La Veta? (Denver, Pueblo, Boulder: employment, living in, shop)

[martyg]

I've been looking at vacant property of around 35 acres around La Veta. A place to eventually build a small place and reitre to. Employment is not a concern. I'm aware that shopping and medical are for the most part in Pueblo or Trinidad, somewhat of a ride, esp. in the winter. I'm also aware of a hospital on Rt 160 close to Walsenburg, and a small medical office in La Veta. I'm aware that La Veta itself is quite a small town with not much in the way of services, a few small resturants (not bad food by the way), a few gas stations, the golf course, a small grocery store, etc.

So for those of you currently living in / around La Veta, or those of you who have lived in / around La Veta in the past, what do you think of life there? The winters? The wind? The environment? Th weather? The fishing? etc. etc.

Any input welcome.

Thanks
Marty

[McGowdog]

Beautiful area. They get absolutely pounded by snow.

That medical center on the west end of Walsenburg is the best thing that town has ever seen since mining.

I'd think of La Veta as a place to spend spring, summer and fall. You can be a snow bird and migrate to Texas for a few months out of the year. Either that or get you a real nice vehicle;

[rockspoo]

Or La Veta loca, if you rather. All sorts of fun puns. I know it's been a while since you posted, but maybe you're still looking for opinions about La Veta. I've lived in La Veta only since October, but hopefully my input will still be useful to you. We do seem to get a fair amount of snow, but it really hasn't been consistent or persistent. We'll get a storm that dumps 10 inches, then a few days later it warms up to 40 or 50 and all the snow the sun hits melts. From what I've been told, this has been a pretty typical winter. There have been glaciers building up on the north sides of buildings in town, but they're generally isolated drifts of maybe 6 inches to 2 feet, depending on how protected they are from the wind. Rural areas seem to be stripped of snow more quickly. It seems that some snow just sublimates in the dry wind. The wind also helps dry out the roads after a melt; important since only 3 streets here in town are paved, and the only paved rural roads are the highways (160 and 12). Overall, the mud is more of annoyance to me than the snow, but that is probably mostly a personal preference. The wind can get tiresome, especially if you're out of town and unprotected. Some of the ranchettes in the area get a bit of protection from the topography, but most of the rural areas are pretty well beaten. I've heard the wind slows down in the summer, but I haven't yet experienced a summer here.
Wildlife is pretty close - we have a town herd of deer in the winter and bears in the spring and fall. I've also seen fox and coyote in my back yard. Small outside pets are not recommended in some rural areas because of the mountain lions. I also saw a bobcat not far outside of Cuchara.
I moved here from the Boulder/Denver area and am really enjoying small town life again. I grew up in a very rural area in Wisconsin so the inconvenience of driving an hour to get to Target or a decent grocery store doesn't bother me too much. Many people do drive to Pueblo or Trinidad, but Alamosa is a little closer if the La Veta pass is clear. There's a Walmart there and the Safeway has pretty good selection.
I don't fish, but there's some great hiking nearby in the Spanish Peaks and skiing at Wolf Creek is about 1.5 hours drive.
Hope this helps.

[jazzlover]

Better make sure you can get water on your parcel, probably a well. I will also make my standard "pitch" that living out in the tules on a 35 acre parcel may just suck when fuel hits $4-$6 per gallon or more. No one seems to want to take that into account, but the novelty of living in an isolated area wears off real fast if you can only get to town to shop once or twice a month.

As a little town, I really like La Veta a lot, but the only way I would live there is if I were right in town. At least there is a small grocery store in town. I have a friend who lives over the hill in the Forbes Ranch mess. He loved it when he first moved there, but now is getting really sick of having to drive to Alamosa for just about anything, and to Pueblo for anything much more than a basic necessity. Not to mention having to hire a front loader several times this winter to plow his driveway. Oh, and propane WAY over $3.00/gallon.