We
enjoyed wandering around Pueblo (click here to see -
The most boring city in Colorado... Really?), but had many miles and
hours ahead of us before we could call it a day and stay the night in Las
Vegas, NM. So we turned back onto I-25 and
headed into the sun...
But... you
probably know that we can't go straight anywhere, especially if the side
road promises something interesting... It's simply impossible to drive
without making a turn and looking for
some adventure (by the way, actually no adventures happened
that day
:) ). So, we drove past Walsenburg and turned right... Awaiting us was
Colorado Highway 12 -
the Highway of Legend, a windy and pleasant road that runs along the
Cuchara river and
between rock cliffs.
Soon we
made our first stop in the town of La Veta. A small town where only about 800
people live all year round.
Col. John M. Francisco, the sutler at
Fort Garland, and his business partner, Henry Daigre, purchased 48,000
acres of land in Cuchara Valley in 1862. The land was part of the Vigil
land grant. They established a settlement for farmers and ranchers, with
Francisco Fort as the commercial center. The 100-foot-square building
was constructed with 2-foot thick adobe walls, interior rooms that
opened up to a central plaza. It was built with a flat roof with gun
ports along the parapets. In 1863, the fort was attacked by a bank of
Ute people. Men got on the roof to defend the fort, and a volunteer rode
to Fort Lyon. The Utes retreated, though, before the troops arrived.
In
1871, the settlement was named Spanish Peak and a post office was
established. New settlers came to the area with the arrival of the
Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. The narrow gauge railroad, which
crossed La Veta Pass, was the highest U.S. railroad pass at the time. A
depot was built one block north of the fort and the town was platted by
the railroad in 1876. The fort is now operated by the Huerfano
Historical Society. A post office called La Veta has been in operation
since 1876. The community was named for a mineral deposit near the
original town site, La Veta meaning "mineral vein" in Spanish.
Hmm... all of the above is what WiKi says about this place. And... what else to say? A beautiful mountain town, a good start for a fishing trip or hiking trails... A place
where aliens stopped for coffee and left a really bad poem on
the wall of the coffee shop...
The road was windy but easy to drive. It runs along the Cuchara river, squeezing through the gaps
in the rock wall and passing some bodies of water...
Finally we reached Stonewall, another small town,
settled in a big gap in the Dakota Formation Sandstone wall.
First settlers
came here in the 1860s from New Mexico territories. A few families started
farming in the valley, laying at elevation 8000 feet. Today, in the 2000s, the
humans are outnumbered about 100 to 1 by the elk, with the elk also
holding the vast majority of the countryside. Unfortunately we didn't
see any elk... maybe needed to come back again later?
We
just stopped at the visitor center, enjoyed fresh crisp air and moved further to Trinidad. We made only one quick stop later to loot at the Coke Ovens. By the way, coke from
those ovens was used for making steel in Colorado Fuel and Steel Mill in
Pueblo!
To be continued...
The pictures were taken on October 20, 2018.
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