Buena Vista Colorado Travel Information
Buena Vista is a valley town. Of course, it’s a valley town at
7,965 feet, so for all that the mountains rise up higher around it
than in it, that’s still mountain air you’re breathing. It’s also
desert air. Buena is situated in a patch of high mountain desert, a
dry spot in the middle of alpine snow, a dry spot along the Arkansas
River. This is, after all, perhaps the capital of whitewater rafting
in the United States. The Upper Arkansas River is wild and if
the outdoors and the watery outdoors in particular excite you, the
popular Brown Canyon run is practically a jump outside town. Several
“14ers” (or mountains at and past 14,000 feet of elevation) are also a
jump outside town, and mountain climbers, hikers, bikers, off-roaders
and so forth will have a hard time finding better, or higher,
peak-terrain to explore. In the middle of this grand landscape
as it is, you’d think that Buena Vista itself would get lost, like a
mere bedroom community for the mountain explorer. Instead, if
unassuming, it’s as beautiful as its surroundings and as outdoors and
pedestrian friendly . . . and historical. Ghost towns scatter close to
Buena Vista, reflecting the effect that mining and the railroad have
had on this area. Check out the Buena Vista Heritage Museum for a more
compressed treatment. Or stop by the very nearby Mount Princetown Hot
Springs Resort for a different kind of recreation
altogether. Buena Vista is in south central Colorado, 32 miles
south of Salida and 93 miles west of Colorado Springs. To learn more
about Buena Vista, select an area of interest from the buttons on the
left.
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