On multiday treks into primitive wilderness, some backpackers use porters or horses to lighten the load. In Colorado, hikers starting in the town of Durango get to use steam locomotives from the 1880s.
The historic Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train chugs its way into the gnarly wilds of the San Juan Mountains, ascending nearly 3,000 feet from its origin in downtown Durango. Tourists often ride this train to the mining town of Silverton or for the Polar Express experience around the end-of-year holidays.
Come summer, many passengers venture more off the grid. Here’s what you need to know to ride the train to your next backcountry hike. And when you’re finished, there’s so much more to do in Durango itself.
How to take the Durango train to your hike
The Weminuche Wilderness is a secluded part of Colorado that’s not easy to access.
Photo by enterlinedesign/Shutterstock
The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad offers train-exclusive access to one of the most secluded trail systems in the state: the Weminuche Wilderness, spanning 499,771 acres, making it the largest wilderness area in Colorado, home to the 11,800-foot Chicago Basin and three of the state’s 14ers. Eolus, Sunlight, and Windom peaks provide popular treks, but their remoteness limits the number of ways to get there to two: hiking several miles, either from Purgatory Flats (14.5 miles total) or Vallecito Lake (17.5 miles total), or relaxing in the concession car.
The “wilderness access” stops are available mid-May through mid-October, allowing backpackers to load their gear into a boxcar at the downtown Durango depot before departing on a two-and-a-half-hour ride.
They can disembark at Needleton for a seven-mile Needle Creek Trail into the Chicago Basin. Or they can choose the Elk Park flag stop for the Colorado Trail. From here, it’s a choose-your-own-adventure of trails, summits, and high-alpine lakes, with designated campsites throughout.
On the return, backpackers need to wave the train down at the spot where they were dropped off. Train reservations are required before the trip. To make them, call 1-888-872-4607; the fare is $35 per person (plus a $25 backpacking fee, waived for Season Pass holders). Providing direct access to Colorado’s vastest wilderness, the train is a great way for backpackers to blend train history, altitude, and solitude with convenience.
Other things to do in Durango
After a long hike, enjoy a warm soak at Durango Hot Springs.
Courtesy of Visit Durango
Once a booming mining hub, when the train was used for silver and gold ore, Durango’s downtown historic district is lined with antique stores, saloons, and used bookstores.
Durango is also home to the glacier-carved slopes of Purgatory Ski Resort. And a 20-minute drive down the road is Durango Hot Springs, a pristine resort with 32 pools of various sizes and temperatures. This is the only natural hot spring in the world to infuse nanometer and micrometer oxygen bubbles into the mineral waters, adding antimicrobials that naturally clean the water without adding chemicals or sulfuric smells.
Road-trippers can take the nearby Million Dollar Highway, a 25-mile drive through the San Juan Mountains between Ouray and Silverton. With staggering views at every bend, the winding route is allegedly named for its million-dollar mountain views.
Best restaurants in Durango
Mining may have ebbed, but Durango is a food boomtown.
Breakfast options include Bread Durango, an industrial-chic café where green chile cheese croissants share counter space with Pride flags and “Bread Not Bombs” stickers. At kitschy Hermosa Café, deep-dish quiche—with flavors like artichoke-spinach-goat cheese—comes in crispy potato hash-brown crust, while scratch-made scones round out the pastry case.
Named after one of the 14ers, Eolus Bar & Dining reaches its own peaks with elevated Colorado cuisine, like cherry-and-thyme-glazed duck breast and grilled elk tenderloin seasoned with coffee, coriander, and juniper. At El Moro Spirits & Tavern, expect craft cocktails like the Campfire Sour with herbal Bénédictine, orgeat, and egg white, and dinner plates like the pork lumache pasta with fennel pollen or the rainbow trout covered in an eggy gribiche sauce.
For more drinks, The Bookcase and Barber serves intricate cocktails—like the lemongrass-infused East of Eden with gin and red bell-pepper water—in a speakeasy space behind a barbershop. Meanwhile, Ska Brewing Company boasts an array of draught options, a pizza-centric menu, and Durango’s largest beer garden.
Come dessert, Animas Chocolate Company is a bean-to-bar confectionery along the Animas River. The shop uses recipes found in an antique book to make chocolate bars imprinted with topographic maps of the waterway.
Best hotels in Durango
Feel the Wild West vibes at Strater Hotel.
Photo by Scott DW Smith/Visit Durango
Downtown’s Strater Hotel, built in 1887, sits a couple blocks from the train depot and is decorated with vintage ephemera, photos, and shadow boxes depicting Durango’s mining heyday. The hotel houses the Diamond Belle Saloon and the Office Spiritorium—both offering a real-deal taste of Wild West watering holes.
For modern confines, the Boundary Durango is a new motel-style property from Terra Vi, the same nature-inspired company connecting guests with Navajo guides at the Grand Canyon. Located along the river and train tracks, the hotel offers rooms with record players, ski racks, and vintage books from the local Second Story Books. In the lobby is a navigation table where guests can find maps and gear recommendations from in-house experts, and outside is a Salamander Circle fire pit, where people are encouraged to gather and recount their adventures.
