Durango to Chama: 125 miles of mesa country, old ruins, and locomotives that refuse to quit

Two trains bookend this route

A 125-mile road connects Durango, Colorado, to Chama, New Mexico, and it follows the bed of an old narrow-gauge railroad through mountain and mesa country.

You cross the state line, pass through two Native American nations, and drive alongside canyons where steam trains still run on tracks laid in the 1880s. Colorado named it a scenic byway in 2015.

A historic steam train waits at each end of the drive, and between them, you’ll find thousand-year-old ruins, river gorges and wildlife you can spot from your car window.

Centuries of footprints came before the railroad

The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad once connected Durango and Chama until the late 1960s, but the land carried traffic long before that.

Wildlife trails, Native American footpaths and old wagon routes all crossed this stretch of the Southwest. Spanish missionaries passed through in the 1600s.

When the rails arrived in the 1880s, they opened the region to settlers. The byway’s name honors all those “tracks,” and you drive over every one of them.

Ride a steam train along the Animas River gorge

The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad has run since the 1880s, and it holds National Historic Landmark status as one of the most popular heritage railroads in the country.

You climb deep into the San Juan Mountains alongside the rushing Animas River, and the most famous stretch is the High Line, where the track clings to a ledge carved high above the gorge.

The river roars below you, and the canyon walls close in tight on both sides.

Walk Main Avenue in a town built by miners

Durango’s downtown is a National Historic District, and the buildings along Main Avenue date to the late 1800s.

Miners and railroad workers built this town, and you can still see the bones of that era in the restored storefronts, galleries and shops that line the street.

The train depot sits right in the middle of it all, smoke rising and the whistle cutting through the air. You can walk the whole stretch on foot, and it puts you at the northern end of the byway before you head south.

Meet Colorado’s longest continuous residents in Ignacio

The byway passes through the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, and in Ignacio, you’ll find the Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum.

The building opened in 2011, covers 52,000 square feet, and the same architecture firm behind a Smithsonian museum designed it.

Inside, the exhibits tell the story of the Southern Ute people, Colorado’s longest continuous residents. You walk through their history on your own terms, and the scale of the place tells you how much there is to learn.

Twin rock spires mark a thousand-year-old settlement

A short detour off the byway brings you to Chimney Rock National Monument, where Ancestral Puebloans lived about a thousand years ago.

The site sits inside the San Juan National Forest, and two rock pinnacles rise above the trees and give the place its name. More than 200 ancient homes and ceremonial buildings are spread across the mesa below those spires.

You stand on ground where people farmed, built and gathered for centuries before any European set foot in the region.

Hike to a Great House perched on the mesa’s edge

The Mesa Village Trail takes you past a Great Kiva and pit houses at Chimney Rock, and a steeper path leads up to the Great House Pueblo on top of the mesa.

From there, the twin pinnacles line up with the sun and moon at key astronomical moments throughout the year. The site holds deep spiritual meaning for many Native tribes today.

Guided walks help you picture daily life as it played out here a millennium ago, and the views reach far into the valley.

Stop in Dulce, heart of the Jicarilla Apache Nation

The byway crosses into New Mexico near Dulce, the center of the Jicarilla Apache Nation.

The name “Jicarilla” means “little basket maker,” and the people here carry on traditions of beadwork, basketry and micaceous clay pottery.

A local arts center shows and sells its work, so you can see the craft up close and take something home.

The town sits quietly in the hills, and it gives you a feel for a culture that has shaped this part of New Mexico for generations.

Deer, elk and eagles line the Navajo River canyon

Tall pines and rock outcrops frame the Navajo River canyon as you drive south.

Mesas, meadows and high desert open up around you, and the road feels remote in a way that most highways never do.

Deer, elk, antelope, fox and eagles all show up along this stretch, sometimes right at the edge of the pavement. The sky spreads wide overhead with nothing to block it.

You slow down here because there is no reason not to.

Board the longest narrow-gauge steam railroad in America

The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad launches from Chama, New Mexico, and it holds the title of the longest and highest narrow-gauge steam railroad in the country.

The original tracks went down in 1880, and the train now carries a National Historic Landmark designation. Over 64 miles of track, you cross the Colorado-New Mexico state line 11 times.

The route weaves between the two states so often you lose count, and the coal smoke drifts behind you the whole way.

The train nearly meets itself at Tanglefoot Curve

The Cumbres and Toltec climbs to Cumbres Pass at 10,015 feet, the highest railroad pass in the country. Below you, Toltec Gorge drops hundreds of feet beneath a narrow ledge of track.

At Tanglefoot Curve, the line loops so tightly that the front of the train almost meets the back. You cross high trestles, including the 137-foot Cascade Creek Trestle, and pass through two tunnels cut into the rock.

A midway lunch stop waits at the old townsite of Osier.

Drive slow and let two states unfold around you

The byway ties together two of the Southwest’s great steam railroads, and you can ride one, drive the route, then ride the other.

Along the way, you pass through Native nations, walk among ancient ruins and stop in Old West towns that still look the part. Mountain scenery shifts into high desert and back again.

This is not a road you rush.

Give it time, pull over often, and let the miles between Durango and Chama add up at their own pace.

Drive the Tracks Across Borders Scenic Byway in Colorado and New Mexico

You pick up the byway in Durango, Colorado, and follow it about 125 miles south to Chama, New Mexico.

The drive takes roughly four to five hours without stops, so plan a full day or more if you want to see anything along the way.

Late spring through fall gives you the best weather and the most open attractions, and fall brings golden aspens with thinner crowds.

Services run thin between Arboles, Colorado, and Dulce, New Mexico, so fuel up and pack water. Both steam trains and Chimney Rock operate on seasonal schedules, so check ahead before you go.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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