Royal Gorge Bridge & Park
Royal Gorge Bridge & Park is located in Canon City, Colorado. We took our trailer out several weekends ago for a delayed anniversary getaway. We’d wanted to go here for awhile, but due to a wildfire in 2013 that burned down most of the structures we had to wait until it was open and operational again. The place looks great, and though you can tell they’re still working on some things, they’ve rebuilt so much and even improved upon it in some ways.
We started at the visitor center on the north rim. We were advised to first take the gondola across to the south side and walk back, rather than the other way around. This was great advice as it’s downhill on the southside from the gondola to the bridge. However, it’s quite steep if you were to attempt it the other way around.
The gondola ride was great. Though it’s over pretty quick, the view is amazing and gives you a totally different perspective than any other vantage point in the park as you’re gliding parallel to the bridge and high above the gorge. The distance across is 2,300 feet and here you’re more than 1,200 feet above the river below. The extra nice thing is that the gondola ride is included in the price of admission to the park. Other ways to enjoy the height was a zipline across the gorge or the “Skycoaster” that swings you out over the edge. It was fascinating but certainly was off-limits due to my pregnancy!
We watched the park movie and checked out various pictures, articles, and artifacts inside the Plaza Theater building. We took in the view from various points along the rim while walking from the gondola back to the bridge itself on the south side. From there, we finally walked the bridge itself. The view down into the gorge to the Arkansas River down below was dizzying. This was enhanced by the fact that the bridge does bounce slightly, especially when the park shuttle drives across! The bridge is one of the world’s highest suspension bridges and it’s pretty impressive!
After exploring the park, we went into town and boarded the Royal Gorge Route Railroad Train. We’d booked seats in the Vista Dome car. This car has large windows that curve overhead for a good view. We had lunch and went out into the open air cars to enjoy the view from a totally different perspective. It’s pretty interesting to see the gorge from both above and below in the same day. We thought it was worth doing. Seeing how small the people on the bridge as well as the gondolas look from below was pretty striking!
