Riding the train to the trailhead is something different we wanted to try.  Especially since the train goes thru our wilderness area.

We bought a Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad season’s pass for 2012 and finally managed to use it.  Our plan is to use the train to access trailheads into the Weminuche Wilderness that aren’t available to use via roads and highways.  Our first venture was just to see what the process of booking, boarding and transiting with the train involves.  Easier than we figured, excepting that it’s at least a couple hours train travel to even the first wilderness stop.

We picked the shortest hike out on the Fourth of July because we planned a family BBQ on the condo deck. So we took the train to Cascade and hiked up the 4.5 mile Purgatory Trail which is primarily uphill from the Animas River in the Weminuche Wilderness. This trail hasn’t been one of our regular hikes because hiking down and back up isn’t generally a popular route, but with the train we cut the travel in half and were fresh for the uphill.

Cool Break

We both took our ultra lite umbrellas hoping that we’d see some rain and get to test them, however, as much as we saw dark black skies and heard thunder we never got a drop of rain.  Surely will have plenty of opportunity as the monsoons start in July