Walsenburg, Colorado

Walsenburg is the county seat of Huerfano County. Located between exits 49 and 52 on the I-25, Walsenburg also sits astride US 160, the primary east-west route across Southern Colorado. The town is just east of La Veta Pass, gateway to the San Luis Valley and Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Walsenburg was originally settled as La Plaza de los Leones in 1852 but is named after Fred Walsen, a businessman who settled here about 1870. It was Fred who opened the first coal mine in the county just west of town in 1876. Walsen Mine was the largest and most productive coal mine in Huerfano County. (The photo to the left is the original Walsenburg jail, now the Walsenburg Mining Museum.)

Walsenburg has two museums, a municipal swimming pool and a nine hole municipal golf course. Just west of the golf course is Lathrop State Park which has lakes for swimming, boating, windsurfing, and fishing. The Spanish Peaks Regfional Health Center and VA Nursing Home are just across the road from Lathrop SP.

The San Isabel National Forest is south and west of town, around the Spanish Peaks and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. North of town Greenhorn Mountain and most of the Wet Mountains are also part of the National Forest. Due south about 10 miles are the Black Hawk State Trust Lands.

Walsenburg has two museums, a municipal swimming pool and a nine hole municipal golf course. Just west of the golf course is Lathrop State Park which has lakes for swimming, boating, windsurfing, and fishing. The county Medical Center and VA Nursing Home are just across the road from Lathrop SP.

The San Isabel National Forest is south and west of town, around the Spanish Peaks and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. North of town Greenhorn Mountain and most of the Wet Mountains are also part of the National Forest.

• Elevation: 6,126 feet
• Average annual precipitation: 15.8 inches
• Terrain: An irregular plateau broken by numerous narrow fertile valleys in the east, rising to the Culebra Range of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the west and the Spanish Peaks in the south
• January temperature: High: 48 Low: 19
• July temperature: High: 91 Low 58
• Days of Sunshine per year: 300+
• Walsenburg Population 2000 census: 4,182
• Huerfano County Population 2000 census: 7,862