The
San Luis Valley is an extensive high-altitude depositional basin in the
U.S. state of
Colorado with a small portion overlapping into
New Mexico covering approximately and sitting at an average elevation of above sea level. The valley is a section of the
Rio Grande Rift and is drained to the south by the
Rio Grande, which rises in the
San Juan Mountains to the west of the valley and flows south into New Mexico. The valley is approximately long and wide, extending from the
Continental Divide on the northwest rim into New Mexico on the south. The San Luis Valley receives little
precipitation and is made up of
desert lands, but the temperatures can be very comfortable in the summer and very cold on winter nights.