{"id":71276,"date":"2016-11-28T00:42:20","date_gmt":"2016-11-28T07:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/first-timers-ride-durango-silverton-train-to-cut-fresh-christmas-trees\/"},"modified":"2016-11-28T07:42:20","modified_gmt":"2016-11-28T07:42:20","slug":"first-timers-ride-durango-silverton-train-to-cut-fresh-christmas-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/first-timers-ride-durango-silverton-train-to-cut-fresh-christmas-trees\/","title":{"rendered":"First-timers ride Durango &amp; Silverton train to cut fresh Christmas trees"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SxVZmue54Tw\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>On Saturday, she got her wish as the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.durangotrain.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Durango &amp; Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad\u2019s<\/a> second annual Christmas tree train expedition carried passengers to Cascade Canyon to harvest their own trees for the holidays.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve just always had fake ones, but this might be a new tradition,\u201d said Savannah\u2019s mother, Jackie Chavez, of Durango.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd I think we scored,\u201d added Jeremiah Chavez, Savannah\u2019s father, as he held a freshly felled white fir upright on the train tracks.<\/p>\n<p>For the second year, the D&amp;SNGR partnered with the <a href=\"http:\/\/sjma.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Juan Mountains Association<\/a> to give tourists and locals a bit more of an immersive experience in selecting their Christmas trees, as well as clear hazardous fuel from the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fs.usda.gov\/sanjuan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">San Juan National Forest<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>San Juan Mountains Association reported 34 permits sold so far, which are purchased for $8 in addition to train fare.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe try to stick to around 30 permits each day, for logistical reasons and also to keep this excursion sustainable,\u201d said Luke Prince of D&amp;SNGR.<\/p>\n<p>The first Christmas tree train of the season \u2013 there will be five additional trips on Sunday and on the next two weekends \u2013 was close to capacity just before 10 a.m. Saturday as it left the station.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Polar Express\u201d wound through and above rock gorges overlooking a low-flowing Animas River, rolling to a halt in a heavily wooded alpine grove with sparse patches of snow.<\/p>\n<p>Passengers disembarked, handsaws were passed around and quickly the brisk post-Thanksgiving air was filled with shouts of \u201ctimber!\u201d as trees toppled.<\/p>\n<p>The Welches drove nine hours from Hobbs, New Mexico, to make this year\u2019s Christmas tree a family event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mom heard about this through Facebook and thought it would be a fun family outing,\u201d said Brandon Welch as he sawed through the base of a healthy fir. He and his brothers, Justin and Tyler \u2013 triplets \u2013 traveled to Durango with their parents, James and Misti.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is our first time doing anything like this, and our first time in Colorado,\u201d Welch said. \u201cI love it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kate Lucas of Denver said she heard through the grapevine about the Christmas tree train and decided to buy tickets for herself and her boyfriend, Laird Horigan, as a late birthday present to him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe likes trains and Christmas, so it was a good gift,\u201d Lucas said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast year\u2019s tree was a bust,\u201d said Holigan, explaining that picking out a pre-cut tree lacks the ambiance of journeying into the forest to cut one\u2019s own. \u201cThis was a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While tree-cutters sucked on candy canes and sipped hot cocoa, U.S. Forest Service officials loaded piles of pungent green boughs into the front boxcar.<\/p>\n<p>Matt Janowiak, ranger for the Columbine Ranger District, said the ritual began after the train\u2019s owners asked if a trip into the San Juans to cut Christmas trees was a feasible endeavor. The Forest Service took a crew car up the tracks and found a thick population of white firs fitting for holiday trees. Furthermore, thinning the understory would reduce wildfire risk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy parents did this the first year,\u201d Katherine Kelly said. \u201cThis year, I came up from Flagstaff (Arizona) where I go to school. I guess we\u2019re making it a family tradition. I grew up in the San Juan Mountains, in Dolores, and this is a great way to help out the Forest Service.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And, other passengers said, for the experience and benefits to the national forest, the cost is a good value.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a service to the train, and I\u2019ve seen trees at City Market for $84. You can get a fresh one for $8,\u201d said Katherine Reynolds, a volunteer for the railroad. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of special to get a fresh-cut tree.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Permits are on sale at San Juan National Forest offices.<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"mailto:jpace@durangoherald.com\">jpace@durangoherald.com<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-scoreboard\">\n<h4 class=\"scoreboard-title\">Christmas tree permits for sale<\/h4>\n<p>Christmas tree permits, which allow you to cut one tree up to 20 feet tall for personal use until Dec. 31, are on sale for $8 at San Juan National Forest offices and selected retail outlets in southwestern Colorado.<br>\n                Permits come with a brochure with safety tips, information on which species of tree to harvest, and the best places to find trees. The Forest Service offers one free permit to fourth-grade students who hold a valid Every Kid in a Park pass or paper voucher downloaded from: www. EveryKidinaPark.gov. The free permit is good only at agency offices, and the participating fourth-grader must be present.<br>\n                National Forest permits are on sale at the following sites.<br>\n                Dolores<br>\n                Dolores Ranger District, 29211 Colorado Highway 184 (8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.<br>\n                Dolores Food Market, 400 Railroad Ave.<br>\n                Mancos<br>\n                Cox Conoco, 201 E. Railroad Ave.<br>\n                Lewis<br>\n                Cox Corner Store, 18794 U.S. Highway 491<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saturday, she got her wish as the Durango &amp; Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad\u2019s second annual Christmas tree train expedition carried passengers to Cascade Canyon to harvest their own trees for the holidays. \u201cWe\u2019ve just always had fake ones, but this might be a new tradition,\u201d said Savannah\u2019s mother, Jackie Chavez, of Durango. \u201cAnd I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[170,13,445,316],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-71276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango-and-silverton-narrow-gauge-railroad-co","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-newsletter-lead","tag-video"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71276"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=71276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}