One of our favorite scenic adventures in Colorado was riding the Steam Train at the Durango &…read moreSilverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. My son and I planned ahead and purchased our First Class tickets several months in advance to secure our seats. The adults-only First Class car had sold out nearly three months ahead, but we were fortunate to obtain seats in the Prospector First Class car, which welcomes families. The First Class experience was excellent and included comfortable your own attendant, restrooms, individual padded chairs, unlimited nonalcoholic beverages, a souvenir insulated cup, and a keepsake gift bag. Guests were also treated to a blueberry muffin at the start of the trip and a chocolate chip cookie on the return journey, which added a nice touch to the overall experience. The scenery is truly the star of the trip. The breathtaking views of the mountains, river rapids, forests, and rugged canyon landscape are unforgettable and worth the price of admission alone. For the best views, I recommend sitting on the right side of the train traveling to Silverton and on the left side during the return to Durango. While the large windows provide good visibility, I found that photography from the seats can sometimes be obstructed. If capturing great photos is a priority, consider choosing seats near the middle of the car so you can easily anticipate upcoming viewpoints. Alternatively, seats near either end of the car offer quicker access to the outdoor platforms, where the best photographs can be taken. Passengers should be aware that the historic steam locomotive creates a fair amount of movement. The train rocks and sways regularly, which is part of its authentic charm, but those prone to motion sickness may want to take preventative medication before departure. The crew advises maintaining three points of contact whenever moving about the train, which is excellent advice. The journey is approximately three and a half hours each way, with several stops to refill water for the steam engine. While passengers are welcome to bring their own snacks, there is also a food and alcoholic beverage car available for additional purchases. This is certainly not an inexpensive excursion. Our two First Class tickets cost just under $500. When the staff asked whether it was our first train ride, I laughed and thought, "Yes, because this is probably not an everyday experience!" However, after seeing the spectacular scenery, I can honestly say it was worth every dollar. When you arrive in Silverton, I recommend heading directly to the restaurant where you'd like to eat rather than wandering around first. Time is limited, and lunch lines can become quite long. Silverton itself is a charming former mining town filled with restaurants, souvenir shops, and fudge stores. While shopping opportunities are plentiful, expect typical tourist-town pricing. Overall, this was a memorable and worthwhile experience that combined history, adventure, and some of the most stunning scenery in the Southwest. If you're visiting southwestern Colorado, I highly recommend making the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad part of your itinerary. It was an unforgettable highlight of our trip.

We enjoyed the bus up / train back. Would definitely take that option again as 3.5 hours on a train…read morewas plenty. Beautiful views both ways. Coach was fine. Silverton exceeded expectations with lots of cute gift shops with nice items (not just generic dime store crap). Lots of places to eat as well. Don't miss checking out Blair Street with the Shady Lady among other historic shady activities. Ha! 5 stars. Would train again.

My 3 kids and I did the rafting and train tour. It was the best day of our entire vacation it was…read moreour first time to raft. Dillion did a amazing job. Can't wait to come back

My parents, brother, his wife and kids, and my husband and our family all drove cross country to…read moremeet in Colorado -- us from Southern California and them from east Texas. We spent a week together exploring Durango and the attractions here. One of our favorite experiences was white water rafting with Mountain Waters. The staff was super communicative and helpful. We booked a moderate run with class 1-3 rapids, since we had a big range of ages (my Dad is 77 and we had a party of 10 with ages ranging down to my 10-y-o son). They advised that this would be best for our family, and they were correct. I'd love to come back and do some class 3-4 rapids now that we have had some experience. Our guide Hannah was knowledgeable and very kind. We had a great experience with the team. No complaints at all. Highly recommend.

Amazing day with Meraki Mountain Adventures! We had the best time hiking in Horse Gulch with Colin…read more It's really lovely to have someone take care of a hike from start to finish - and that's exactly what Colin delivered! He brought the gear, snacks, lunch and a plan! He's incredibly knowledgeable about the outdoors and we loved learning from him about the area, plants and wildlife. We can't wait to go out with him again and try paddle boarding. (He might even convert us to try rock climbing). Can't say enough great things about Colin. As a family who are new to the area - we learned a ton and can't wait to send our friends and family out with Meraki also!

From the owner: Meraki Mountain Adventures is a family-friendly adventure guiding service in the greater Durango,…read moreColorado area. We offer day tours of 1.5 - 7 hours in length to individuals, couples, families, and groups up to 6 people in size. Activities include Rock Climbing, Town and Mountain Biking, Hiking, and Stand Up Paddleboarding. We love to customize our tours to fit your group's fitness levels and desires. Whether its your first or 51st time, we will strive to make it a great outing for all. Our lead guides are certified Wilderness First Responders, with years of experience in teaching and leading adventure activities.

Fantastic free flowing white water rafting experience in the upper Animas river! I was expecting a…read morelittle more class IV rapids than what we had, but the experience was epic! We paddled through sun, rain, and hail, all in one trip! Epic, I tell u!! Our guides, Marcus and Robby were the best! Super cool dudes who were super knowledgeable! They kept us safe and made the experience such a blast! Colorado had the lowest snowfall this past winter so the river was really low and rapids were on the slow side. Make sure to check river flow and CSF levels if u decide to book this adventure so that u're not surprised by the low flow. The river only clocked in at 620 cfs when we ran it, so we didn't have too many big rapids and drops, but it was a very technical run and such a blast to experience this ultimate and wild experience with my hubby!!

