San Luis Valley (Denver, Alamosa, Gunnison: house, buy, living in)

[clsblucky]

What is San Luis Valley like?

[MorningGlory]

very, very remote, high altitude, personally I find it rather depressing to even drive through. Very small town, good-ole-boy type of place. I guess it depends what you like in a place though! :-)

[Nadine]

The San Luis Valley includes Alamosa, Monte Vista and several very small towns. The elevation varys from around 7,000 to as low as 4,000 at the San Luis Lake. It includes much more than the run down look along the hiway. Farming communities, and really some interest things and some beautiful places. Sand Dunes, Hot Springs etc. Yes it has high dry prarie type too. Don't judge by just driving thro. As to the town of San Luis--Google it. Or try this San Luis, Costilla County, Colorado

[jazzlover]

I posted elsewhere that, for many, the San Luis Valley is an acquired taste. Many of the our modern suburbanite population find it an uncomfortable place. Not surprising, they are the same people that I rant about not being able to understand what Colorado was like before all the money, sprawl, growth, and greed showed up.

The San Luis Valley is one of Colorado's last large agricultural areas. It is one of the nation's largest potato producing areas, and also produces a lot of barley and hay. If you drink beer brewed in Colorado (either Coors or Bud), chances are good the barley it was brewed from was grown in the San Luis Valley. It is one area of the state that the Front Range has not successfully stolen the agricultural irrigation water for municipal (read: lawn irrigation) use, though they sure would like to.

The agricultural output of the Valley is amazing, since it sits at around 7,500+ elevation and has a relative short growing season. It averages generally less than 8 inches of precipitation per year and is totally reliant on irrigation. Winters can be very cold, but with relatively little snow on the valley floor. -40 F. is not an unusual low winter's night temperature. The valley is also cool in the summer with few days topping 90 degrees.

The Valley has a large Hispanic population, most of which can trace their heritage there back several generations. The oldest settlements and the oldest continuously operating church in Colorado are in the Valley. There are some great local restaurants where one can find authentic southern Colorado/northern New Mexico "New Mexican" food.

There are many neat things to see in the Valley--the Great Sand Dunes, an alligator farm (really!), the Stations of the Cross sculptures in San Luis (an absolute must-not-miss, regardless of one's religous persuasion), the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad and the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad (both not to be missed), just to name a few.

The San Luis Valley is admittedly one of the most impoverished areas of Colorado, but it also is home to some of the nicest people that I have ever met, and it has an atmosphere that is pretty much unique in Colorado.

[sunsprit]

depending upon where you buy land in the San Luis Valley, you may have problems getting a well to produce.

we've got friends who bought 60 acres on a ranch that's been split up and they've drilled 6 dry holes ... one went over 800' down and was dry.

They didn't think ahead about that possible problem and built their house before ever having a water supply on their property. Their neighbors with water cannot share any with them ....

[mhouse2001]

Originally Posted by Nadine

The San Luis Valley includes Alamosa, Monte Vista and several very small towns. The elevation varys from around 7,000 to as low as 4,000 at the San Luis Lake. It includes much more than the run down look along the hiway. Farming communities, and really some interest things and some beautiful places. Sand Dunes, Hot Springs etc. Yes it has high dry prarie type too. Don't judge by just driving thro. As to the town of San Luis--Google it. Or try this San Luis, Costilla County, Colorado

I have to interject that the elevation of San Luis Lake is 7519' and most of San Luis Valley (if not all) is above 7000'. Winter temperatures of -50 have been recorded there. While the weather is quite nice most of the time, it is very cold compared to the rest of the country. Many July mornings are in the 30s and Alamosa has been known to set the national record low temperatures many times in the winter. The area is indeed beautiful but this is somewhat reduced by the sheer size of the valley itself. The views of the mountains are outstanding but the distance to them can be rather daunting if you want to get out of dodge, so to speak. Very low precipitation and few trees are evident. The valley floor is basically naked of tall vegetation as the temperatures are too extreme. The people are nice and it is a rural, agricultural area. It requires a hardy type of person to live there.

