The plunging Royal Gorge is cool in its own proper. But what’s even greater specific is that you could enjoy it in one-of-a-kind ways — from above, from underneath, from midway down the rock face.
Whether you’re a journey junkie, a leisurely sightseer or something in between, here are 8 approaches to experience one in all Colorado’s maximum iconic natural capabilities.
Walk throughout the highest suspension bridge in North America. Completed in 1929, the bridge is 956 toes above the Arkansas River and gives sweeping views of the gorge on both facets. Be certain to take a picture with your own home nation’s flag — each state is represented on the bridge. When the wind starts blowing, you might feel a touch squeamish being up so excessive, but the bridge becomes strengthened and refurbished within the Eighties (and checked out by means of engineers after the 2013 hearth) and is solid.
From the zip line
Once you’ve walked across the ancient bridge, take a first-rate fast way back: the zip line. You’ll be strapped right into a harness in a seated function, then driven off a platform to move flying throughout the gorge 1,200 feet above the Arkansas River. You don’t even want to maintain on!
From the trail
Lace-up your trekking boots and hit the Canyon Rim Trail, a mellow 1.7-mile route that you could hook up with other trails inside the park for a longer adventure.
From the thru Ferrata
One of the latest ways to peer the Royal Gorge is by using mountaineering its walls. Even in case, you’re not a skilled climber, you can still sense the coronary heart-pumping thrill of being perched on a rock wall high above the roaring river thanks to the new thru Ferrata in the park. Wearing a harness, you’ll clip onto a metal cable as you climb iron rungs up the facet of the gorge. There are routes of various difficulty and length, which includes a full-day trip.
It’s a form of like a bungee leap, and form of like a large swing set. You’ll strap in with up to two buddies, then loose fall and swing out over the gorge like a pendulum at 50 mph.
From a raft
Once you’ve regarded down on the Arkansas River, it’s time to hit the rapids and appearance up on the bridge. Echo Canyon River Expeditions, for example, gives 1/2-day and complete-day rafting trips (whole with a riverside steak lunch) via the Royal Gorge and along different, mellower stretches of Arkansas. You would possibly feel fearful about the rapids (with names like “Boat Eater” and “Sledgehammer,” who wouldn’t be?), but by no means fear. The team of skilled river guides will be positioned you proper secure — they are able to even point out interesting historic web sites and neighborhood flora and fauna whilst you navigate the water.
From the teach
A much less-excessive manner to view the bridge from below is by means of taking the experience at the Royal Gorge Route Railroad. You can select from an array of instructions of the carrier, including a trip subsequent to an engineer within the cab of a locomotive. Order food and drink on board, or ebook a price tag that includes a 3-route lunch or dinner. If you like a very good drama, you’ll be satisfied to recognize the tracks you’re driving alongside have been as soon as part of the extreme “railroad wars” of the 1870s, while railroad businesses competed to construct tracks thru the Royal Gorge.