Our group had the time of our lives floating down the Animas riv with our elite guide Kaia, who was…read morein charge of the whole trip. Kaia was knowledgeable, organized, accommodating, and could have shepherded us down the route completely by herself if necessary. River guiding is clearly in her blood and the generations of river guides in her family must be proud. She is equal parts expert guide and fun banterer. If you're 8 or 80 or somewhere in between like us, you'll appreciate how Kaia gets down. No disrespect to any other river guides, but if Kaia doesn't win MVP of the week, they got to scrap this system and build back from the bottom up. On the other hand, there was one guide reportedly named ZB that was a complete vibe killer. If that guy wins, they also need to revamp this whole operation. Hope he enjoys a nice Dante's Inferno from Barber and the Bookcase and rethinks his approach to River guideship.

John is a great guide - he took me from beginner to advanced beginner in 4 hours by slowly…read moreincreasing the challenge and all the while exhibiting patience and a smile. And he is very pleasant and a great communicator. Let me also say that Durango is a mountain biker's paradise. I have had a few experiences riding before this trip but the fact that you can ride from the center of town right up to multitude of trails is amazing. Riding here would never get old. I highly recommend DMBT for anyone coming to the area to check it out!

John has been in sports and coaching for a long time and knows how to tune the experience for…read moreanyone. He's involved in a lot of local parts of Durango life and so the bike ride is more than just a bike ride -- you get lots of information on the history of the town and current events/interests. I only meant to start out with a 2-hour tour but enjoyed the challenge so much that we went for an extra hour and it was a great personalized tour. We did just over 17 miles and I plan to come back at some point, hopefully for snowboarding lessons too.

I booked this tour online to find something fun to do with my boyfriend while visiting Durango. It…read morewas my bf first time riding a snowmobiling. The drive up during a storm was also an adventure we were nervous about not making our time slot with the roads being bad. We were able to make it during our slot time and luckily still had time to get ready. I will note to leave a lot earlier during a storm. Once we arrived our guide made sure to provide us instructions and made sure we all had proper gear for riding. They also offered us some hot drinks before, half time and after our ride back at the trail head base camp. During breaks my boyfriend and I were able to take turns driving and enjoy the views. The back seat was very comfortable. Our guide took us on some loops in the area and we came back to camp to warm up and use the restroom during breaks. My boyfriend did go off the track by accident and our guide with a few other men helped get it out easily. We had a lot of fun with our guide who was very friendly and knowledgeable about the area. We did run into a few other groups on the trails which caused some bottlenecking. Our guide was able to coordinate to go around or let the other groups pass by us. I highly recommend going with ice pirates and also wish they had more merchandise to buy to remember our trip.

Great operation! Did a backcountry day tour with friends…read more All brand new equipment ! Great lunch ! Awesome guides! Tyler is the man and Adam joined us too for a bit and he was great too. They had us all in deep fresh powder all day and it hadn't snowed in over a month! Definitely want to go back again!

This. Is a cultural treasure. That. Must be protected. Many, many pictographs, &; petroglyphs …read more Have been destroyed Being scratched out or used for target practice. I've heard of people trying to take out the whole panel . For sale on the black market. Usually this ends in failure. They say some people don't know the difference between right & wrong. I think many people don't care anymore.

My son just spent 3 wks here as part of the summer High School Field School and he came back…read morebrimming with things to tell us that he'd learned and seen. I'd already assumed he was busy and content while there because even though he had his phone with him, I hardly heard from him in that time. His session was a good variety of about 17 kids, pretty evenly split between boys and girls, from all around the US. I believe they learned a lot from nice instructors/guides and had fun, too. From a parent point of view, I thought the communication from Crow Canyon was terrific- not incessant but informative, clear, and timely. We were hopeful that it would be a good experience for our son, and neither of us was disappointed in the least- we are so glad he went!

What a great tour historical and has some great ghost tours! I'd go again. Thank you!read more

What an outstanding way to learn the history of a city. The Cortez Ghost tour was fun, informative…read moreand filled with history / spooky tales of the city. This walking tour can be found by searching for things to do in Cortez. Our guide Helen, did a wonderful job keeping us all entertained. If you are looking for a group activity or something fun to do in the evening, this is a group walking tour that starts at 8PM and runs for 1.5 hours of light city hiking through the town of Cortez, check this out.

Was referred to the SJMG's by Claire Knutson of Ouray KOA…read more.. 2 other friends and I were greeted by Patrick for our first Via Ferrata. He helped us gear up, grant us a practice run, and was super knowledgeable about the terrain and history behind Via Ferrata. I was also reppin LEAGUE ONE VOLLEYBALL (LOVB), and this turned out to be one of the best adventures I have ever experienced. So much so, I ordered climbing gear and plan many more trips ahead! An emphatic thank you SJMG's for an unforgettable bucket list moment, and for fueling the inspiration to climb!

Guides are nice, but uninterested in doing their job. I paid for four hours and got two, because…read morethe early for some reason. No one really seemed to know what was going on or how long their clinics were supposed to last and things kept changing. So they stuck me in another clinic, but it wasn't a climbing clinic, which is what I had paid for and wanted. One of the guides could've belayed me, but chose instead to stand around and watch the other Guide give the lesson on anchors. I would not use this company again for anything.

Amazing ghost tour!! And let me tell you these two pictures did capture something pretty strange.read more

Joe Nelson was an excellent guide. Has lots of knowledge about Durango and lots of connections to…read morethe places he mentions on the tour! Great for tourists out of town!