Western Rails & Canyons with Canyon Spirit Rail Journey

Welcome to Colorado! At 6:00 p.m., meet your Tour Director and fellow travelers for a welcome drink. ENHANCED FREE TIME Explore more in Denver with a visit to the Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver Art Museum, or enjoy a walk through the mile-long pedestrian-friendly 16th Street Mall. Your Tour Director has suggestions for dinner and free time.

Mile-High City See Denver’s historic Union Station, Empower field at Mile High Stadium, and more on an orientation tour en route to Colorado Springs. Explore Garden of the Gods Park, featuring towering 300-foot sandstone rock formations against a backdrop of snow-capped Pikes Peak and brilliant blue skies. Take a thrilling ride on the Broadmoor Manitou & Pikes Peak Cog Railway, the highest cog railroad in the world. Travel up to the summit of 14,115-foot Pikes Peak, the place that inspired Katharine Lee Bates to write America the Beautiful. Tonight, enjoy a [LOCAL FAVORITE] cowboy-style barbecue dinner with western music under the stars at the historic Flying W Ranch (weather permitting). (B,D) LOCAL FAVORITE Savor the tastes of the old west with Rocky Mountain hospitality and live music at Flying W Ranch. Feel free to don your western garb and tap along to music to get you in the spirit at this working cattle ranch in the Colorado foothills!

Peak Perfection Travel along the Highway of Legends Scenic and Historic Byway, with views of the Sangre de Cristo Range, home to ten 14,000-foot peaks, and through meandering ranchlands to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Later, continue deeper into the Colorado wilderness passing through the San Juan National Forest to Durango. Tonight is free to explore Durango to visit the local restaurants, saloons, speakeasies, and more on historic Main Street. (B) TOUR HIGHLIGHT A sandbox of epic proportions, the entire dune field encompasses 30 square miles, with the tallest dune towering 750 feet high. With the highest dunes in North America, Great Sand Dunes National Park is a diverse landscape of grasslands, wetlands, forests, and soaring peaks. Enjoy free time to explore the dune field trails.

Rocky Mountain Highs This morning, board the [LOCAL FAVORITE] Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad for a scenic ride through San Juan National Forest. Enjoy leisure time in Silverton’s authentic western downtown. Return to Durango on the San Juan Skyway Scenic Byway for a free evening. (B) LOCAL FAVORITE The legendary Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train hugs steep canyon walls as it winds its way through Rio de las Animas Canyon to Silverton, a National Historic Landmark. Silverton, once a major mining town, owes its name to an early miner’s claim, “We have no gold, but silver by the ton!” Spend time visiting the breweries, boutiques, and saloons that dot the thriving Greene Street.