Huerfano County's Black Hills

Approaching the Black Hills from the east on Huerfano County Road 521. The buildings are what's left of Alamo, Colorado.

For most of us, the U.S. state that comes to mind when someone mentions a place called "Black Hills" is not Colorado. However, there is a place here in Colorado called " Black Hills," and it's right here in Huerfano County. In fact, there are two places in the county with this name.

Both are small mountain ranges just south of State Highway 69 and near County Road 520. The larger, called just Black Hills, has a top elevation of 7,493 feet. The Black Hills is also the site of Alamo, now a ghost town and location of a former coal mine.

 

The Little Black Hills (center of picture) with the Sangre de Cristo mountains in the distance. 

To the north is an even smaller group of hills called Little Black Hills. Here the highest point looks to be 7,025 feet. The Little Black Hills are just south of Badito, near where State Highway 69 meets County Road 520.

The dark vegetation on both areas of hills, chiefly juniper bushes, contrasts sharply with the blonde-colored grasses covering the surrounding flat plains, thus the names. 

Both the Black Hills and the Little Black Hills are volcanic in origin and may be an extension of Greenhorn Mountain to the north