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Started By
Message
Heading to Durango/Pagosa Springs in March
Posted on 7/16/23 at 2:50 pm
Posted on 7/16/23 at 2:50 pm
Only thing planned is a day or two skiing , riding the train and hitting the springs. Anything else that y’all recommend doing/seeing/eating in the area?
Thanks!
Thanks!
9
Posted on 7/16/23 at 3:12 pm to young moonlight
If you haven't been to the 4 corners, Durango is probably the closest you'll ever find yourself. It's about an hour and a half from there, but it's a beautiful drive. I stayed in Durango before going there a few years ago
Posted on 7/16/23 at 4:20 pm to young moonlight
mesa verde NP if you’ve never been. Incredible. Canyon of the ancients also outside Cortez is well worth a look
Posted on 7/16/23 at 5:25 pm to Bama Bird
quote:
If you haven't been to the 4 corners, Durango is probably the closest you'll ever find yourself. It's about an hour and a half from there, but it's a beautiful drive
This is either a troll post or this poster’s memory is slipping. 4 corners is absolutely gross and depressing. Avoid at all cost.
Posted on 7/16/23 at 6:29 pm to young moonlight
Durango/ Silverton railroad
Royal Gorge of the Gunnison
Royal Gorge of the Gunnison
Posted on 7/16/23 at 6:50 pm to idontyield
quote:
This is either a troll post or this poster’s memory is slipping. 4 corners is absolutely gross and depressing. Avoid at all cost.
100% agree. One of the most overrated tourist attractions ever. And it's not even located at the actual 4 corners of the states, it's just the closest accessible point to the actual 4 corners.
Posted on 7/16/23 at 7:57 pm to idontyield
I thought it was interesting 
It's a landmark... a very difficult one to check off unless you go out of your way. Watching the landscape change from mountains to desert was really interesting as well, and we saw some wild horses.
It's a landmark... a very difficult one to check off unless you go out of your way. Watching the landscape change from mountains to desert was really interesting as well, and we saw some wild horses.
Posted on 7/16/23 at 8:36 pm to 4LSU2
quote:
Royal Gorge of the Gunnison
This place doesn’t exist. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison and the Royal Gorge are two different places no where near Durango or Pagosa or even each other for that matter.
Posted on 7/17/23 at 11:04 am to young moonlight
quote:
riding the train
For the best views, get the cheaper, open air car. The higher end cars are closed in with windows.
Also, rent a Silverton Jeep BEFORE you get to Silverton and go explore the many trails and abandoned mines in that area. They will usually be booked ahead of time, so don't wait until the train drops you off.
Posted on 7/17/23 at 2:05 pm to Shexter
The train does not go to silverton that time of year. It stops just past purgatory and turns around. Waste of time in my opinion. Hot springs in Pagosa or Durango is a must. Explore downtown Durango. Drive to ouray if the passes are open. Then head to telluride
Posted on 7/17/23 at 2:31 pm to young moonlight
Just got back from that area. It's beautiful.
Durango is nice for some main street shopping and a couple of breweries.
Pagosa Springs is a quaint town. Riff Raff Brewery was very good, for food and beer. The hot springs resort itself is just ok but I'll grant that getting into a small, hot, fetid pool with a bunch of tatted up strangers might not be my thing. Others seemed to like it, and many of the pools did have nice views of the river. The pools ranged from 100 to 111 degrees. You have to buy all food and drink there. Food was OK. Drinks were a bit weak so I switched to beer.
Definitely go to Mesa Verde NP. Do the tour of the Cliff Palace dwellings. You get to go right up in it with a NP guide. Reservations open 2 weeks before online, and you have to be quick to get one.
Durango is nice for some main street shopping and a couple of breweries.
Pagosa Springs is a quaint town. Riff Raff Brewery was very good, for food and beer. The hot springs resort itself is just ok but I'll grant that getting into a small, hot, fetid pool with a bunch of tatted up strangers might not be my thing. Others seemed to like it, and many of the pools did have nice views of the river. The pools ranged from 100 to 111 degrees. You have to buy all food and drink there. Food was OK. Drinks were a bit weak so I switched to beer.
