Durango, Colorado

October’s Cowboy Gathering rounds up poets, pickers and train lovers.

Durango is an active four-season town.

Each year starts with winter sports—skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing—at Purgatory Resort, which also has 75 miles of snowmobile trails. Fat biking on wide-tire bicycles is also popular on snowy trails in and around Durango.

 

Winter gives way to the Bluegrass Meltdown in April and then the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic in late spring. Cyclists race 50 miles on U.S. 550 to beat the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad on its run between the two towns.

The scenic railroad is Durango’s most popular year-round attraction, and summer is its busiest season.

In fact, Durango at an elevation of 6,500 feet is an ideal summer hub for a pack of outdoor adventures—hiking, mountain biking, riding horses, kayaking the Animas River or exploring nearby Mesa Verde National Park.

 

As the season changes, the San Juan Mountains are brilliant with fall colors and aspen leaves turning golden, by mid-September and well into October.

Fall is also time for kicking it at the 36th annual Durango Cowboy Gathering.

“We are the oldest gathering in Colorado,” said Sue McWilliams, president of the Durango Cowboy Gathering. It was previously tagged the Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

Elko, Nevada, held the first Cowboy Poetry Gathering in 1985. Durango hatmaker Kevin O’Farrell attended and suggested that Durango put on its own cowboy poetry festival. It launched in 1988, McWilliams said.

 

Now it’s grown to more than 30 events over five days. Western musicians and cowboy poets entertain mostly at indoor venues from October 2 through 6. This year’s musical lineup includes Kristyn Harris and Hailey Sandoz, two Texans with their own brand of Western swing music.

Local favorites, the Bar D Wranglers, will get the boot-tapping music started for the Cowboy Gathering.

Poetry and storytelling events include Chuckwagon Tales, Cowboy Lore and Stories of the Range.

The D&SNGR also has a special Cowboy Poetry and Music Train that entertains passengers on the trip to Silverton and back.

The big event October 5 is a horse-drawn parade along Main Avenue. This year it will be preceded by a two-hour Horseback Social, allowing cowgirls and cowboys to gather, ride and socialize along six blocks of downtown. Children ages 12 and under will also have a chance to ride horses under the supervision of professional wranglers.

 

The parade attracted an estimated 6,800 people in 2023, and this year’s event could bring 10,000 people to downtown, McWilliams said.

Event organizers keep their fingers crossed for good parade weather.

“Some years it’s beautiful, and at that time of year the (leaf) colors are gorgeous,” she said. “Sometimes it’s 70 degrees and sometimes it’s snowing.”

Al Harper, D&SNGR owner and CEO, said riders on the scenic railroad have to be prepared for fast-changing weather on the run to Silverton.

“It’s funny, that first couple of weeks of September up to about the third week of October, you can have summer, fall and winter all in one ride,” he said.

“At the lower altitude it’s still summer. Then you start to see the beautiful leaves and aspens as you get to 8,500 feet. Then you get to 9,500 feet in Silverton and the leaves are gone and you might have snow flurries.”

 

The steam train run from Durango to Silverton is seasonal. This year’s schedule was from May 6 to October 26. Heavy snowfall makes it risky to run in the winter.

In fact, the (Grand Junction) Daily Sentinel reported on an ill-fated trip stalled by a snow slide four miles shy of Silverton on February 12, 1947. The train crew handed shovels to Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Lombard, the trip’s only passengers, to help them shovel out the locomotive. It took nine hours. The train never made it to Silverton and returned to Durango, arriving at 3:30 a.m. The newspaper told its readers: “The Lombards were refunded the money they had paid for tickets.”

Of course, a light snowfall would enhance the popular Polar Express train that runs from November 22 to January 1.

The D&SNGR also has a Cascade Canyon Winter Train with heated coaches. It runs on select days from November to May and covers 26 miles—halfway to Silverton. Imagine stunning scenes of the steam locomotive’s plume against a backdrop of snow-flocked trees in the mountains.

The Cascade train is also spectacular during spring snowmelt, said Rachel Welsh of Discover Durango. “It’s really beautiful because it’s when the waterfalls are really flowing.”

Where History Meets the Highway

 

FIRST STOP

Visitor Information Center

802 Main Avenue

durango.org

BONE UP ON IRON HORSE HISTORY

The Roundhouse Museum tells the tales of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, with roots going back to 1882. It’s free.

479 Main Avenue

durangotrain.com

A BUCKIN’ GOOD BAR

The Wild Horse Saloon is a dance hall and bar with live country and southern rock music. Plus a badass bouncer named Miss Tammy.

601 E. Second Avenue

durangowildhorsesaloon.com

READ UP ON DURANGO

Maria’s Bookshop has close to 40,000 books on its shelves in a century-old building. This locally owned, independent bookstore is celebrating
40 years in business.

960 Main Avenue

mariasbookshop.com

BOOK A GRAND HISTORIC HOTEL

Don’t stay in a bunkhouse. If you can swing it, stay in the grandeur of the 1887 Strater Hotel with its Diamond Belle Saloon.

699 Main Avenue

strater.com