Things to do in/near Durango, CO?

I actually attempted to move to Durango when I was 20 and it was the mountain bike capital of the world. My friend and I drove 26 hours straight from Eugene, OR and found out the riding was great and the rooms and jobs nonexistent. I was there about a week and a half, while my awesomely determined friend made it the better part of a year. He's always been cooler than me :)

Anyhow, mountain biking at Purgatory left quite an impression on me, and my wife and I have been talking about visiting the area for a long time, and it looks like we'll probably go late May or early June. She's just dipping a toe into mountain biking, so that'll probably just be a rent-bikes-at-Purgatory-one-afternoon sort of thing, and the rest of the trip will be a fly-into-Albuquerque-and-drive-around thing. Maybe stopping in Santa Fe?

I guess the upshot is that while I was focused on riding, it still blew me away for the scale and beauty of the landscape, so we want to see some of that. Good food and beer are always worth looking for. We'll probably do the narrow gauge train thing in Durango, because trains are neat and I didn't do it when I was there in '92.

Our rough trajectory (Albuquerque->Santa Fe(?)->Durango->Albuquerque-probably-for-flight-home) is pretty well sorted, and we'll likely do one night everywhere except Durango where we'll probably do two or three. But it seems a shame not to find out if there's something there I'd kick myself for not visiting if I find out after we get home.

In reply to Ransom :

Funny, I'm planning to fly out there from NY around the same time frame for a weekend trip on both the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and the Cumbres & Toltec Pass Scenic Railroads. But that's about it. I'll be watching this thread too though.

We did Santa Fe and Taos last year, and Durango a couple years before that.

The train is great and will eat up a day. The rest of the town is pretty small. Mesa Verde is nearby and pretty interesting - we didn't have time for hiking down, but you can still see a good bit. We stayed at the General Palmer Hotel and loved it. You probably won't want to go too far out of your way, but the drive up 550 to Ouray is pretty great.

We loved Santa Fe. Great little city. I highly recommend The Old Santa Fe Inn for accommodations. Outside the city, Los Alamos is nearby and interesting. If you get up toward Taos, drive up the Rio Grande Gorge from the bottom, then across the bridge. The Historic Taos Inn was great and has an excellent bar.

I moved to Durango in '95. Made it 5 glorious years mountain biking, and working in restaurants. 

+1 Narrow gauge to Silverton.

+1 driving 550 "The million Dollar Hwy. to Ouray. Maybe hang in Ouray a bit. Flying Miata is only a couple of hours further up that highway in Grand Junction. 

+1 Mesa Verde

A full day trip to Telluride is one suggestion.

In Durango, Green chile cheese fries and/or a burger at Olde Tymers, Pastries, coffee and beer at Carvers, Lady Fahrquarts has maybe 60+ beers on tap, Pool and beers at El Rancho, Good, high end food at Season's (along with Olde Tymers, my Alma Mater), and Randy's. Player piano, drinks, maybe even a room at the Strater (waitresses dress in an old timey, western way), Hot springs in Pagosa, if you have the time/inclination. Take the river walk. it is sweet. 

Two really great things: On the southish end of downtown, is a movie theatre in the alley behind main. Seats 50 or less. Bottomless popcorn, and, a full bar.          At the Durango Diner, get the cure. It is an amazing hash brown plate, including gravy, green chile, egg, your choice of swine, and God knows what else. Two can split it, and still be incapacitated. You have to get up early to catch them, and it will disrupt your day, but I'm drooling just describing it.

A good place to stay downtown(and I highly recommend you stay downtown) is the Durango lodge. There are dispensaries, if you are in to that. Be careful walking the alley late at night, ruffians are known to come in from the hinterland to roll tourists. 

Have fun! I am homesick for that place. Any specific questions, just ask. I was last there 2 or 3 years ago, and get back when I can.

Oh yeah, Ska brewing taproom and brewery in Boda Park is a must see.

Between Durango and Silverton, there are several teeners you could hike, but be careful if you do.

For serious train people, plan to come up the million dollar highway (550) to Ridgway and visit the free Ridgway Railroad Museum, dedicated to RGS and D&RG narrow gauge history and restoration (many of us board members are car guys, too).  On Saturdays we'll be providing free rides on our recreation of the Galloping Goose prototype (RGS Motor 1) around our 1/2 mile operations loop.  PM me ahead of time and we'll arrange a personal tour on other days as well.  Website at ridgwayrailroadmuseum.org.  There is no "e" in Ridgway.

Check weather and snow conditions, probably from Durango or Ouray or Ridgway visitor websites, for high country conditions (that's over 10,000 feet for you low country folks) in late May/early June.  Last year we had good snow and many of the area Jeep trails didn't get opened until July.  So far this winter we're about even with last year or a little ahead of last year.  Saturday of Memorial Day weekend is the traditional Iron Horse Classic bicycle race from Durango to Silverton, racing the train (the bikes always win unless it snows, which has happened a couple of times) and 550 is closed to car traffic that morning, opening after lunch.

There is a relatively new system of mountain bike trails just outside Ridgway called the Ridgway Area Trail system (RAT for short).  lower elevation (7000 feet), info probably on the Ridgway visitor website.

Several good restaurants in Ouray and Ridgway, and a very good microbrewery in Ridgway with especially good Irish Red and artisan pizza:  Colorado Boy, get there early they open at 4 on weekdays.  For a preview of the Ridgway - Ouray area scenery, watch the John Wayne version of True Grit, it was filmed here in autumn 1968.  Good kart track in Grand Junction, in addition to Flyin' Miata.

