The Scenic Highway of Legends
Cuchara Pass to La Veta

The road descends quickly from the summit of Cuchara Pass, through the aspen groves to a hairpin turn across the Cuchara River where it flows out of the mountains. At that hairpin turn is the road going west to Bear Lake, Blue Lake and Trinchera Peak. Between here and Blue Lake is 4 miles of excellent stream fishing.

Bear Lake

Blue Lake

In Downtown Cuchara

The paved road continues on to the town of Cuchara. Downtown Cuchara is a wonderful rendition of a turn of the century Colorado mountain town, complete with slabwood siding and some full log construction.

The earliest records of the Cuchara Valley show that it was not called Cuchara at all, but rather Nunda Canyon (Nunda is a Native word for potato). Sometime in the late 1800's it was first referred to as Cuchara Valley. The first Anglo settlers were homesteaders of the "rush" days. Land was free for the taking as long as the homesteader built a house with a door and at least one window on the property.

Those first settlers found the climate and soil in the high meadows between Stonewall and Cuchara well suited for growing potatoes, a crop that was also raised by the Native Americans. The farmers spent their summers growing potatos to sell in Trinidad in the fall, and then spent their winters making cheese from their goats' milk to sell in town in the spring. But they failed to rotate their crops and soon the soil was depleted of the nutrients necessary to grow potatoes and most of these farmers moved on.

In 1908, George Mayes and his wife moved to the Valley for Mayes' health. Seeing the beauty here, Mayes was convinced the area would make a great summer resort. He named his resort Cuchara Camps and by 1910, several summer cabins had been built and Cuchara was a community, at least in the summer.

The West Spanish Peak from the Gap in the Dakota Wall

This is the same Dakota Sandstone Wall that you passed through in Stonewall. This same "break" in the North American continent stretches from Canada to Mexico along the fault line that marks the eastern edge of the upthrust that created the Ancestral Rocky Mountains during the Laramide Orogeny, some 65 million years ago. This sandstone was originally deposited on an ocean bottom and compressed over time by the weight of layers of rock, gravel and stone deposited above it. While this exceptionally hard layer of sandstone was tilted upright when the ancestral mountains were first pushed up, those softer mountains have mostly eroded away and left only these vertical walls behind in testament to their passing. While the rock of the Sangre de Cristo's is older than the Dakota Sandstone, the Sangres were pushed up only about 27 million years ago, roughly along the same fault lines as the Ancestral Rockies in this area. This particular gap in the Wall was created over the years by the Cuchara River.

The West Spanish Peak rising above the Devil's Stairstep

The Devil's Stairstep is one of the grandest dikes in the area. Over 400 dikes radiate out from the West Spanish Peak like spokes on a wheel, and continue either above or below ground for as far as 25 miles. There is another set of similar dikes radiating outwards from Silver Mountain, across the valley to the north. These geological formations are unique to this area.

It is said that Colonel John M. Francisco looked down upon the future site of La Veta and declared, "This is paradise enough for me." In 1862, shortly after his first viewing of the Valley, Francisco and his partner, Henry Daigre, began construction of a fort for commerce and protection purposes.

By 1871, there were enough settlers in the Valley to warrant a Post Office, so they called it Spanish Peaks. With the coming of the railroad in 1876, there was much land speculation and one group formed the La Veta Town Company. How "La Veta" (meaning "the vein" in Spanish) was chosen is anybody's guess but the name of town was changed and the La Veta Post Office was opened in 1876. As part of this speculation, the railroad station was constructed a couple of blocks north of the Fort and the center of business in town slowly spread in that direction.

Just northeast of La Veta the highway merges with US 160 and takes you into Walsenburg. Or, in downtown La Veta you can go west on Ryus Ave. and follow the pavement about 4 miles to US 160 and head on up past Mt. Mestas and into La Veta Pass on the way to Fort Garland, the Great Sand Dunes and the San Luis Valley.