Steam & Excursion > Cumbres and Toltec Question

Hello,
I am hoping to get some information about the Cumbres and Toltec. My wife and I, along with our 5 year daughter will be road tripping to Colorado in early June. We will be staying in Alamosa, and hoping to see the trains depart Antonito in the morning at 8:30 and 10 am. We would ride the train, but the all day trip would be a little long for my 5 year old. Then we are spending the afternoon at the Sand Dunes national park. Does anyone have any advice? I have never been to the area before.
Thanks,
Eric

It's too bad you're not going in July because there are short trips available out of Chama and the drive from Antonito
to Chama is worth the trip in itself. Other than that, you could ride Antonito to Osier and back but even that's all day.

Out

The only regular train departure out of Antonito is at 10 AM. Plenty of youngsters ride the all-day trips--usually they are all excited all morning, then nap on the return trip in the afternoon. Check the C&TS website for more information http://www.cumbrestoltec.com

Antonito is an approximately 30 minute drive from Alamosa. The Great Sand Dunes are 40 minutes the other way from Alamosa, so the kiddo is going to have plenty of seat time no matter what, if you plan to do Antonito and the Great Sand Dunes in one day. While temperatures in the San Luis Valley are not that hot in the summer (usually 40's at night to around the low 80's during the day), the high elevation makes the sun very intense. Dehydration, sunburn, and heat stroke can happen pretty quickly. The Sand Dunes can really accelerate that process. Kids, especially, need to be protected with sunscreen, as they often can sunburn more quickly than adults--often with as little as 15-20 minutes exposure to direct sunlight at high elevations. The C&TS trip from Antonito to Osier and back to Antonito is nice in that regard, because one is up in the mountains during the hottest part of the day. By the way, the entire San Luis Valley is at 7,500 elevation or higher, and much of the C&TS route is over 9,000 ft. elevation. Altitude sickness is fairly common among visiting "flatlanders" if they have not had a few days to acclimatize to the high elevation and/or they get dehydrated.

A couple of cautionary driving notes (from a guy who has driven that whole area for much of my life): The roads in the San Luis Valley are very prone to the "mirage" effect. The "mirage" can often conceal vehicles approaching from the opposite direction, a real peril if one is passing another vehicle on the two-lane roads. Over the years, the "mirage" has been a contributory factor in numerous head-on collisions, many fatal. Partly because of the mirage effect, the SLV is a very poor place to exceed the speed limit. The major highways in the SLV are also fairly heavily patrolled by the Colorado State Patrol, and several towns, Antonito being a noteworthy one, are well-known for having zero tolerance for speeding within their town limits. US285 through Antonito (speed limit 25 mph) is patrolled almost constantly by the Antonito Town Police, who will issue citations without hesitation to anyone violating the speed limit.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/17 14:37 by WW.

Many years ago we stayed in Alamosa at a motel that had an indoor pool and small waterpark.
The kid we saw were having a great time at the pool and waterpark.

The motels restaurant was really good and had a good selection of food.

We enjoyed our time in Alamosa.

Pat
South Austin, TX

Unfortunately, the C&TS has discontinued its "Kids Ride Free" promotion this year so they ride full fare. It was popular especially with families with two children who got to ride free with their parents. This year it will cost the parents an extra $100 for the children to ride.

As others have noted a lot of young kids enjoy the train ride. But if you can't ride then I would spend one night in Chama, explore the yard, and chase the train up the hill in the morning. From there you can head off to Sand Dunes. Here's a young man I met in the parlor car a year or two ago.

JBWX



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/17 20:29 by jbwest.

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I believe the 8:30 AM departure is the bus to Chama. 10 AM sounds right for the train departure.

There are also the trains that leave right from Alamosa on the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad, including the weekend concert trains:

https://www.coloradotrain.com/excursions/