. We also went up to Island Lake which was another 500ft higher and had to cross a scree ledge that wasn't easy
at all.
Barry had told us that we could do a loop but the path from Island Lake looked far too scary for us so we came back down the same way.
We spent a few hours in the evening poring over maps with Barry and cooked a chilli.
Barry picked us up the next morning for another 4 wheel drive day, this time over Ophir Pass to a town called Ames and went to three
waterfalls - Mystic, Butterfly and Diane Falls.
Mystic Falls and Ophir Pass
Then Kirsten spent a few hours in the afternoon on the computer with Barry.
On our last day in Silverton we went on a 9 mile hike up to Highland Mary Lakes and saw some bald eagles. It was another good hike
but quite steep in places. We also went off route to do a loop walk rather than coming back the same way.
Spongy grounds on the way to Highland Mary Lakes
Afterwards we went for a monster pizza in town.
We also tried to connect with some people from town who we had met in Teacapan in Mexico a few years back but unfortunately we missed
them.
That evening Helen broke the inside door handle - again!!! Kirsten was not happy at all. Fortunately Helen didn't do much damage to
herself as last time! But now we don't have a door handle anymore! Then we found out that some tuna fish had leaked out of the
container in the fridge and that all had to be cleaned!
The good news is that it only took us a few hours to get our door handle welded the next day. Hopefully this time the handle will be
Helen proof!!!
