Doreen and Laura's Excellent Adventure: Of necessity, we're hanging out

Bayfield, CO

(Sightseeing)

May 9, 2017 - June 12, 2017

We wanted to take the famous narrow gauge railroad trip from Durango to Silverton and back so we headed out of Cortez towards Durango. Even though it was only early May we couldn't find a reasonably priced campground in Durango so we headed on to Bayfield, a town about 19 miles east of Durango. At first all was well with Laura's back but the second night we were there she had some very painful muscle cramps. For awhile I thought we might be making a trip to the ER but things finally settled down. By the next morning she had decided to go to a chiropractor to see if he/she could give her some relief from the back pain. That was easily accomplished but she felt like she should also see an orthopedist in case there was something wrong that xrays didn't pick up. Amazingly she got an appointment rather quickly. After an extensive examination, the Dr. suggested Laura get some physical therapy, then come back for another appointment in 4 weeks. All I can say is it's a good thing we are not on any kind of schedule. We've basically been hanging around Bayfield since then. The physical therapy commenced and has really helped with the healing process. Laura also continued the chiropractic treatments and went back to see the Dr. on June 6th. Everything seems to be under control at this point so we will be leaving Bayfield on Monday June 12th. We would have left earlier but unfortunately a mail snafu prevented that. Tomorrow morning we'll (hopefully) pick up the mail and be on our way again.

We stayed at a very nice campground with a river running through it (hence it's name "Riverside") with lots of places to walk the dog and very quiet at night.

The Pine River flowing through the campground.

One of the trails through the campground.

Catch and release fishing is allowed in the river.

Ponderosa Pine

A big tree went down during a windstorm and took out this RV.
Luckily the family was not in it when it happened.

Cute fence at a house in Bayfield.

Old washing machines on the front lawn of the local laundromat.

Once Laura got the OK from the Dr. we scheduled our train trip - a half day trip to Silverton and back. We rode up to Silverton by bus (1 1/2 hours) then came back to Durango by the narrow gauge railway (3 1/2 hours). We picked the shortest possible trip because of our dog and we only managed to eat some lunch in Silverton before a brief walk over to the depot to catch the train.

The town reminded me a lot of Port Townsend - full of cute shops in old buildings. I'm actually glad we did the bus/train trip because we got to see the area from two very different views. The bus trip travels up through the mountains, crossing over Coal Bank (10,640 ft.) and Molas (10,970 feet) passes before dropping down into Silverton which sits at 9,318 feet in a bowl surrounded by mountains. On the other hand, the train tracks generally follow the Animas River as it descends from Silverton to Durango. Some areas are so narrow that you could touch the rocks on one side of the train and look down a sheer drop to the river below on the opposite side. If I were to do anything differently I would take one of the 1/2 trips that allowed for more time in Silverton.

Now for some pictures.