Today was our first full day with our third OWG, Steve Van Meter.  We departed from our HTR campground for the nearby Durango and Silverton train yard in downtown Durango.  We had hoped for an upgrade that our friend Nathaniel Guest had been working on tourist railroad -to- tourist railroad with the reservations guy at the D&SNGR (it is a narrow gauge railroad) for several weeks.  However, the train was fully booked in first class and parlor for weeks before we bought out tickets, and everyone in those classes showed up.

It really didn’t matter much – the coach class seats were pretty comfortable and the car was not full, which let us move around pretty well.  The train ride was 3 ½ hours each way with 2 hours at our destination in Silverton, so it was a long day.

The first hour or so was scenery that was very similar to what you would see from the road (and which we saw on the million dollar highway into Durango.  But then things changed.

The railroad hugs the sides of cliffs with absolutely spectacular views of the river below and the mountains on both sides.  These pictures will give you an idea of what we saw.

Both Steve and Scott, with some experience with coal smoke from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, were quite certain that the steam engine pulling our train was burning coal – and making lots of smoke doing it.  But a fellow passenger said that a staff member had told her that they had converted to oil , and indeed that had – in March!  Scott was amazed that they could pollute this profusely with oil, as the engine frequently belched coal-black smoke, and in the narrower passages this tended to waft into the coaches smelling a whole lot like coal smoke.

We ate lunch at Lacey Rose Saloon, which was disappointing (see Scott’s Review), boarded the train at 2:45, and arrived in Durango around 6PM.

Scott was hankering for a hot tub, so after dinner in Durango at a different Saloon near the train station, we moved our soaking reservation at Durango Hot Springs Resort and Spa from 7:00PM to 7:30PM and made it there in time.  We then used one of our two hours of soaking time (the minimum you could reserve) in either the 107 degree “lobster tank,” or the cooler 104 degree pool.  We did not bring our phones with us for the soak (no phones allowed policy), so you’ll have to take our word for it.

After the short drive to the campground we all had a comparatively sound sleep after the relaxing soak therapy.