Buena Vista sits in the Arkansas River valley at the foot of the Collegiate Peaks, and the first thing to know is that nobody there says it the Spanish way. Locals call it Byoo-na Vista, and they will tell you so with a smile. The town is small, with a few thousand people, a main street of brick buildings and a courthouse square, and it stands on a broad, high valley floor with the wall of the Sawatch Range rising to the west, a line of fourteen-thousand-foot summits capped with snow for most of the year.
Those peaks bear the names of colleges. Mounts Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Columbia were named by a Harvard-led survey party in the 1860s, and the range has been called the Collegiate Peaks ever since. Some of them rise more than fourteen thousand feet, and on a clear morning they look close enough to touch across the sagebrush and the river. The Arkansas River, born in the mountains to the north, runs through the valley here, and this stretch is one of the most popular white-water rafting stretches in the country, with rapids that range from gentle to wild.
The ride along the byway through Buena Vista is a pleasure. The roads are wide and smooth, with easy bends, long views of the mountains and generally light traffic, and the climb to the west, toward the mountains, gives better views still. Weather can change quickly, with afternoon thunderstorms in summer, and snow possible in the high country from September. The best times are late spring to early autumn, with the aspen colour in late September particularly beautiful. Watch for cyclists, rafting buses and wildlife, including mule deer, which wander into town.
The valley is dotted with natural hot springs fed by water heated deep underground, and several resorts and pools welcome visitors. A soak after a day in the saddle is a fine thing, and the mountain views from the water are worth the entrance fee. Buena Vista itself has petrol stations, groceries, outdoor shops, bakeries and a brewery or two, so it is a useful place to fill the tank and have a proper meal; Salida, about thirty-six kilometres south, is larger.
Take a stroll down the main street, grab a coffee and look west. The mountains are the reason you came, and they do not disappoint.