Page 590 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

588  THE ROCKIES

E Durango & Silverton Narrow
Gauge Railroad & Museum
479 Main Ave. Tel (970) 247-2733, (888)
872-4607. Open early May–late Oct:
daily; rest of the year: days vary. Call for
details. & 7 ∑ durangotrain.com
Y San Juan National Forest
15 Burnett Court. Tel (970) 247-4874.
Open 24 hrs daily. ∑ fs.usda.gov/
sanjuan

^ Mesa Verde
National Park
East of Cortez via US Hwy 160.
Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve
Tel (970) 529-4465. Open 8am–5pm
$ Great Sand boom ended, Durango daily; open to 7pm in summer (cliff
dwellings closed Nov–early Apr).
Dunes National emerged as a major tourism & 7  8 ∑ nps.gov/meve
Park & Preserve center and cultural symbol When it was established in 1906,
of the West. This modern city
11500 Colorado Hwy 150, NE of is today a model of historic Mesa Verde became the first
Alamosa. Tel (719) 378-6399. preservation, with late archaeological site in the US
Open 24 hrs daily. & 7  19th-century saloons and to receive national park status.
∑ nps.gov/grsa hotels lining Main Avenue, Tucked into the recesses of
and elegant mansions from canyon walls, the park’s defining
North America’s tallest sand the same era on Third Street. features are 600 fascinating cliff
dunes sit at the foot of the One thing, however, has dwellings last inhabited by the
gnarled Sangre de Cristo changed – diehard mountain indi genous Puebloan people
Mountains. Their sand was bikers, entrepreneurs, and before they abandoned them
carried to this scenic spot by artists have replaced the in around 1300. The dwellings
wind, melting glaciers, and rugged miners. range from small houses to the
the Rio Grande River, creating Many visitors take a day trip 150-room Cliff Palace.
a 30-sq-mile (78-sq-km) on the Durango & Silverton Park rangers lead tours between
dunefield. This unusual Narrow Gauge Railroad. A April and November to some of
ecosystem is home to several fully functional 1882 steam the most impressive dwellings,
equally unusual animals and engine, it follows a scenic including Cliff Palace. Visitors can
insects, such as a species of 50-mile (80-km) journey, also explore several structures
kangaroo rat that never drinks traveling from the valley floor on their own, including the well-
water, and the Great Sand to rock ledges en route to preserved Spruce Tree House.
Dunes tiger beetle, found the former mining town of Square Tower House, the park’s
nowhere else in the world. Silverton. Durango’s other tallest ruin, can be viewed from
The park has a popular prime attraction is the great an overlook. The Chapin Mesa
campground, which fills up outdoors of the San Juan Archaeological Museum dis plays
quickly on weekends during National Forest, where a fascinating collection of items
summer, and a mix of long and mountain biking is the top used by Puebloan people.
short trails. Many visitors scale sport. Other popular activities There are also 18 miles (29 km)
the dunes, which sometimes are hiking, horseback riding, of hiking trails within the park.
measure up to 750 ft (229 m). backpacking, rock climbing, One of them, the Petroglyph
and river rafting. Point Trail, offers visitors a chance
% Durango
* 17,000. ~ @ n 802 Main
Avenue, (800) 525-8855, (970) 247-
3500. ∑ durango.org
Once described by American
humorist Will Rogers as “out
of the way and glad of it,”
Durango was established
in the Animas River Valley in
1881 as a rail station for the
mines in the nearby San Juan
Mountains. After the mining Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp592–3 and pp594–5

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Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.7)
Date 1st October 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm