The
Sangre de Cristo Range, called the East Range locally in the San Luis Valley, is a high, rugged and narrow mountain range of the
Rocky Mountains in southern
Colorado in the
United States, running north and south along the east side of the
Rio Grande Rift . The mountains extend southeast from
Poncha Pass for about 75 miles (120 km) through south-central Colorado to La Veta Pass, approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of
Walsenburg, and form a high ridge separating the
San Luis Valley on the west from the watershed of the
Arkansas River on the east. The Sangre de Cristo Range rises over 7,000 feet above the valleys and plains to the west and northeast.