The quirky mountain town of Silverton, Colorado

A tiny community where a mannequin in a police car patrols the entrance to town, the local sheriff reports his daily duties with blunt, often entertaining, comments about offenders in Thursday’s paper, and Elvis can be spotted in his white-sequined jumpsuit performing out of an RV to patrons sitting on the porch of Avalanche Pizza next door to the Olde Towne shops where a mustached cowboy drives tourists around in his horse-drawn carriage…

Welcome to Silverton, Colorado.

Sitting 9,318 feet high in the San Juan Mountains, Silverton is surrounded by even taller 13,000 ft peaks in the southwestern corner of the state. It’s a colorful place where Jeeps and ATVs zip past Victorian-styled saloons, souvenir shops, restaurants and brothel-converted inns lining paralleling Blair and Greene streets  –a six block magnet for the day tourists that arrive by narrow gauge steam train from Durango. The coal-fired Durango Silverton train takes 3.5 hours to travel between the two towns and operates between May and October.

But not all tourists are day-trippers. Many independent travelers visit for the outdoor pursuits.

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

Year round activities include hiking, ATV riding, mountain biking, mountaineering, snowmobiling, snowboarding, heli-hiking, camping, fishing, trail running and endurance competitions like the Hard Rock Hundred. My teenage daughter and I spent 8 days here this past July, and loved our time here so much that we returned—drove 50 miles from Durango— on our last day in Colorado. And still hated to leave.

The hiking was amazing.

If you enjoy hiking, then you simply must plan to stay awhile! The San Juan National Forest has numerous hiking trails in the mountains. The Weminuche Wilderness, Continental Divide and Colorado Trail are all nearby. At the very least, make time for Colorado’s best day hike. The strenuous trail to Ice Lake in the Upper Basin leads to three glacial lakes ranging in color from brilliant blue to emerald green. It’s a bucket list hike that takes a full day. But be prepared for the altitude, weather and terrain. (Check out my Ice Lake hiking guide here.)

We also joined a local outfitter, Redwood Llamas, for a 5 day guided trekking adventure in the Weminuche Wilderness. Our small group hiked through gorgeous mountain scenery, trekked over the Continental Divide and slept in tents overlooking alpine lakes. Guides prepared our meals, and gentle llamas carried it all! Hands down, this fun adventure was clearly the highlight of our 3 week trip. (Check out our llama trekking posts.)

Many people come here to ride ATVs–either renting them from local outfitters or bringing their own. North of town, the Alpine Loop is the most popular backcountry route. The 65 mile loop climbs over Cinnamon Pass (12,600 ft) before passing through Lake City and returning to Silverton via Engineer Pass (12,800 ft). Some outfitters like San Juan Backcountry also offer guided jeep tours to scenic mountain passes or ghost towns.

Wildlife sightings: the bests chance for seeing moose and black bear are reportedly along County Road 110, and bighorn sheep can be spotted high in the mountains. Although we didn’t see anything but deer.

MINING

The town, a National Historic Landmark established in 1874, once lured prospectors who were eager to try their luck in this place known for mining a “ton” of “silver” (hence the name, Silverton). The last mine closed in 1991, but reports about the ongoing Sunnyside cleanup seem to make weekly news.

Those keen on mining history should head north of town. County Road 110 meanders past mines, tailings, and open shafts in the mountainsides. Metal buckets from an old tram hang over the road high in the sky where miners used to haul ore and travel from the boarding house to the Mayflower mine (above). Further ahead a road turning right heads to the Old Hundred Year Mine where tourists can take hour long tours or continue on to the trailhead for Highland Mary Lakes. But if you keep going straight ahead, you’ll pass remnants of a processing plant eroding on the red rock cliffs in Eureka. A bit further, you’ll see a dirt road laden with rocks and holes fit for ATVs veering left that follows Animas River and leads to the ghost town of Animas Forks. (Read about our San Juan Backcountry jeep tour to Animas Forks.)

Another old mine is visible from Highway 550 heading northwest of town. There’s a pullout to see the Yankee Girl mine near the beginning of the tipsy-turvy curvy Million Dollar Highway that hugs steep mountainsides all the way to Ouray 24 miles away.

DINING

Casual attire is accepted everywhere. We sampled different places for lunch or dinner. Food was fine, reasonably priced and service friendly.

 

If you like BBQ, you can’t go wrong with Thee Pitts Again. Heck, even Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives likes it. Just look for the vivid pink van parked out front.

 

 

 

 

Our favorite pizza joint was the Golden Block Brewery. Liked their atmosphere, service and food better than the other popular pizza place in town. Their wood-fired pizzas, named after outdoor activities, have yummy, unusual ingredients. The Day Hiker was wonderful–olive oil, pesto, chicken, artichokes, ricota, tomatoes. Creative specialties kept us coming back to share more!

