Royal Gorge

Royal Gorge is a cable bridge flying 956 feet above the river below. There are 4100 steel cables keeping it stable and anchored on either side of the cliff sides. It took 80 men working for 7 months in 1929 to complete the original bridge. After a fire in 2013 most of the park had to be rebuilt but the bridge itself stood up against the flames with the exception of some wooden planks. This is still the highest suspension bridge in America and during the rebuild after the fire they installed the highest zipline as well.

Being someone who loves looking at architecture, what I think is awesome about Royal Gorge is seeing 20th century architecture attached to a millions year old cliff side created by flowing water.

Down by the river at the bottom of the ravine is the Royal Gorge Railroad where you can ride the train and have a meal looking up at this spectacle. We didn’t visit the train this trip but it’s something to keep in mind for next time.

No matter how many cables hold this bridge in the air, you can still feel everyone’s movement swaying as you walk across. A maintenance truck drove across while we were on it and which was a little scary considering how much give that showed.

Calling this “America’s Bridge” isn’t taken lightly. They have every state’s flag displayed across the 1,260ft length.

The day we visited, they didn’t have the zip line running due to maintenance but we did get to ride the gondola. We decided to walk across the bridge and ride the gondola back. I would suggest to any future travelers to do the opposite…the walk up to the gondola from the far side of the bridge is steep and we were there on probably the hottest day of our trip.

View from the middle of the bridge

Sitting next to the parking lot was this cool old train engine on display.