[Nadine]

Originally Posted by mhouse2001

I have to interject that the elevation of San Luis Lake is 7519' and most of San Luis Valley (if not all) is above 7000'. Winter temperatures of -50 have been recorded there. While the weather is quite nice most of the time, it is very cold compared to the rest of the country. Many July mornings are in the 30s and Alamosa has been known to set the national record low temperatures many times in the winter. The area is indeed beautiful but this is somewhat reduced by the sheer size of the valley itself. The views of the mountains are outstanding but the distance to them can be rather daunting if you want to get out of dodge, so to speak. Very low precipitation and few trees are evident. The valley floor is basically naked of tall vegetation as the temperatures are too extreme. The people are nice and it is a rural, agricultural area. It requires a hardy type of person to live there.

I stand corrected. I misinterpreted my sources. Surrounding and lake.
Water resources of the San Luis Valley
The San Luis Valley is a true desert, receiving less than 20 cm (8 inches) of precipitation per year. The Rio Grande drains the southern part of the valley through a gorge in volcanic rocks along the Colorado-New Mexico border. In vicinity of Great Sand Dunes, however, the San Luis Valley is a closed depression with no surface outlet for drainage. Surface runoff from the Sangre de Cristos soaks into alluvial fans, and ground water migrates toward the low point at San Luis Lake (< 2300 m altitude). Abundant ground water gives rise to many ephemeral lakes, wetlands, springs and flowing wells, and supports considerable irrigation. Grains, pototaoes, and hay are largely the crops grown in abundance.

[Nadine]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

depending upon where you buy land in the San Luis Valley, you may have problems getting a well to produce.

we've got friends who bought 60 acres on a ranch that's been split up and they've drilled 6 dry holes ... one went over 800' down and was dry.

They didn't think ahead about that possible problem and built their house before ever having a water supply on their property. Their neighbors with water cannot share any with them ....

Funny you should say that at this time. Just yesterday a friend that recently moved from a more humid state and have not quit grasped our water situation, remarked on how they were going to have to build a cistern and haul water. They bought land on a ranch that is being subdivided. They could not understand why the ranch house and the hay fields got water from wells and they could not find water. It is because the old pioneers that settled looked for water first, then built, not the other way around.

[nunusguy]

Originally Posted by Nadine

They bought land on a ranch that is being subdivided. They could not understand why the ranch house and the hay fields got water from wells and they could not find water. It is because the old pioneers that settled looked for water first, then built, not the other way around.

City slickers are pretty dang helpless aren't they ?
Anyway, while living in Denver and in several visits to Colorado since leaving the state, I've traveled thru that area and like it very much. Of course when it comes to my sentiments about Colorado, I'm pretty indiscriminate. I like all areas very much, just some even more than others.
But didn't know that the winters were that extreme ? Sounds like they might get as cold as the Gunnison area ?

[jazzlover]

I know Coloradans get tired of me posting about the water situation, but those wanting to move to rural Colorado from "wetter" states absolutely HAVE to understand that Colorado is an arid state, and that you just can't go out and USE water that you don't have a right to use. They also must understand why those of us who have lived all of our lives in the arid Rocky Mountain Region get pretty doggoned passionate about what happens to the state's water resources.

As to nunusguy's comment about the San Luis Valley getting as cold as Gunnison, that's not too far off. I lived in Gunnison several years and experienced that -50 F. stuff pretty often. My "gut" opinion is that the San Luis Valley ambient temperatures don't get quite as cold most of the time, but--because the Valley is much larger--the wind can blow a little bit in winter, which takes the chill factor down there. If you don't like cold, neither place is for you.

I always like the people who say, "Well, I'll just live in Gunnison in summer and avoid the cold." What they don't know is that many of the days the Gunnison has the nation's low temperature ARE DURING THE SUMMER. When you have to scrape the frost off of your car in JULY, you get it . . .