Looking for a romantic getaway in the great outdoors?

Then the Forest Service has got just the place for you: A neat little cabin tucked among the vast aspens with beaver ponds right outside its front door. The cabin is four hours north of Santa Fe, up in the mountains flanking the upper end of the San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado.

The Brewery Creek Guard Station is one of several remote cabins within the nearby Rio Grande National Forest that the public can rent for a reasonable fee.

The station is a quaint, two-room, white clapboard cabin with a fire pit and picnic table in the yard. It also has a new outhouse and all the amenities needed to enjoy a comfortable night in the woods.

The cabin features lights, heaters, a full-size stove and refrigerator; all powered by propane as there is no electricity available. The kitchen comes fully stocked with cast-iron skillets and other pots and pans as well as plates and cutlery.

A large table separates the kitchen area from the living room, where one can lounge on a couch or a recliner.

The bedroom features three bunk beds with the lower berths suitable for couples. Sleeping bags, pillows and other gear must be brought by guests.

The cabin is well supplied with board games and other means of old fashioned entertainment, including a series of journals in which visitors have written of their experiences while staying at the cabin.

The cabin was built in 1935 for use by the forest ranger who oversaw the Poncha and Bonanza districts of what was then called the Cochetopa National Forest.

It sits in the shadow of 13,266-foot Antora Peak and is just across a mountain range from the historic, silver mining town of Bonanza.

The cabin serves as a great base from which to visit the area's many recreational opportunities, including soaks at local hot springs, wildlife viewing on remote back country roads and, perhaps, a visit to the nearby town of Salida.

Across one of the Colorado's easiest mountain passes, Salida boasts great fishing and rafting on the Arkansas River and a very cool downtown historic district.

The downtown area features plenty of Victorian-era architecture, great shops, taverns and eateries.

There's also a nice park and boardwalk on the river that makes for great sightseeing and picnicking.

And in the surrounding mountain ranges, which includes many of Colorado's famous 14,000-foot peaks, visitors will find great hiking, camping, fishing and skiing opportunities.

During an early spring visit to the area, a forest road leading to a mountain top reservoir on the North Fork of the Arkansas River provided a great drive, but it ended just a few miles shy of the local favorite fishing hole because impassable snowdrifts.

Returning to the San Luis Valley, one might want to stop at Villa Grove Trade where the cafe boasts excellent meals and live music, which can be heard on select Sundays nights. This is also where the key to the cabin can be picked up and dropped off. For more information, visit http://villagrovetrade.com.

New Mexican visitors to San Luis Valley may find it a familiar and comfortable place because of their shared native Indian, Hispanic and Anglo cultural roots.

It is also home to the headwaters of the Rio Grande, whose waters nourish the state. The many farms found in this area produce much of the barley used to brew the popular Western beer, Coors.

It is also the location of one of the largest, solar-powered, electric power plants in the country and also home to the vast, Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Bordered on the west by the San Juan Mountains and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the east, the valley is home to San Luis, the oldest town in Colorado, founded in 1851 by New Mexican settlers from the Taos and Mora areas.

To the north, the valley ends just above the village of Villa Grove and the mountain crossing at Poncha Pass.

Visitors to the valley from New Mexico typically follow U.S. 285 north through Tres Piedras to the little town of Antonito and then on through the rich, agricultural valley and the college town of Alamosa.

Others might elect to follow N.M. 522 through Taos and Costilla and then head west to the valley from the historic town of Fort Garland on U.S. 160.

For more information about the accommodations, visit www.recreation.gov. For those who are interested in nearby cabin rentals, visit the U.S. Forest Service's website, www.fs.fed.us, for more information.

Karl F. Moffatt is a longtime New Mexico journalist and avid outdoorsman who can be contacted through his blog at www.outdoorsnewmexico.com



IF YOU GO

• From Santa Fe take U.S. 84/285 through Española, Los Ojos and Tres Piedras to Antonito, Colorado. Proceed north on U.S. 285 to Alamosa and then pick up state highway 17 to Villa Grove. Just past town, head west on county road LL56 to Bonanza. Take the turnoff to Forest Road 880 at the bridge and follow to the cabin's gate.