La Veta Websites
La Veta/Cuchara Chamber
Francisco Fort Museum
Francisco Center for the Performing Arts
Spanish Peaks Arts Council
La Veta School of the Arts

Outdoor Activies
Scenic Highway of Legends
Lathrop State Park
Grandote Peaks Golf Club

Local Mountains
Sangre de Cristo Wilderness Area
Forest Service link
Sangre de Cristo
Spanish Peaks Wilderness
Trinchera Peak
West Spanish Peak

Services:
www.sprhc.org

Other:
Spanish Peaks International
Celtic Music Festival
Huerfano Art Colony

About the area:
CROSSROADS OF AMERICA’S WEST

The region has long been a crossroads…a crossroads of cultures and peoples, of explorers and adventurers, of settlers and travelers. The long, rich history of the area has been passed down both in legend and fact. The western border of Huerfano county follows the ridgeline of the Sangre de Cristo Range, crossed by so many persons in history. The Spanish Peaks are the other prominent feature with historical significance.
The Spanish Peaks, are among the most important landmarks of the Southwest. Long before Pike attempted to reach the top of the peak (later named for him) the Spanish Peaks were guiding Native Americans, Spanish and French to the settlements of New Mexico. The twin mountains had special significance to the Ute, Apache, Comanche and earlier tribes who lived nearby. Summer thunderstorms which cluster about the summits were thought to be evidence that the Rain God lived on the Spanish Peaks.
The first recorded entry by Europeans into what is now Colorado was in 1694 when Governor Diego de Vergas of Spanish 'New Mexico' led an expedition into the southern San Luis Valley.  It is probable that the hardy conquistadors of that day knew of Wahatoya then but the first man recorded to pass by the Peaks was Juan de Ulibarri. Ulibarri went north from Santa Fe in 1706, one hundred years before Pike, and was only the first in a long line of Spanish explorers through the area.
After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Lt. Zebulon Pike was sent to explore the limits of the new territory. His reports and the Mexicans' revolt against Spain opened the way for trappers and traders to the markets of Santa Fe and Taos. The Santa Fe Trail was established in 1821, and the Spanish Peaks were important guideposts to early travelers. One branch from the trail, the Taos Trail, passed north of the Peaks along the Huerfano River, up South Oak Creek and over Sangre de Cristo pass to the San Luis Valley.
Still later the Peaks marked the way for men like Col. John C. Fremont and Capt. John Gunnison who searched for railroad routes to span the continent. Today the four lanes of Interstate 25 skirt the eastern slopes of East Spanish Peak. The Wahatoya are still the prominent landmarks they were in the days of Spain.

GEOLOGY OF THE REGION
To the geologist the Spanish Peaks are known as prime examples of a "stock" which are defined as large masses of igneous (molten) rock with intruded layers of sedimentary rock and were later exposed by erosion. When mapped by geologists the Peaks were found to be masses of granite, granodiorite and syenodiorite.
Among the most unusual features of the Spanish Peaks are the great dikes which radiate out from the mountains like spokes of a wheel. These walls of rock are often spectacular in height and length and are known to geologists world wide. The dikes are made of intrusive igneous rocks which forced their way into seams in the sedimentary rock. Erosion wore away the softer sedimentary leaving walls of hard rock from 1 foot to 100 feet wide, up to 100 feet high and as long as 14 miles. At least 400 separate dikes have been identified by geologists. This scenic combination of two great stocks and hundreds of impressive dikes is unique. Nowhere else are these geologic phenomena found in these patterns, in such variety of rock type, or in as great length, height, abundance or beauty.