<– Day 45 – Tue. May 26th: South Park | TRIP OVERVIEW | Day 47 – Thu. May 28th: Back to the Springs –>

Today my only objective was to ride the Georgetown Loop train and explore the Lebanon Mine in Colorado.

Today I completed a short drive to Georgetown, where I boarded a train for the Lebanon Mine.

It wasn’t altogether clear to me at first, but after I boarded the train I learned that the Georgetown Loop train didn’t run in a loop. Instead, it runs between Silver Plume, the western terminus of the ride, and the Devil’s Gate Station, the eastern terminus. Essentially, it runs up the canyon and then back down. Technically, there is a loop, as the train does cross under its own track, but to me that distinction wasn’t clear in the name.

Silver Plume station

The ‘crowd’ waiting to board.

I boarded the train at Silver Plume and we headed south for a couple miles. At that point we disembarked for a guided tour of the Lebanon Tunnel. Our guide was a friendly young lady who was more interested in being funny than providing interesting information. But, I was after more technical information than the average visitor. Near the end of the tour, I ended up answering some participant questions and explaining that smelting lead was an important financial component of the silver-lead mining and smelting process.

After our half hour tour, we boarded the train for a trip down to the Devil’s Gate station, before heading back up the mountain to the Silver Plume Station. I was surprised we never reached Georgetown. If you’ve never ridden the train, or want to share the experience with your kids, you’ll probably enjoy this ride and the mine tour. However, I would have preferred to skip the train and get a more thorough mine experience.

On thursday we have nothing planned, except to drive to Colorado Springs, where we will stay a few days.

<– Day 45 – Tue. May 26th: South Park | TRIP OVERVIEW | Day 47 – Thu. May 28th: Back to the Springs –>