The yard on the south side at Alamosa (MP 251.7, el. 7,546 ft.) lies between 6th Street to the north and 7th Street to the south, and is in yard limits, with a speed limit of 25 mph. The depot is on the north side of the line, east of the grade crossing at State Avenue, with a parking lot to its east. The line heading east passes grade crossings at Hunt Avenue, Denver Avenue, and La Due Avenue, after which there are yard tracks on the north side of the line as well as on the south side. Once past the yard limits, the speed limit rises to 30 mph, and the line comes under Track Warrant Control (all the way to yard limits at Walsenburg). At the east end of Alamosa, the line bridges over the Rio Grande on a deck bridge, passes a wye with the remains of the line northward (that once crossed Poncha Pass), with six yard tracks on the north side, and the single track line turns just south of due east as it continues across the flat San Luis Valley floor, comprising little but sagebrush, with a dirt road grade crossing at the east leg of the wye, and a dirt road alongside to the north for a short distance, passing a dirt road grade crossing where another dirt road starts alongside to the north, and then crosses at grade to run alongside to the south. The Great Sand Dunes are visible across the valley to the north, and then 14,632 ft. Mt. Blanca to their east.
After a long distance, another dirt road crosses at grade, there is a dirt road alongside to the north as well as to the south, and another dirt road grade crossing where the one on the north side ends. There is a dirt road grade crossing at Baldy (MP 239.8) and three more at widely spaced intervals, all with the dirt road alongside to the south, before a short spur from McClintock trails in on the south side and there are grade crossings at 10th Street and 9th Street, a small yard and a lumber facility on the south side at Blanca (MP 232.4), right at 8th Street, and grade crossings at Broadway, 7th Street, and 6th Street. US 160 is now running alongside to the north, and that dirt road still alongside to the south, with three more closely-spaced dirt road grade crossings between them before the 2,200 ft. siding at Ft. Garland (MP 228.2).
There is a grade crossing with a paved road and the line edges from just south of due east to just north of due east, still with US 160 alongside to the north and the dirt road alongside to the south, as the line enters the foothills. There is a bridge over drainage, and a grade crossing with a ranch driveway. Near MP 224, the line abruptly turns north-northeast (as does US 160), passes Mortimer, crosses Sangre de Cristo Creek and enters a valley, and turns east and then northeast. The line curves back and forth along the south side of the valley, with the stream just to the north and the highway beyond that, with the dirt road still alongside to the south. The dirt road moves away west of MP 218.
The line crosses a canal and a dirt road grade crossing, and passes the former location of Wagon Creek Junction (MP 216.9, el. 8,271 ft.), where the erstwhile narrow-gauge alignment headed north-northeast, at present-day Russell, and turns east-northeast, away from US 160, into a much narrower valley, with Wagon Creek alongside to the south, east, across a dirt road grade crossing, with a dirt road alongside to the north, east-northeast, east, and east-northeast again, following the creek with a dirt road alongside to the south, past the location of a former wye on the south side, a bridge over Arlen Gulch, a turn to just north of due east, the 3,400 ft. siding on the south side at Sierra (MP 214.6, el. 8,415 ft.), where the speed limit has fallen to 25 mph and there is a trailer park on the south side of the line. There is a bridge over Wagon Creek and a bridge over Fox Canyon, within the siding, another bridge over Wagon Creek east of the siding as the line turns east-northeast, and a bridge over Missouri Creek with Wagon Creek remaining alongside to the south and the line on the north side of the narrowing valley, with evergreen forests on the slopes above. The line, still following the alignment of Wagon Creek, turns east, east-southeast, bridging Vega Creek on an embankment, east-northeast, east-southeast through a rocky cutting, east, south-southeast, bridging Toll Canyon on an embankment, south, east, south again, east, southeast, east, southeast past a detector at MP 210.0, and then south-southeast along a stretch where it crosses Wagon Creek five times.
The line heads just west of due south, past Harrell (MP 208.8, el. 9,132 ft.), a narrow location where there was once a spur on the west side valley wall for interchange with the narrow gauge Trinchera Estate Railroad, turns southeast and bridges over Wagon Creek, and then south-southwest, bridging over the creek again. A track departs on the east side for a steep climb to provide a return loop for the line just west of its summit, and the main track curves southwest and then loops around counter-clockwise at the end of the valley, bridging over Wagon Creek and a tributary in the process, meeting the other end of the steeply-graded connecting spur as it reaches a northeasterly heading, and then reaching the west end of the 1,700 ft. siding at Fir, where the speed limit is 12 mph, as it heads north-northeast and then turns east to reach the summit of La Veta Pass (el. 9,242 ft.) at the actual location of Fir (MP 207.2), an open grassland area on the south side of a shallow valley.
The line turns south-southeast past the east end of the siding, descending on a ledge in the woods with the valley on the east side, south, south-southeast past the former location of a tunnel daylighted in 1929 (MP 206.3, el. 9,160 ft.), now just a rock cutting, south-southwest on a high embankment, southeast through another rock cutting, south on a high embankment, counter-clockwise to northeast, through another rock cutting, clockwise to south along the west side of South Middle Creek, counter-clockwise, bridging over South Middle Creek and past a detector at MP 205.9, to north-northwest and then northwest, following the east side of the creek, alternating cuttings and ledges, a clockwise turn edging away from the creek, through a rocky cutting to the east-southeast, past a detector at MP 203.9, counter-clockwise to the north, clockwise to the east, counter-clockwise to the west-northwest, clockwise to the northeast, above the creek again and past a detector at MP 202.4, and east past 939 ft. Upper Tunnel (MP 202.2, el. 8,560 ft.), once known as Middle Tunnel and over a dirt track grade crossing.
The line bridges a tributary of South Middle Creek and turns north, following a ledge on the east side of South Middle Creek, with only a few deviations in heading, past a detector at MP 200.8, before making a clockwise curve around a promontory at Windy Point (MP 199.8, el. 8,200 ft.) to the southeast, high above the valley, counter-clockwise to the northeast, in an indentation in the valley wall now above the joined-up Middle Creek, clockwise to the southeast, high above the deepening valley floor, and then south, past 655 ft. Lower Tunnel (MP 198.6) and a detector at MP 198.4, counter-clockwise to the northeast, and then clockwise, with the broadening valley below. The Great Plains can be seen to the east, with the Spanish Peaks to the southeast, as the line continues curvily south, with the valley floor rising and the line descending to the point where the line is almost on the valley floor past a 1,500 ft. siding on the west side at Occidental (MP 196.8).
A bridge over Potato Gulch leads to a counter-clockwise curve to the northeast, with the valley floor dropping away again, clockwise to the east and then counter-clockwise curvily north-northeast, past a detector at MP 195.8, east-northeast, east-southeast past a dirt track grade crossing at Francisco (MP 194.9, el. 7,480 ft.) and Oakdale Junction (MP 194.5), where the Tropic Spur once trailed in on the north side, southeast, back on a shallow ledge above a now-shallow valley, east-southeast onto the valley floor, east bridging over Oak Creek, east-southeast, bridging over Middle Creek and South Abeyta Creek, passing Reliance Junction (MP 191.8), where the erstwhile narrow gauge alignment once trailed in from the northwest, bridging over Middle Creek again and turning east over Cuchara Creek to the 4,280 ft. siding at La Veta (MP 190.3), where the speed limit has risen to 25 mph and the depot is on the south side of the line just west of the grade crossing at Main Street.