Colorado’s Rocky Mountains have been our summer playground many times, but we’ve always stayed on the eastern side along the Front Range, or in north-central Breckenridge, never on the western side. To see what we’ve been missing, earlier this month we rented a house in the Durango area and used it as base camp for a week of exploring southwestern Colorado. Not far from New Mexico and Utah, the area nurtures an Old West vibe, with quaint mining towns and small ski villages tucked in mountain-walled valleys. Plus, dramatic rock formations and high-desert vistas are found in the Mesa Verde area.

One day we drove the incredibly scenic San Juan Skyway, a 236-mile loop twisting through jagged mountains and picturesque towns, opening at times to breathtaking vistas like this.

My husband hates this area, as you can see.

One of the most beautiful spots — and a great place for lunch, shopping, or just kicking off your shoes and wading in an icy mountain stream — is Telluride. Its old-timey main street enjoys a view straight to Ingram Falls cascading from the rugged peaks that box in the town.

Just past the shopping district, adorable mountain cottages line the road, including this one with a lawn-gone, colorful front garden.

Across the street, a public park runs alongside the pebbly San Miguel River, and people and their dogs were frolicking in the frigid water.

We merely dipped our toes.

The sheer-falling plume of Bridal Veil Falls hangs over the valley too. Like Mr. Fredricksen’s balloon-lofted house in the movie Up, a hydroelectric power plant perches improbably on the cliff just above the falls.

Pandora Mill below the falls once processed zinc, lead, copper, and silver-and gold-laced ore from the mines that built the town.

After Telluride, Ouray is another former mining town worthy of a long stop along the way. I wish I’d taken pictures of the charming main street lined with Victorian homes, or its hot-spring swimming pool. But I only have photos of Ouray’s Box Canyon Falls…

…and these cannot convey the tiptoeing walk visitors make along a vertigo-inducing catwalk bridge…

…which snakes under massive ledges of rock and around the craggy walls of the claustrophobic box canyon. You creep along this grid-floored bridge, which allows views to the rocks far below…

…with the roar of the water getting louder and louder as you reach the end of the canyon, where thousands of gallons of water erupt through a narrow slot to fall 80 feet.

You can walk down three flights of open-grid stairs to the canyon floor and watch the water froth past minivan-sized boulders.

If you lean out over the rail, you can glimpse old abandoned mining equipment along one cliff wall.

The road out of Ouray is a white-knuckled, gasp-inducing thrill ride. I have no pictures for the simple fact that I was driving, with my hands superglued to the wheel, and my husband and daughter urging me not to look away from the road for even a moment to take in the view. Dubbed the Million Dollar Highway, the side-winding, mountain-hugging road lacks even the pretense of guardrails along sheer-drop curves. Where the white line edges the pavement, the road simply disappears into space, with not even a weed clinging to the edge. The views are amazing. It is a thrill. You have to do it, just to say you did.

Another fun thing we did was ride the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.

The train, which has operated continuously since 1882, once hauled silver and gold ore out of the mountains.

Today it’s a National Historic Landmark that hauls tourists.

Passengers ride the 45 miles of track that alternately hug mountainsides and trace the Animas River through the canyons far below, a 3-1/2-hour journey each way.

If you sit on the right-hand side of the train on the way up (reserve well in advance), you get some hair-raising views as you snake around bends.

Almost straight down!

Our car was near the front, so I poked my head out the window to look back at the rest of the train. Every time, a sprinkling of coal cinders and ash landed in my hair and on my face. It wasn’t hot, but you didn’t want it in your eyes.

We crossed the Animas several times.

The coach interiors are comfortable with cushioned seats, and with windows open for a cool breeze (and a little ash). We’d tried to ride a gondola car — roofed but open-air, with bench seats facing outward for great views and easy photography — but those were all booked.

As it turned out, I got the shots I wanted by poking my camera out the window — after first checking to make sure no cliff was coming up, inches away from the train.

The Animas River is “one of the last free-flowing rivers in the entire western United States,” according to the train’s website.

It’s gorgeous.

These views are only accessible to hikers and riders. There’s no road here.

About two hours into the trip, the train stopped in an alpine meadow to take on some hikers/campers who’d been out there a while, from the looks of them. A few adventurous souls exited the train here too.

Pack llamas were waiting patiently for new wranglers.

Horses too

See ya!

The old mining town of Silverton is a tiny but colorful tourist destination today, filled with restaurants and souvenir shops. Many of our fellow passengers stopped here for lunch, but we had arranged to take a bus back down to Durango, shaving an hour and a half off the return time and getting a narrated tour of the area from the driver, which was great.

But it would have been fun to return on the train as well. Next time!

Up next: Our “journey to the center of the earth” at Carlsbad Caverns. For a look back at the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde, click here.

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Digging Deeper: News and Upcoming Events

South Texans, come see me at the 2nd annual Planta Nativa festival in McAllen, Texas, on Saturday, October 22. I’ll be delivering the keynote talk, “Local Heroes: Designing with Native Plants for Water-Saving Gardens,” that evening. Tickets go on sale soon at Quinta Mazatlan. I hope to see you there!

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