Our recent trip to the San Luis Valley was far from our first and won’t be our last. As I have written many times on HeidiTown.com, this is one of our favorite places on earth, not just in Colorado.
Located in the southcentral part of Colorado, not many make it here. SLV is just over Poncha Pass from Salida, and take it from me, it’s worth the little more time it takes to travel to this high-altitude valley. The San Luis Valley averages 7500 feet above sea level and is the largest alpine valley in the world.
Not only does it provide us with an enormous sense of peace, but there is a lot to do here if you don’t need malls, chain restaurants and nightclubs. Great Sand Dunes National Park, gets most of the publicity in the area, and the park is truly grand, but there’s a lot more to the valley than a huge, very photogenic pile of sand. I am not downplaying its glory, but just pointing out that there is more to see in the San Luis Valley.
On this trip, we stayed at the dog-friendly Frontier Drive-Inn, a collection of yurts and huts with an old drive-in movie theater at the center of it all. Read what I wrote about it here.
In addition to watching movies every night on the drive-in screen, there are no televisions in the yurts or huts, we did a few more activities on our two-night stay.
The Frontier Drive-Inn is located in the tiny town of Center and is just 14 minutes from Del Norte, home to one of our favorite breweries in Colorado. We ended up here for dinner and drinks on both nights of our stay. Extenuating circumstances led to us eating dinner here two nights in a row, but we didn’t mind. The pizza is excellent and the Notorious P.I.G. sandwich is the best of all time.
A Road Trip to Southern Colorado: Relish Remote Relaxation in the San Luis Valley
Center is also 15 minutes from Monte Vista, where we started our San Luis Valley adventures at the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge. We’ve been to both this refuge and the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge because we usually drive through on every visit to the area.
If you’re a little bit of a bird nerd like me, or just like nature, it’s worth visiting these two spots. We visited in the late afternoon, but it’s probably best in the morning or evening. Or when a migration happening, like the Sand Hill Crane migration in March. On this trip, most of the birds were on the far end of one of the lakes from us, but there were at least a hundred ducks and a large flock of shore birds.
I haven’t been, but Monte Vista, Colorado, features a Crane Festival at the beginning of each March. The San Luis Valley fills up with bird nerds like me, so I should schedule a trip sometime.
In addition to Three Barrel Brewing Co. in Del Norte, where we ate two dinners, we visited the Colorado Farm Brewing outside of Alamosa. I include this Alamosa brewery in a presentation by HeidiTown Consulting. In Colorado, the land of breweries, it’s truly unique.
Located on a working, generational farm, a stop here comes with good beer, free popcorn, and a quirky patio where mismatched chairs form a seating area around firepits. In August, there are quite a few flies here also, it is a working farm after all, but we did end up inside because the dog wanted to chase them all the time.
Hanging out at this brewery is a bit like a homecoming for me as I grew up in farm country where silos dotted the horizon.
On Saturday, we wanted to hike and chose Penitente Canyon based on advice from an Instagram follower who lives in Del Norte. It is also listed on the Frontier Drive-Inn’s website as a local hike.
Just 15 minutes from Center, we found ourselves in a climbing area. Little camping coves are surrounded by rocks begging to be climbed and climbers come. In fact, as we were returning from our hike, the car next to us was preparing to head out on a climbing adventure in Penitente Canyon.
This area is on Bureau of Land Management Land and is part of the La Garita Caldera, 22 miles wide and 47 miles long.
A memorable hike, there is a mix of trails here for horses, bikes, hikers, and even for appropriately tired vehicles. We did the Penitente Canyon trail and part of the Blue Sky Loop. Just under four miles, it wasn’t too difficult. Keep an eye out for Trail Confidence Markers to ensure you’re keeping to the trail and not wanting off into the hills of the high valley.
For the entire time, we only saw one other set of hikers with their dog, and a couple of mountain bikers, both from a distance. As it’s BLM land, it’s not unusual to come upon a vehicle situated among a rock outcropping or some trees, as someone has driven in on the bumpy roads to camp.
While we could have let Fritzi off leash, she isn’t the wisest about cacti (a lot of it grows on the ground). After taking thorns out of her paws for a second time in ten minutes, we decided she had to remain on leash for this hike.
Every hike is memorable for some reason or another, however, this one will go down in the record books. I have little doubt that we’ve passed many hidden owls on our outings throughout the years, but I have never seen one while hiking.
That all changed in Penitente Canyon when we happened to scare up a Northern Saw-Whet Owl that landed in a nearby pine tree. We got a good look at her which put me, the bird nerd, over the moon for the rest of the hike.
On the way out of the San Luis Valley, we grabbed breakfast burritos and coffee in Saguache at Giddy Up Joe, a drive-up shop. Sadly, one of my favorite diners in the state, 4th Street Diner & Bakery no longer serves breakfast, or any other meal for that matter. Sadly, there have been deaths in the family and the owner occasionally opens it as a bakery if she has the time and goods.
A real loss for Saguache and us. I have heard through the grapevine that it may be for sale, and I hope someone comes along with a dream and desire to live in the adorable, albeit tiny town of Saguache.
Located in the even tinier town of Moffat, Joyful Journey Hot Springs was our destination but wasn’t open until 9 a.m. We wanted to go in for a quick soak before we drove home and before it got too warm out, as Fritzi would be in the truck.
A Colorado Hot Spring at 7,700 Feet Above Sea Level
We’ve been there many times. It’s $18 to soak now, so plan accordingly. We didn’t make the most of it as we only had about an hour. It was still glorious, and I swear the minerals in the water healed my sore back (if only temporarily). Someday, we’ll book a stay here. They offer lodging options including lodge rooms, a casita, yurts, tipis, RV sites, and camping.
A stay comes with breakfast and dinner, plus, dinner is now available to non-guests, which is wonderful as there isn’t much to choose from when it comes to restaurants in the area.
San Luis Valley, that’s a wrap, for now! We’ll be back.