Definitely go to Mesa Verde NP. Do the tour of the Cliff Palace dwellings. You get to go right up in it with a NP guide. Reservations open 2 weeks before online, and you have to be quick to get one.
Posted on 7/17/23 at 3:38 pm to young moonlight
Do NOT go to 4 Corners. i repeat, do NOT. Complete waste of time and MONEY.
Mesa Verde isn't far away and is nice to spend a half day at. You have to book in advance if you want a guided tour. If you plan on going there, be sure to look into that. Not sure what you can actually do their in March though with the snow.
Durango's downtown area was nice. Check out the Strater Hotel. interesting little old time saloon you can have a drink and some lunch in.
The Crepe place, dont' recall the name but it's just a food truck, is supposed to be the best place to get somethign to eat in Durango.
We had good pizza at Fired Up, and tacos next door at Switchback. Fired up had this smoked mozzarella and jalapeno dip that was amazing.
If it's possible, i'd recommend driving to Ouray and spending a day there instead of spending an absorbent amount of money on the train ride. Ouray has a community pool that's all heated by hot springs. it's a small water park basically with several pools, and all of them are around 100F. Has 2 or 3 small slides for kids and a rock wall in the water. Also has an adults only pool.
Pagosa is a nice little town, much smaller than Durango. you can hit up the hot springs and i'd recommend eating at Riff Raff on the river. They have good beers and the food is surprisingly very good. they have this sour cream type dip for their chips that is fricking awesome, and their jalapeno cream cheese burger is pretty good. there will be plenty of places nearby to get some gummies and what not if you're into that.
and make sure to eat at The Rose for breakfast, and be hungry when you go there b/c you're going to be full when you leave.
Had some good pizza at the Break Room Brewery as well.
Mesa Verde isn't far away and is nice to spend a half day at. You have to book in advance if you want a guided tour. If you plan on going there, be sure to look into that. Not sure what you can actually do their in March though with the snow.
Durango's downtown area was nice. Check out the Strater Hotel. interesting little old time saloon you can have a drink and some lunch in.
The Crepe place, dont' recall the name but it's just a food truck, is supposed to be the best place to get somethign to eat in Durango.
We had good pizza at Fired Up, and tacos next door at Switchback. Fired up had this smoked mozzarella and jalapeno dip that was amazing.
If it's possible, i'd recommend driving to Ouray and spending a day there instead of spending an absorbent amount of money on the train ride. Ouray has a community pool that's all heated by hot springs. it's a small water park basically with several pools, and all of them are around 100F. Has 2 or 3 small slides for kids and a rock wall in the water. Also has an adults only pool.
Pagosa is a nice little town, much smaller than Durango. you can hit up the hot springs and i'd recommend eating at Riff Raff on the river. They have good beers and the food is surprisingly very good. they have this sour cream type dip for their chips that is fricking awesome, and their jalapeno cream cheese burger is pretty good. there will be plenty of places nearby to get some gummies and what not if you're into that.
and make sure to eat at The Rose for breakfast, and be hungry when you go there b/c you're going to be full when you leave.
Had some good pizza at the Break Room Brewery as well.
This post was edited on 7/17/23 at 3:41 pm
Posted on 7/17/23 at 4:08 pm to young moonlight
No to the four corners..just...no
Yes to Mesa Verde, pretty close to Durango, others mentioned getting the tickets they go quick online
Agree that a drive to Ouray from Durango is spectacular and Ouray is my favorite place in America, but that drive on the Million Dollar Highway(US 550) from Silverton to Ouray in March could have a major pucker factor especially for a flatlander. Gave me the sweats on a sunny day in July.
Silverton and Ouray have lots of side by side and jeep rentals a and plenty of trails, or guided jeep trails where a local drives the jeep, but most of those are closed in March I think.
Yes to Mesa Verde, pretty close to Durango, others mentioned getting the tickets they go quick online
Agree that a drive to Ouray from Durango is spectacular and Ouray is my favorite place in America, but that drive on the Million Dollar Highway(US 550) from Silverton to Ouray in March could have a major pucker factor especially for a flatlander. Gave me the sweats on a sunny day in July.
