Brian’s Microblog

July 26, 2026

We got up a little after 6:00. It was cloudy, the first cloudy morning in a long time. Our socks and underwear were still damp even though we had left one of the tent vestibule doors open overnight.

We made hot drinks and instant oatmeal for breakfast.

We delayed putting on the damp socks and wet shoes for as long as possible - it was unpleasant.

We got on trail a little bit before 9:00. We dropped a bunch of elevation in the first mile but then the trail alternated between being down by the creek and going up the side of the valley to avoid cliffs. At one point the trail was just large rocks in the creek.

Erosion is definitely still happening in this canyon, and we passed a couple places where avalanches had piled a bunch of trees in the bottom of the canyon. The slopes of the valley sides are impressively steep.

We arrived at the Durango & Silverton train stop on the Animas River at about 10:00 after a bit over two miles of hiking. The train is scheduled to arrive at 11:04, so we had plenty of time to eat some snacks and chat with other hikers and climbers - climbing Vestal and Arrow peaks is popular, and the train offers a shorter way to get close to the base of the mountains.

The train arrived on time and we paid $35 each for the half hour ride into Silverton. The tracks follow the Animas River through some narrow and scenic parts of the canyon. The track is pretty bumpy and walking around while the train is moving is challenging. We got some sodas and were happy to sit down with them.

In Silverton the train just parks on 12th Street - there is no train station or anything formal. We retrieved our packs from the baggage car and walked over to the Avon Hotel where we had reserved a room.

It was a bit before noon and check in wasn’t until 3:00. No-one was working at the hotel except a cleaner. We texted the owner as instructed to ask about leaving our packs but never received a reply. We, along with several other hikers who had arrived on the train, just left our packs in the second floor common area.

We walked to El Bandito Mexican restaurant and had lunch. The waitress had recently arrived from Peru and we practiced our Spanish with her. The food and drinks were good.

Then we went to the grocery store to see what kinds of meals we could get. We found some of what we were looking for, but couldn’t find many things we wanted. Very limited choices. We picked up a few things we knew we needed and it was $100 - resupply days are surprisingly expensive.

We walked around town looking for places to buy new trekking poles and other supplies. Unfortunately the stores that might have trekking poles were closed because it was Sunday. We ended up going to the Golden Block Brewery. We got a tasting flight plus a glass of their barrel aged beer and a cheese pizza. The beers were very good and they manage to impart clear, interesting flavors to their beers - recommended. We brought half of the pizza back with us.

Finally it was 3:00 and we returned to the hotel and checked in by phone call. We showered and then put our dirty clothes (everything except what we were wearing) in a bag and I went to the laundromat. Julie returned to the grocery store and got a bottle of wine and some hummus and carrots.

We ate the hummus and carrots in the room for a while before deciding that we really were still hungry. We walked to The Eureka Station and split a salad and some very tasty sweet potato fritters, then split a peach cobbler for dessert.