Strater Hotel in Durango is also very cool - a restored Victorian.

Flyin' Miata is a bit of a trip from Durango, but it's a gorgeous trip. Unless you're Mazdeuce trying to do it in a snowstorm in a turbo Miata on wildly inappropriate tires, in which case it's gorgeous but you'll never see it :)

If you're in the area and into mountain biking, Moab is what I considered the mountain bike capital of the world in the 80's :) It's about 2.5 hours from Durango through red rock country. But that's a whole other destination on its own, and more desert than mountain.

Be aware that you will be sucking wind big time cycling at those altitudes. Don't be too ambitious especially on a one day trip.

Keith Tanner said:

Be aware that you will be sucking wind big time cycling at those altitudes. Don't be too ambitious especially on a one day trip.

Too true!

On my attempted move, right after the 26-hour drive, we entered a mountain bike time trial. What with the altitude and the enthusiastic start line send-offs, I blew *spectacularly and comprehensively* at the top of the first climb. I'd been living at 400 feet of altitude 28 hours earlier...

But I should definitely warn Rebecca about that!

Keith Tanner said:

Flyin' Miata is a bit of a trip from Durango, but it's a gorgeous trip. Unless you're Mazdeuce trying to do it in a snowstorm in a turbo Miata on wildly inappropriate tires, in which case it's gorgeous but you'll never see it :)

I'm not sure where our wanderings will take us, but the notion went over reasonably well, and it'd sure be neat to get a chance to stop by. I'm totally okay with having a less exciting (and more scenic) drive than Mazdeuce...

I spent a week out there a few years ago. 

Canyonlands national park. My god.

Rent utv in moab

Silverton 

Crested Butte is really the CO mtb capital now. Great trails and good downhill runs at the resort. It's my favorite spot to go outside of my hometown.

As mentioned, the may/June timeframe is really a little early for high mountain activities. Probably still have snow up there. Much better time for Moab. Just watch for the scorpions coming out the drains.

In reply to bmw88rider :

You just talked me out of Moab, which I only ever really wanted to drive through. Okay, back when it was first getting coverage, I was super-curious about riding slickrock on fat slick tires, but it's going to take a breadth of scenery, food, and other entertainments like Australia has to make me go somewhere that venomous.

I wonder by what point in the season we can be sure of more dirt than snow at Purgatory...

Moab has scenery like you would not believe. The only other place I've seen a landscape like that was...central Australia :) 

When it was first getting coverage :) I still have mountain bike magazines from the 80's with cover stories on Moab. There are so many trails in the area you wouldn't believe it. I didn't realize that Durango/Crested Butte was supposed to be the world center until I moved to CO and I was informed of such. I'm still not sure I believe it.

They're just the little brown scorpions, anyway.

Keith Tanner said:

When it was first getting coverage :) I still have mountain bike magazines from the 80's with cover stories on Moab.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! Though I no longer have the magazines...

There are so many trails in the area you wouldn't believe it. I didn't realize that Durango/Crested Butte was supposed to be the world center until I moved to CO and I was informed of such. I'm still not sure I believe it.

Not having ridden Moab I'm unqualified to say, but as great as the riding is here in Oregon, two weeks of riding in Durango/Purgatory left a mark that's caused me pangs for 30 years... Of course there may be a bunch of "first big adventure away from home" stuff tied up in that, too. 

They're just the little brown scorpions, anyway.

I don't even know what to say to that. Aren't the smaller ones more venomous? Doesn't that mean that any size scorpion has sufficient horror on offer? They're kinda fascinating in that it's hard to imagine creating a creepier looking creature given a room full of horror movie designers to work on it...

There is great riding almost anywhere if you know how to build a trail. I've had great rides in Ontario, in Australia, in the Alps and in the Utah/Colorado desert. The stuff in red rock country is very much to my liking so I rate it pretty highly. The high mountain riding in CB/Durango is pretty good, but it's a different sort of trail. Depends on what you're looking for, I suppose. Odd when you consider it's closer to what I grew up riding than the red rock stuff is. But the whole "home of mountain biking" thing always struck me as a local legend that never actually made it outside the local area. 

Little brown scorpions. We find them in our pool. They can't swim as well as they think they can. Think of them as being like bees that can't fly. You're a lot more likely to come across cool little lizards when riding Moab.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Striped_bark_scorpion

Keith Tanner said:

 But the whole "home of mountain biking" thing always struck me as a local legend that never actually made it outside the local area. 

 

Basically, high profile folks from the Tour De France trained and lived there in the 80s and 90s. It wasn't that the trails and terrain were any better than anywhere else, it's that the bars were better. There was quite the night life when I lived there. Lots of tourist money floating around. Things have slowed significantly since then. Now, it is basically a town of the super rich, and the service industry. Hurts a bit, honestly.

Cool, thanks for the info. I always wondered.

Sounds like it's gone the way of most Colorado mountain towns. They still usually retain enough flavor to make them interesting to visit, at least until they make the jump to Vail/Aspen/Telluride level of super-duper rich. Crested Butte still has a great vibe, I haven't been to downtown Durango recently enough to say.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

You got it, Like those you mentioned, the town got too cool for school.

To OP, I say all this with a profound love for all of Colorado, and Durango, specifically.

Some bitterness may be present because I could never seem to eek out a living in CO.