{"id":295,"date":"2011-08-06T23:32:48","date_gmt":"2011-08-07T03:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marksisco.com\/blog\/?p=295"},"modified":"2011-08-07T12:12:55","modified_gmt":"2011-08-07T16:12:55","slug":"all-aboard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marksisco.com\/?p=295","title":{"rendered":"All Aboard!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>July 25, 2011 began a unique experience.\u00a0 It was the launch of my first backpacking trip, following many months of planning and preparation.\u00a0 Destination:\u00a0 The Chicago Basin in the San Juan Mountains between Durango and Silverton, CO.\u00a0 5 Days and 4 nights communing with nature.\u00a0 There would be no cell phone access, no computers, no Starbucks, and no way to stay in touch with Kathy and the girls.\u00a0 But on the other hand, there would be lots of fresh air, plenty of God&#8217;s splendor and beauty, good workouts hiking at 10,000ft.+ with a 50 lb. backpack, and most of all, a brand new adventure in all respects!<\/p>\n<p>The backpacking expedition began early on Monday morning with a ride on the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge train.\u00a0 First we had a hearty breakfast at the Durango Denny&#8217;s, then I successfully managed the logistics of dropping off Betsy and Jerry with our gear at the station, driving the car to the Hampton for the week&#8217;s stay, and catching Durango&#8217;s trolley back to the train station.\u00a0\u00a0 Oh, BTW I had an adrenaline rush when I realized at breakfast I had misplaced my train ticket.\u00a0 Luckily it was at the hotel on the nightstand &#8230; right where I left it.<\/p>\n<p>The train departed at 9:15am sharp for Silverton, but a little more than two hours into the trip it would drop us and about 50 other backpackers off at Needle Creek (that is to say, in the middle of nowhere!).\u00a0 The train ride was really cool.\u00a0 This was a train and railroad from &#8220;back in the day,&#8221; fueled by coal and steam!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_296\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-296\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-296\" title=\"SanJuans_003\" src=\"http:\/\/marksisco.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_003-700x466.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"466\" srcset=\"https:\/\/marksisco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_003-700x466.jpg 700w, https:\/\/marksisco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_003-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/marksisco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_003.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-296\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Durango &amp; Silverton Narrow Gauge RR, Engine #481<\/p><\/div>\n<p>My good friends Jerry McCart and Besty Cagle from the Atlanta area were not only instrumental in helping pull this trip together, but were also to be my trail and camp buddies for the next week.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_297\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-297\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-297\" title=\"SanJuans_012\" src=\"http:\/\/marksisco.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_012-700x466.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"466\" srcset=\"https:\/\/marksisco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_012-700x466.jpg 700w, https:\/\/marksisco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_012-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/marksisco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_012.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-297\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jerry and Betsy before boarding the train in Durango<\/p><\/div>\n<p>We were also accompanied by Lance, Kara, Louisa, and Paul.\u00a0 Louisa and Paul are wonderful friends from Vermont that I met on last year&#8217;s Yellowstone trip, and they brought along their good friends Lance and Kara.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_298\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-298\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-298\" title=\"SanJuans_013\" src=\"http:\/\/marksisco.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_013-700x466.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"466\" srcset=\"https:\/\/marksisco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_013-700x466.jpg 700w, https:\/\/marksisco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_013-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/marksisco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_013.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-298\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">L to R:  Lance &amp; Kara Parker, Paul &amp; Louisa Larson, Jerry McCart &amp; Betsy Cagle<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_299\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-299\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-299\" title=\"SanJuans_024\" src=\"http:\/\/marksisco.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_024-700x466.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"466\" srcset=\"https:\/\/marksisco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_024-700x466.jpg 700w, https:\/\/marksisco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_024-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/marksisco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_024.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-299\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Car 22, Durango &amp; Silverton Narrow Gauge RR<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_300\" style=\"width: 476px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-300\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-300\" title=\"SanJuans_026-2\" src=\"http:\/\/marksisco.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_026-2-466x700.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"466\" height=\"700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/marksisco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_026-2-466x700.jpg 466w, https:\/\/marksisco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_026-2-682x1024.jpg 682w, https:\/\/marksisco.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/SanJuans_026-2.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-300\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Yours Truly on the Train<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been wanting to resume my blog for quite sometime, but I haven&#8217;t been able to find time or make it a priority.\u00a0 This trip is my catalyst!\u00a0\u00a0 It was a fantastic experience, so stay tuned for more info and images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>July 25, 2011 began a unique experience.\u00a0 It was the launch of my first backpacking trip, following many months of planning and preparation.\u00a0 Destination:\u00a0 The Chicago Basin in the San Juan Mountains between Durango and Silverton, CO.\u00a0 5 Days and 4 nights communing with nature.\u00a0 There would be no cell phone access, no computers, no [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,14,5,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksisco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksisco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksisco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksisco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksisco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=295"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/marksisco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":302,"href":"https:\/\/marksisco.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295\/revisions\/302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksisco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksisco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksisco.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}