San Luis Valley
Saguache County
21 Porch Notes tied to Saguache County — the local details that change from one part of Colorado to the next.
Home and property (1)
Water and land (3)
Water and land
In Saguache County, many farm wells belong to a groundwater subdistrict
Most non-exempt wells in the San Luis Valley part of Saguache County must either operate under an augmentation plan or belong to a water management subdistrict that remedies the harm their pumping causes to streams and the aquifer.
Read note ->Water and land
The whole La Garita country was shaped by one enormous eruption
The pale spires of Wheeler, the climbing walls of Penitente Canyon, and the rock under much of western Saguache County all come from a single volcanic eruption about 27.8 million years ago, one of the largest known on Earth.
Read note ->Water and land
What a house well in Saguache County actually covers
A small household well permit in the San Luis Valley spells out exactly what it covers, so a quick read tells you what water you can count on for a property.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire (8)
Outdoors and wildfire
Baca National Wildlife Refuge: quiet wetlands and wildlife below the Sangres
The Baca National Wildlife Refuge sits below the Sangre de Cristo range near Crestone, a quiet spot for wildlife watching where access follows refuge rules worth checking before you go.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Gunnison sage-grouse live near Poncha Pass and need their space in spring
A small population of the threatened Gunnison sage-grouse lives in the Poncha Pass area at the north end of Saguache County, where their spring breeding grounds are sensitive to disturbance.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
La Garita Wilderness and the Wheeler Geologic Area are hard to reach on purpose
The La Garita Wilderness in the Rio Grande National Forest holds the volcanic spires of the Wheeler Geologic Area, which you reach only by a long hike or a rough four-wheel-drive road.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Penitente Canyon is a BLM rock-climbing and trail area west of La Garita
Penitente Canyon, west of La Garita in Saguache County, is a Bureau of Land Management recreation area known for sport climbing, singletrack trails, and a small reservable campground.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
San Luis Lakes is a State Wildlife Area, not a state park
San Luis Lakes, on the valley floor in neighboring Alamosa County, is now a Colorado Parks and Wildlife State Wildlife Area, where most visitors age 16 and older need a hunting or fishing license or an SWA pass to enter.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Sandhill cranes pass through the valley, with Russell Lakes a Saguache County stop
Each spring and fall, thousands of sandhill cranes stop in the San Luis Valley, and Russell Lakes State Wildlife Area in Saguache County is one of the places to watch them.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
The Crestone Group: a wall of serious 14ers above town
A tight cluster of fourteeners rises straight off the valley floor above Crestone, free to admire from town and a real objective for prepared climbers.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
The Saguache Creek public land near Moffat is only open part of the year
The Saguache Creek state trust land near Moffat is leased to Colorado Parks and Wildlife for seasonal public access, so it is open only part of the year and needs a hunting or fishing license.
Read note ->Cars and driving (3)
Cars and driving
Big-sky driving in the San Luis Valley: plan around spring wind and dust
The open highways across Saguache County give you miles of wide valley and mountain views. On gusty spring days, wind can kick up blowing dust that drops visibility, so it is worth knowing the simple state guidance: slow down and pull off if you can't see.
Read note ->Cars and driving
Cochetopa Pass: the old 'Pass of the Buffalo' over the Divide
Northwest of Saguache, a quiet gravel backway carries the old Ute 'Pass of the Buffalo' over the Continental Divide, while paved Highway 114 takes the easy modern route alongside it.
Read note ->Cars and driving
Medano Pass Primitive Road is a sandy 4WD route on the Saguache edge of the Sand Dunes
The Medano Pass Primitive Road crosses deep sand and Medano Creek several times on the Saguache County side of Great Sand Dunes, and it needs a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle.
Read note ->Local rules (1)
History and culture (5)
History and culture
Bonanza was a silver boomtown that became a tiny mountain village
North of Villa Grove, the silver camp of Bonanza grew after ore was found around 1880 and later shrank to a handful of residents, and a cleanup project still manages old mine waste there.
Read note ->History and culture
Penitente Canyon carries a name from valley religious history
The BLM-managed Penitente Canyon near La Garita is named for a Hispano Catholic brotherhood, and the surrounding area holds Indigenous rock art best treated with care.
Read note ->History and culture
Saguache wears its 1874 main street and two museums on one slow walk
The county seat carries a Ute name, a 4th Street commercial core that grew from the town's 1874 founding, and two museums you can walk between in an afternoon.
Read note ->History and culture
The Baca Land Grant No. 4 is older than the county around it
Much of the land around Crestone traces back to a 19th-century land grant to the Baca family, a history now listed on the National Register as a Rural Historic Landscape.
Read note ->History and culture
Why Crestone became a center for retreat and spiritual communities
Starting in the 1980s, a foundation gave land near Crestone to many religious groups, and the area now holds a wide range of retreat centers, monasteries, and temples.
Read note ->