About the San Luis Valley

Wild horses grazing in the San Luis Valley (C) Pieceofnowhere 2012

The San Luis Valley is truly a spectacular vista, and mostly one of the few remaining places in the USA that remains both pristine and sparely populated. But it also has a harsh climate at times, and some other disadvantages as you'll find below. In my opinion, it's a fantastic place to live both because of the beauty and seclusion, but many others will likely find otherwise. If everyone were as crazy as I, there would be a lot more people there.

For those unfamiliar with southern Colorado (particularly the San Luis Valley), I should provide some background. You can get a lot of the basic details by reading the Wikipedia page and a nice little summary written by National Geographic, so I'll only give a list of what I think are the pertinent highlights here.

The San Luis Valley, courtesy of Google Maps

The San Luis Valley is in far south central Colorado and extends partially into New Mexico. It's vast (~8,000 square miles), high (~7-8,000 feet) and fairly dry, although where you're at in the valley determines some of how much moisture you get (more about this later). The only "major" city is Alamosa, and even it's facilities are modest in some regards. The Valley is among the poorest places in the US, and it is approximately half private land, half BLM land. It's also home to the Great Sand Dunes, which rise up to 750 feet from the valley floor.

But here's some of the pertinent information about living off grid there:

Climate - The San Luis Valley is not for the faint of heart. The spectacular vistas belie the often harsh and unforgiving weather for most of the year. Wind is pretty much constant, can be very fierce (I measured gusts up to 40 mph fairly often) and (as far as I can tell) does not come from any particular direction. Tornadoes are very rare, and there's little history of any tornado damage. The summers are mild (generally don't get above the low 90's) but short, and the winters are VERY cold (primarily during the night, during the day, the sun generally warms things at least a bit). Despite the short summer growing seasons, there are a remarkable number of sunny days, Alamosa has 350 on average.

Aquifer image via Wikipedia

Water - The Valley has one of the largest and deepest aquifers in the world (technically two different aquifers, confined and unconfined), but has been the subject of legal fights and overuse in recent years. While wells for home use can still be drilled (as far I as I know, this may have changed with the legal battles ongoing), some towards the edges of the Valley are increasingly deep (200-300+ feet) and as the aquifers shrink, wells on the outer edges of the Valley may go dry without re-drilling. The Valley gets an average of less than 10" of rain a year, and while the Rio Grande runs through the center of the Valley, few have the rights to the water that runs through it. Many small households get water trucked in rather than drilling a well.

Soil image via Wikipedia

Soil - The short of it is that the soils vary depending where you are in the Valley. There's a great report by the Dept. of Agriculture. Bureau of Soils (made in 1912!) that can give you more than enough detail on the specifics. Generally, the soil towards the center of the Valley has more loam and slightly better drainage, and much of the soil is sandy. The soil towards the edges of the Valley is very rocky in some places, and caliche is common in many places. Expect to do at least a little soil improvement, and most of the soil is slightly alkali (there are a few dry alkali lakes in the valley) but again, it varies from place to place. Most of the places that are convenient for large scale agriculture are already being cultivated, looking at google maps, you can be fairly sure that the blank spots on the map of the San Luis Valley have some reason (water, soil, drainage, etc.) that prevents them from being cultivated on a large farm. This is not to write them off as un-farmable or un-gardenable, just that it may take more effort to do so. For a really in depth view of the soil in any particular area go to the List of Soil Surveys by State by the USDA probably far more information on every county in the USA than you'll ever use or need.

Land in the San Luis Valley looking towards the Great Sand
Dunes in the east.  Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Buying land - There is plenty of cheap land in the San Luis Valley, much of it for very good prices. It's not uncommon for land to be sold on an "owner finance" arrangement (where the buyer makes the payments directly to the land owner, and ownership is transferred once payments are complete), and land is available in many places in the valley on this arrangement. Locations and prices vary wildly though, so it's a good idea to do research and shop around before settling on any particular plot. Much land does not come with full water rights (the water rights on nearly every plot in the valley is worth far more than the land itself), although most allow for a residential well. The valley encompasses 6 different counties, so building codes do vary, but most (as far as I can tell) are fairly friendly to alternative building methods. Access also varies widely, with some lots being directly off a major paved highway, while many (if not most) are down a labyrinthine series of dirt roads. The roads are usually well up-kept (some are plowed) and access usually does not require a 4-wheel-drive (the valley is primarily flat with few geographical features), but again varies. Keep in mind when looking for land that the valley is 8,000 square miles, so it's fairly easy to buy land that's a 2-3 hour journey to the nearest major city (considering Alamosa and Taos as major cities in this case).

If all this sounds like it's a bit harsh to live in the San Luis Valley, it's because it is a bit. But at the same time, very rewarding, and once set-up, very easy to maintain and enjoy. Besides, if everyone likes this sort of place, it quickly becomes a place where all the reasons to be there in the first place begin to disappear. Wild it may be, but it's fantastically wild.