Also enjoyed great Reuben sandwiches at the Black Bear Cafe.  If you like a fun, noisy, wild west atmosphere grab a table in the crowded Handlebars Saloon where they serve everything from chili burgers to grilled salmon, steaks or trout.

 

 

LODGING

Don’t expect any chain hotels. Small inns to the Grand Imperial Victorian Hotel located in historic buildings are the norm in this tiny town. All filled with individual character. There are also RV parks and places to camp along the river or at South Mineral Campground.

We stayed at Villa Dallavalle Hotel, a brick building on Blair street that first operated as a boarding house for miners in 1901 before it became the community grocery store in in 1938. All 7 guestrooms are upstairs (none of the hotels in town have elevators to my knowledge.) It’s rumored to be haunted by Mary, the owner’s daughter who ran the grocery store for 50 years. We even stayed in Mary’s floral wallpapered room but have no ghost stories to report! The room was tiny with little room to spread open our suitcases but the biggest drawback was the heat that made it hard to sleep. (Open windows let in mosquitoes and nearby bar music.)  The hosts set out hot breakfast items on a side buffet each day at 8am and set the dining room table with linens and china. The location was convenient for walking to restaurants and shops. And the train station is just a half block away.

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TRAVELING

If there’s one takeaway about traveling to Silverton, Colorado, it is to be flexible and respectful of Mother Nature. Weather can change faster than you can imagine. Roads close and accidents happen.

Adverse weather greatly affects travel to this mountain town since access is limited to Highway 550, 24 miles north to Ouray on the scenic Million Dollar Highway, or 50 miles south to Durango. Mudslides, rock slides, flash flooding and wild fires closed down Highway 550/Million Dollar Highway in both directions this past summer, halting tourists traveling by car, and even by train. We lucked out during our visit, and eeked through, but barely.

A month before our trip, national news reported that the wildfires outside of Durango in southwestern Colorado were out of control in the San Juan National Forest. The national park was closed and the passenger train traveling between Durango and Silverton was out of commission. When we arrived and began our road trip west from Colorado Springs, we heard that a significant mudslide closed down the Million Dollar Highway between Ouray and Silverton. But by the time we arrived in Ouray, it had just opened up one lane for motorists.

Then on our last full day in Colorado we ditched plans to attend a rodeo in Durango and headed back up to Silverton, a 50 mile jaunt away. The weather was great—90 degrees, blue skies, sunny. No clouds or mention of rain in the forecast. But 40 minutes into our drive, dark clouds loomed overhead. Sudden rain fell. Torrential downpours turned to hail, and then snow! SNOW? In late July?

Then 10 minutes later, now in Silverton, skies were clear again. So we ate lunch at our favorite pizza place — Golden Block Brewery — toured the mining museum we didn’t get a chance to see before, drove above town to take senior photos, then hit some shops before we headed out of town at 4pm. Stopping at the gas station we overheard people talking about the Highway being closed. WHAT? Apparently there had been a mudslide an hour ago around Hermosa (north of Durango). Even the train was shut down again.

We stopped at the Visitor Center for more info. The man working the desk said there was no way to know how long it would be closed. “Same thing happened a week ago today,” he said. “You’ll have to wait it out about 3-4 hours. They should know by then when it will open again,” he said with a shrug. “You could try driving to Purgatory Resort (halfway to Durango) to wait it out. But you’d be stuck there if they don’t open it tonight.”

My daughter and I looked at each other. Our flight left Durango at 6:30am. We had to get back to Durango tonight. “Well, the only other option is to go north up through Ouray and Ridgway and head west to Telluride and make a loop to Durango. But you’re looking at a 4.5 hour drive.”

We decided to take our chances that the highway would open up tonight and headed back to the main drag to walk around. Winds had picked up and temperatures had dropped. I was feeling foolish for not being prepared for adverse weather and for impulsively traveling here the day before our flight home. Around 5pm, the flashing sign near the Visitor Center still stated Hwy 550 was closed due to mudslides. But checking the government website  CDOT on our smartphones we learned that they had created an alternate route around the mudslide. “One lane, expect delays…” YAY! So we went for it, and arrived in Durango a little after 6pm!!

Silverton, Colorado is one of those places that sticks with you after you leave. Since I’ve been home, I’ve subscribed to the Silverton Standard weekly paper to keep up with the local news. It’s sad and sobering to read about the  accidents that have happened to tourists and locals alike since late July resulting from ATV crashes, motorcyclists losing control on the highway, semi drivers driving off the Million Dollar Highway, missing hikers and a tourist falling from a hiking trail. There will always be danger and risk involved when traveling to high mountain country. Be prepared. Know your limits. And respect Mother Nature.

This is beautiful country with some of the most amazing hikes I’ve ever done. It’s my favorite town in Colorado with so much more to explore…Until next time, Silverton!