Where to next? The Royal Gorge

I have lived in Colorado most of my life and I have never been to the Royal Gorge. Well that finally changed. Over the weekend I went to the Royal Gorge with my family from the top and the bottom as a continuation of my year of exploring Colorado.

First we saw the Gorge from the top. The park has been completely redone in the last few years due to fire damage. We arrived early enough that there were not a lot of people there yet, but it was still plenty hot. Foregoing the websites advise we crossed the bridge first (it was big and shiny). The giant suspension bridge is accessible by foot or vehicle over the wooden planks. The views were beautiful and the height was astounding, but as someone who walked across the bridge I did not appreciate the motorized vehicles that were driving back and forth with workers and guests. Whenever a vehicle (golf cart, gator, truck, or trolley car) went across the entire bridge shook. Even though the bridge is totally capable of holding the weight of the vehicles, when they go across (as someone who is not afraid of heights) I had to stop walking and occasionally grab the side rail.

Once on the other side of the Gorge there was the theater house, cafe (that was not yet open for the day), a play area for kids, the Skycoaster, and access to the zipline and other side of the gondola. So the issue of walking across the bridge first was that there is a large uphill trek to get to the gondola to take you back across and the vehicles do not go up the hill. Regardless we made the trek up the hill and were immediately able to get onto the gondola.

We ventured back to Canon City to board the lunchtime Royal Gorge Route Railroad train. In anticipation we waited in the heat with all of the other tourist getting on and off of the train. Finally we boarded the train and the train got moving on its 2 hour round-trip route through the Gorge. The train ride was super smooth. We did order some food since it was lunchtime. Between orders of nachos, burger and chips, and mac-n-cheese we were all able to eat well, but the food was not spectacular, it was just cool because it was on a train. The train weaved through the hills along the Arkansas River where rafted made their way through Class 5 rapids while waving to train passengers as we passed. It was amazing to see the height of the gorge walls from the open air car and even more impressive to see the bridge that we had been standing on just hours earlier.

Finally, we made it back to the station, enjoyed some cake and Italian food (in that order), and went home where sleep was calling my name. It was worth the experience at least once in my life, but now I've seen it so I'm good. A note if I do ever go back: don't go in the middle of summer and put on sunscreen.