Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sleeping & Eating
La Veta Inn
( 719-742-3700;
http://lavetainn.com
; 103 W Ryus Ave; r $109-149; )
This inviting hotel has 18
comfortable rooms, equipped with feather mattresses and each personalized by a different
artist. Just south of the railroad tracks, it's the main place to sleep, eat and drink in town.
The restaurant serves up tempting Southwestern fare.
HOTEL
$$
Information
Ranger Office
(103 S Main St; hr vary)
This is actually a work station, not a true ranger office,
so you'll be very lucky if you actually catch someone inside. That said, you should be
able to find some brochures and basic maps outside the door. It's at the south end of town.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Highway of Legends
Following Hwy 12 south from town will take you on the Hwy of Legends byway, which
wraps around the west side of the Spanish Peaks before reaching Trinidad to the south.
This road offers the best access to the hiking and camping opportunities in the area.
Cuchara
A stunning stretch of Hwy 12 connects La Veta with Cuchara, a small ranch town in the
Spanish Peaks Wilderness. Here are lush green hills crowned with the Spanish Peaks'
Great Dikes: stark vertical granite walls jutting like an archaic boundary up from some-
where deep. They rise and recede through meadows and on mesas, and always looming
behind them are those Spanish Peaks, which happen to be two million years older than the
Continental Divide.
The town of Cuchara is even smaller than La Veta, with just one dirt road (Cuchara
Ave). That's where you'll find its only restaurant and a couple of inns. All around here are
unbelievable snowshoeing and cross-country skiing trails in winter, and hiking and climb-
ing routes in summer. If you attempt to bag the peaks, know that because they stand alone
lightning is a real hazard. Get off the high ground before noon and you'll be fine.