Silverton and Ouray have lots of side by side and jeep rentals a and plenty of trails, or guided jeep trails where a local drives the jeep, but most of those are closed in March I think.
Posted on 7/17/23 at 4:09 pm to 4LSU2
quote:
Durango/ Silverton railroad
In March it won't go all the way to Silverton due to avalanche concerns. It's still quite a fun ride.
Posted on 7/17/23 at 7:36 pm to cajungoalie
quote:
Agree that a drive to Ouray from Durango is spectacular and Ouray is my favorite place in America, but that drive on the Million Dollar Highway(US 550) from Silverton to Ouray in March could have a major pucker factor especially for a flatlander. Gave me the sweats on a sunny day in July.
For real. That was my territory for my old job. I’d start in Grand Junction and make my way down to Durango. Then Durango down to Farmington into Santa Fe.
I think the first time I did it the month was January. Talk about a puckering when you look to the right and there is no guard rail and it’s just a straight drop down into the canyon and the shoulder is about 4” wide.
This post was edited on 7/17/23 at 7:37 pm
Posted on 7/17/23 at 8:01 pm to Hogwall Jackson
Appreciating all the responses!
Posted on 7/18/23 at 8:53 am to young moonlight
i can't emphasize no to the 4 corners enough.
i just went out there at the end of May and everyone said don't go there, but my kid wanted to and we were going to Mesa Verde up from Albuquerque so it wasn't that far out of the way for us.
It was something stupid like $30 for us to get in. There's Indians selling shite tourist trinkets for way too much all around it. My boys got a slingshot and some stupid hatchet that i told them both to not get, as well as my wife, and sure enough they were broken before the end of the day. My wife is big into jewelry and she said all the jewelry they had was the kind of crap you'd find in the mall. Nothing they had was handmade, which is what you would expect from this group of people.
It's in the middle of nowhere. It's 45 minutes from Cortez, and there is literally nothing between Cortez and the 4 Corners. No gas, no food, nothing. You have to wait in a line to take a picture of the monument marker. There's just nothing really to do there except say you went there once, and then you can come back and tell people to not waste their time and go there.
i just went out there at the end of May and everyone said don't go there, but my kid wanted to and we were going to Mesa Verde up from Albuquerque so it wasn't that far out of the way for us.
It was something stupid like $30 for us to get in. There's Indians selling shite tourist trinkets for way too much all around it. My boys got a slingshot and some stupid hatchet that i told them both to not get, as well as my wife, and sure enough they were broken before the end of the day. My wife is big into jewelry and she said all the jewelry they had was the kind of crap you'd find in the mall. Nothing they had was handmade, which is what you would expect from this group of people.
It's in the middle of nowhere. It's 45 minutes from Cortez, and there is literally nothing between Cortez and the 4 Corners. No gas, no food, nothing. You have to wait in a line to take a picture of the monument marker. There's just nothing really to do there except say you went there once, and then you can come back and tell people to not waste their time and go there.
Posted on 7/19/23 at 11:18 pm to TeddyPadillac
I am from Durango. Lived there from 1988-2004
My parents still live there and I go 2-4 times a year.
The Four Corners is the biggest joke of a national park I have ever seen. Literally a worthless, pointless stop.
Mesa Verde is legit.
March is a tough month. Mesa Verde could be closed due to snow and winter conditions. Train does not go past purg.
Durango is epic for skiing and summer
March is not the ideal month to visit in my opinion. They may still have a lot of snow though
My parents still live there and I go 2-4 times a year.
The Four Corners is the biggest joke of a national park I have ever seen. Literally a worthless, pointless stop.
Mesa Verde is legit.
March is a tough month. Mesa Verde could be closed due to snow and winter conditions. Train does not go past purg.
Durango is epic for skiing and summer
March is not the ideal month to visit in my opinion. They may still have a lot of snow though
This post was edited on 7/20/23 at 8:29 am
Posted on 7/20/23 at 8:52 pm to young moonlight
If you’re in Pagosa for breakfast, highly recommend Chavolos Taqueria. Just a storefront in a small strip center, but it is great. Salsas are good too.
Posted on 7/21/23 at 1:58 pm to young moonlight
We are considering moving to pagosa springs in retirement
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