The most prominent mountain in the area, Blanca Peak, is 37 miles to the northeast and towers over the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.

It is an extensive high-elevation depositional basin of approximately 8,000 square miles (21,000 km2) with an average elevation of 7,664 feet (2,336 m) above sea level.

The San Luis Valley has a cold desert climate but has substantial water resources from the Rio Grande and groundwater.

Migration patterns demonstrate how people from northern New Mexico settled the area around Manassa in the mid 19th century.

Many early settlers were the descendants of colonists from the Spanish colonial period beginning in 1598 with Juan de Oñate's colonization of New Mexico.

Manassa was located a short distance from two ranches purchased by the Mormons from Hispanos on the south side of the Conejos River, across from Los Cerritos, Colorado.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.93 square miles (2.4 km2), all land.

[9] Manassa experiences a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) with cold, dry winters and warm, somewhat wetter summers.

Manassa's wide streets, such as those typically found elsewhere in towns started by Mormons, are fashioned in a grid system.

This is one of the best western heritage festivals around, and it includes a carnival with the Tilt-a-Whirl, bumper cars, ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, and other midway rides.

Live musical entertainment, a hamburger stand, and vendor booths line Manassa's city park on Main Street during these busy days.

The rocks on the nearby mountain with its painted letter M are doused with kerosene and the burning spectacle lights up the night sky for several hours.

The weekend-long affair is in honor of the arrival of Brigham Young and fellow members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah's Great Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847.

The Mormon pioneers, as they were commonly known, left their settlement in Nauvoo, Illinois, and journeyed west seeking refuge from religious persecution.

Students from Manassa who don't want to travel far or wish to remain in the area, can get their higher education in nearby Alamosa.

With a population of about 8,500, Alamosa is the home of Adams State University where students can earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in a wide variety of disciplines.

The hospital has 17 beds and is a Level IV trauma center, serving Conejos and Costilla counties in the San Luis Valley.

The Guadalupe Parish Credit Union,[18] in Antonito, Colorado, serves parishioners and their family members from Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Antonito, CO, St. Joseph's Parish in La Jara, CO, and Sangre de Cristo Parish in San Luis, CO. Manassa counts many nearby attractions, including the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, Colorado Gators Reptile Park, the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad, Fort Garland Museum, UFO Watchtower, and the Stations of the Crosses site in nearby San Luis, Colorado, which is the oldest town in the State of Colorado.

[21] The Conejos River is a tributary of the Rio Grande, approximately 92.5 miles (148.9 km) long, in south-central Colorado in the United States.

In descending order of land area within the forest they are Saguache, Mineral, Conejos, Rio Grande, Hinsdale, San Juan, Alamosa, Archuleta, and Custer counties.

Forest headquarters are currently located in Monte Vista, Colorado, but plan to move to Del Norte.