Full Time RV Travel: Canon City CO and the Royal Gorge Bridge

Driving south towards Canon City on

Colorado State Rd 115. . .this was our view.

The Sangre de Cristo mountain range. . .

Not sure which snow covered peak

we are seeing, but I do know that

on the other side is New Mexico. . .

Canon City (pronounced Canyon) is a cute little tourist town. . .

Much bigger than I had anticipated. . .

they even have a Super Walmart. . .

but we were headed about 7 miles away

to the Royal Gorge Bridge. . .

which was the highest bridge in the world until 2001. ..

isn't that cool?

Since I don't do history lessons here on the blog. . .

this sign post pretty much covers the basics

There was a bit of a dispute about how far down it is

to the Arkansas River below. ..

the sign post says 1053 ft. . .

I believe the actual record is 955 feet. ..

but hey, I only know what I read. . .

I do know that when you are standing in the middle of the bridge,

reading the NO FISHING SIGN (really?). . .

you can hear the roar of the river. . .is is awesome.

and yes, believe me, vehicles do still drive across the bridge!

I didn’t know John F. Kennedy had a mountain

named after him. . .

but you can see it from here.

We rode the incline rail car to the bottom of the canyon. . .

where we could see the Arkansas River. . .

up close and personal. . .

The Royal Gorge train from Canon City

made it into the Canon, while we were at the bottom. . .

The folks in the open air car were very friendly!

there’s nowhere for the train to turn around,

so when they get to the end of the line,

they hafta back out of the canyon.

as hostile as the environment at the bottom seems,

there are still beautiful cactus and wildflowers growing down there. . .

and last thing. . .before we head back to the top. . .

although it is collapsing. . .

the water flume is still very recognizable. . .

We spent about four hours at the Royal Bridge Park. . .

and enjoyed most of it immensely. . .

You can read our more about our

  personal  Royal Gorge experience here, 

if you would like. . .

and because once a fireman, always a fireman

of course Dave had to have a pic of the

Royal Gorge Fire Engine. . .