Otero County is home to the Comanche National Grassland, where you can explore petroglyphs, abundant wildlife, and the Purgatoire River track site – the largest dinosaur-track site in North America. Other areas of interest in the county include Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site – a reconstructed 1840s adobe fur-trading post and the Koshare Indian Museum.
The state legislature created Otero County in 1889, designating La Junta as the county seat. Farms in the county produce beans and alfalfa, and also raise cattle and sheep. No visit to this county is complete without the famous Rocky Ford cantaloupes and watermelons.
Otero College was founded in 1941 and provides higher education opportunities for the county, while also being the home of the Koshare Indian Museum.