Silverton and Animas Forks

September 8, 2009

We’ve visited Silverton several times over the years. Our first visit was 1986, arriving with the kids by a late 1800s era train. The Durango & Silverton Narrow Guage Railroad is a trip worth taking once in your life and we’ve done it twice.

One of thing I wanted to do on this visit was to get some pictures of one of the trains as it comes out of the mountains. I had taken photos of it before, but it was with a film camera that had developed a light leak — which we didn’t find out until after the images were developed, weeks later.

We got to the spot I wanted to take the pictures from early — and, then, a light rain started. Though we had picnic supplies with us, we decided to get out of the rain and go get a burger.

While I didn’t get the shots I wanted, I did get quite a few good images of two different trains.

Another place we’ve been to several times is Animas Forks, an old ghost town several miles from Silverton on a mountain road. The further you go on the road, the worse it gets. Though we’ve gone a lot further on these roads in the past, our little SUV isn’t built to take anything much worse than the road to Animas Forks. The roads are popular for four-wheel-drive, ATV (all terrain vehicle) and dirt bike enthusiasts.

Photos:

(click on any of the following photos to view a larger image.)

On the way to Silverton	Silverton RV Park from the RR tracks
Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad	Silverton
Aerial ore tram	Aerial trams transported more than ore.
Goldeneye	Animas Forks
Animas Forks	Animas River
Boarding house	Boarding house

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Commentary and images from the road

image and information from September 8, 2009

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