Aztec was fun, but it was time to move on. The plan was to head straight to Silverton, passing through Durango. It’s only a two hour trip so I hung around the RV park in Aztec as long as I could before hitting the road. Stopped for some shopping as I left town too. Then stopped again in Durango at a big box store. That all helped to kill some time. Have to do that so I wouldn’t arrive at Silverton to early. Some RV parks, (not many), are strict about check in time. Actually want to charge you an extra night if you get there too early. Doesn’t happen often, but travelers like me just plan to arrive at our next RV park after 1pm.
Just outside Durango
There wasn’t much to see in Durango and the reviews I’d read about Silverton made it sound fairly exciting so I didn’t tarry long there in Durango. As I climbed the foothills, the road got steeper and steeper, while the flora got greener and greener. Surprising how different states do things differently, that is, here in Colorado, they don’t seem to care much about people who might have trouble on this steep winding road during bad weather as there weren’t any guardrails, and not much space between the road and long drops. It wasn’t that bad in early June as I traveled it, weather wise, but I could see where it would be pretty scary in bad conditions.
Interesting uplifted mountain.
Because it was so steep, I wasn’t moving all that fast. It’s not all that fun traveling at 15 MPH when you’re use to going 50-60 MPH. Only have a 190HP engine pushing 22,000 lbs, so that might have something to do with it. Road is all windy and twisty too.
There’s a rest stop at the summit. Very nice place to rest a bit and take in the scenery.
Nice area.
Got a shot of the mountains that I think are right outside Silverton.
And after a harrowing downhill ride, I arrive at Silverton.
Dirt roads.
Wandered around town for a while just checking the place out. Nice wide roads, not a very big town. A couple bars, one small corner grocery and a couple mini-marts. I knew where the RV park was and had passed it on the way into town and since it was early, had time to just mess around town for a while. It’s kind of an old western town to begin with and there has been quite a bit of restoration going on. Everywhere you look was a old building that had been rebuilt. Kind of neat. After getting a look at the town, what there is of it, I went back to the RV park and checked in. There’s two or three RV parks in town so I knew that I could move on if the one I chose didn’t have an essential service working, like WiFi or cable. Everything was working so I paid for a week and settled in.
Settled in and all hooked up.
Look at that view. Isn’t that spectacular? In the above picture you can see the scar in the mountain where the park owner told me that they have a big avalanche nearly every winter. It’s never gotten as far as the RV park though. The owners of the park don’t even stay there during the winter, they head south and only come back in the spring to run the RV park. Nice work, if you can get it.
A little view of the surrounding mountains.
This is taken right out in front of my RV. Very cool. I was really starting to warm up to Silverton’s unique topology, history, and charm.
The RV park office.
Another view of my spot.
Looking off towards town.
Up on that hill in the above picture there is a silver mine or two. You can see something to do with it there on the right…that string of white-ish mounds on the hill are actually entrances to the mine. All played out now, but I understand that some old timers still work it for what little they can pull out of it.
My favorite mountain.
This whole valley is interesting and I knew I was going to enjoy my stay. Air was fresh, town is unique, services are adequate. Next time we’ll tackle that train ride.
Thanks for the post again. Doesn’t look too cold there. No snow laying. It was quite pleasant the entire time I was there (last year in June) Did you see any buffalo/bison during your travel to Silverton? No, none. Didn’t expect to either, considering the route I took. Or are they only in the Rocky Mtn. Nat’l Park? No, they’re all over. I don’t particularly watch for Bison farms any more. What are your travel plans after Silverton? You’re probably not traveling as far as Glenwood Springs? It’s on my bucket list. Because of the hot spring pool. Big as a city block? Some campgrounds there will supply a free pass they state on the web. In the 80s drove by it a dozen times but didn’t stop. I’ve never heard of Glenwood Springs. I’ll put it on my travel list…
Some large equipment by the campground you’re staying. To enlarge the campground or-. I don’t know what they were doing…but the work was going on at the storage facility. Also noticed there’s no fire ring at your site. No, none of those around. I don’t know why.
And one last thing, do you use a lower transmission gear on the downgrades? Absolutely, Sam. If I don’t, and just try to use the brakes, I’d be smelling burning brake pads in just a few miles. What I do is anticipate…just before I top a rise, I let off the fuel pedal. As I peak, I down shift. I don’t care if I’m only doing 15MPH when I crest a hill, I don’t wanna die because my brakes went out.
Have an enjoyable time. Keep traveling. Thanks!
I see several identical Jeep Wranglers in the parking lot, apparently with the same logo on the spare tire cover, “Silver Summit”? Did they have a Jeep rental program or something? Yes, actually, they did. I saw many tourists coming in and renting them. I know one of the officers of our Beaver owners club does some backcountry “Jeeping” in the Colorado mountains somewhere. His toad is a Wrangler, and occasionally sponsors club rallies where they go rock climbing in Jeeps. Backcountry exploring must be a big thing there, huh? Oh, absolutely. Saw lots of that kind of thing while I was there. Our Explorer toad takes me into flyfishing highcountry, but it draws the line at rock climbing. Awww, too bad. I have watched videos about those crazies driving their Jeeps all up on rocks and stuff. Makes me wonder what the hell they’re thinking.
I got some great photos of our coach camped by a stream under Bow Mountain in the Canadian Rockies. I could forward you pix if you’d like – no option to post a couple here I guess. Oh, wow, I would love to see them. What you’d do is upload them to a cloud service, then copy/paste their locations in a comment. Gorgeous setting and only steps to the fish (and bears!). Mountain camping is the best as long as you can get warm after exploring and at night, and don’t get snowed in.
Keep posting your adventures! Maybe before long you might be up to date here, and your travels current. I enjoy and anticipate them. Thanks for that Joel. Very nice of you to say so. I am trying to catch up on the blog but I keep getting distracted by fun stuff. Right now I’m planning my trip to Europe, will be over there 2-3 months. Just bought two new SD memory sticks for the trip that will hold 2500 pictures each.