Durango is deserving of its own page. Its the start of the railway and has a fabulous museum, which surprisingly, for a Railway Museum, is not at all dull, mainly due to all the stills from various films exhibited. The railway had been used for all kinds of Westerns, but is notable for being held up by Butch Cassidy and was used in the film.
The countryside around is outstanding, especially when you consider that it is surrounded by desert, but this is due to it being about 8,000 feet above sea level. The only drawback being that this is a hunting area and the hunters are a bit wearing.
An advert on the television showed a hunter, and bore the slogan 'support your local sportsman, keep Colorado wild.' The advert didnt mention the fact that the hunters are permitted to hunt deer and elk in season, but 'accidentally' shoot protected moose, lynx and goodness knows what else, so they are issued with an identification book to help them out! Another noted problem is seen on Trip Advisor for the various motels - the hunters clean off their kills in the rooms and there are accounts of 'blood splattered walls'.
We found a walk 25 miles north called 'the Beaver trail' which sounded interesting. It was a 5 mile round trip from the forest road, but the road was impassable in a car so we ended up walking about 9 miles. However, it was worth it. We came across a Beaver lodge and dam in a small pool, as we progressed up the hill. Then another one, and so on until we had a series of Beaver pools and dams with lodges - the impact on the valley was incredibly beautiful - we so need Beavers in Scotland.
The top of the trail opened out to a large lake where people were picnicking and swimming. Three dogs must have smelled a Beaver within the Lodge there and tried to dig in - they soon gave up as the Lodge was inpenetrable. However, the Beaver must have been disturbed and swam out, across the Lake to its other Lodge. We were thrilled to see it and so closely too.
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