From the town of San Luis this route follows Culebra Creek and takes you into the heart of the SLV to truly understand why the valley holds the sentiments of nourishment and spirituality so closely. Flowing adjacent to Main Street and C.R. 19 is the San Luis Peoples Ditch, the oldest continuously used community irrigation acequia in the state. It flows through the La Vega Commons, where in 1863, Rio Culebra Basin residents set
aside land that stretched to the New Mexico border for traditional, uncultivated wetlands use for the purpose of grazing cattle and horses for 5 months of the year. On top of the San Pedro Mesa are sweeping views to the east, west and south, including the Los Caminos Antiguos Byway
that connects a number of small villages. Pedaling under the Culebra Range of the Sangres, you see and feel the rural communal way of life along the Colorado-New Mexico border.