Sharrod Wrote:
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> If we were planning a visit to Durango and Chama,
> what is the recommended plan for next summer
> (June-August)? Fly into Denver? One way rental car
> and flight back to Denver? What if we want to
> include California Zephyr to Grand Junction?
This is fraught with technical questions. ABQ is closer, but Denver is noticeably cheaper from most places.
ABQ is about 3.5 hours away, and Denver is about 6, but, just about every inch of territory between Denver and Chama is steeped in narrow gauge history and artifact.
In my opinion, having made both trips scores of times, the Denver route is far, -far- more beautiful and entertaining.
It also lines you up to see the CRRM in Boulder, Georgetown loop, and the Como Project. If your mapping skills are good, you can even fit Breckenridge in along the way, they have a small park with a locomotive, a rotary plow, and a bobber caboose. The entire route is former -historical- narrow gauge ROW.
There is virtually -nothing- of interest, for me, anyway, between ABQ, Santa Fe, and Durango or Chama. Maybe a few bits of the Farmington Branch.
Just my opinion.
Doug
In Breckenridge, above Como- Former Denver, South Park & Pacific territory-