Looking at More CHEAP Land Park a Camper On (LEGALLY!)

I owned land near the first parcel for ten years and finally decided to donate it to the Catholic homeless shelter in Alamosa, CO. The problem with Costilla county is the fact that although you could be on a borderline nonexistent dirt road with no neighbors next to a cattle ranch where tons of cow manure get deposited on the ground each year the county engineer will most certainly not grant you an exception to their ridiculous building codes which eliminated provisions for outhouses with 400 gallon pump out tanks in favor of forcing everyone to install a store bought septic system with tile field and drill a well to run it even though a composting or incinerating toilet would really make more sense considering the water table there which is not really conducive to running flush toilets. They will however allow you to live in a quonset hut which is nice. Then also it is simply too cold during the winter considering that this is the highest alpine valley pretty much anywhere and goes down to 40 below Fahrenheit during the winter. I got 5 acres for $3,000. And no, it wasn’t worth hanging onto. Were I convinced that I really needed to move off grid I’d just buy a used sailboat at this point, probably in Washington state and then motor up the inside passage to anchor out somewhere in the panhandle of Alaska which is surprisingly warm during the winter considering how it is warmed by the Humboldt current. I no longer trust building departments much of anywhere hence the current fascination with sailboats.

San Luis Valley used to be sooo beautiful. But has been chopped up into small lots. The lack of building code has created a mess of shacks and falling down RVs and piles of tires and trash. Be warned: the wind blows like crazy and it gets extremely cold. Water is a big issue. There’s a reason it’s been historically empty.

Trust me. Colorado native for 49 years here. There is a reason it’s so cheap.

I don’t know why you would want to buy property when you can camp in any National Forest or BLM land for 14 days at a time and go where the weather and access works. That is my approach.

The bushes are called sage brush just to let you know.

Many commenters have mentioned the horrible winters, and some have mentioned the winds. Both are HUGE reasons to not buy anything in this area. The winds are unrelenting for long periods of time, and it is not an exaggeration to state that they will literally drive you crazy. There are reasons that this land is so inexpensive, and you should pay heed. I bought a house in a small town of 500 people in remote southwest Colorado and lived there for seven years, because I thought that removing myself from civilization would be the answer to my problems. It was not.

Having to get a permit to camp on your own land seems...weird, and a bit tyrannical. #Commierado

You drove past the road to Mountain Home reservoir. If you keep going, you can get to my parents cabin. Well, used to be my parents cabin. When my father passed my mom decided to sell it. There are some issues buying land out there. One neighbor had an entire log cabin kit stolen off the property when they were out of town. Another owner passed, and one of the lawman's son stole all the solar panels off the cabin the next day. If you leave town for too long you may find your pinion nuts stolen, or branches cut off your trees. There are some in that area that think the land is theirs and they can take what they want. No joke. Be aware.

Wasband and I own 12 acres near Mesita, a bit south of San Luis. It's big and empty out there and has a prehistoric feeling to it. The sky is immense and especially spellbinding at night. If you do land in that area, don't leave for too long as all of your belongings will be stolen, including fencing.

AS an SLV resident, I suggest driving the dirt roads after a rain. They can get soft and mushy-muddy.

I live in the SLV. It's arid, dry and inhospitable. I was charmed by the mountains when I first moved here, but the high desert climate at 8000 feet makes it a challenging place to live. Relentless winds in the spring - it gets so dusty you can't even see the mountains. Relentless mosquitos in the summer, which makes hiking nearly impossible. Dry air that affects your skin, eyes and your breathing. This is still a beautiful place with dark skies and wonderful quietness. But I am looking to move to greener, friendlier pastures soon.

I know this wasn't the purpose of this particular video, but the museum in Fort Garland is actually super interesting, its an intact fort from 1858, built just a decade after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that made the San Luis Valley a US territory. The fort was commanded by Kit Carson and was the setting for some interesting civil war history. A lot of people breeze right past it because it doesn't look particularly impressive from the outside, but there are intact, 160 year old adobe structures on the grounds, and some great interpretive displays on the Buffalo soldiers and other area history. Its a really good off-the-beaten-path stop during a visit to Great Sand Dunes

Love these videos. Greatest part is people who have live/bought there commenting.

TLDV version: You can spend $1,300 for a crappy 1/4 acre in the middle of nowhere on a crappy "road", that you can legally camp on for only 2 weeks every 3 months!... unless you pay, $15-20k? to put in a septic system and big water tank (which you will have to pay to fill) and get a special permit that allows you to camp there for 60 days, 3 times per year. Meanwhile you can camp on beautiful BLM and NF all year, legally.... move with the seasons, etc... for free. If you really want a piece of land, there are in fact places where they will let you park on your land forever and poop in a hole. You can buy a summer and winter parcel, and have nice weather all year. 🤪🤩

A year ago I bought 7 acres in central Tennessee for $87k near the town of Linden. The only restriction is you can't put a single wide house trailer on the property. It's on the top of a forest covered mountain. So far I've added a parking place for my motor home and a RV pole for electricity. I may add a well and sceptic in the future.

I bought 12 acres in the San Lois valley. Mosca in particular. A few miles directly in front of Blanca. Hardly anyone follows those stupid camping laws. My camper is set up permanently and I've never paid that tyrannical "camping fee". WARNING.....San Lois valley has absolutely miserable wind conditions most of the year. Gusts up to 80mph. Lovely place but hard to live.

A good visual for an acre is a football field, which is 1 1/3 acres.

Costilla County has some prohibative rules on water and septic systems on all that cheap land...be advised!

Third one is definitely the way to go. Those plants are larger because there's more easily accessed underground water.

Don't buy anything out there until you've experienced every season thoroughly-- and preferably more than once. I live here and have seen many people buy, build, and move out in a couple years. It's cold, hot, dry, dusty, dust storms, do you have water rights?, it's had to get the things you may need, shipping costs makes everything more expensive, ...it's an extreme environment. The Native Americans didn't even live here full time. They came through, hunted, soaked, and left.