The Royal Gorge Bridge, in Colorado, is the highest bridge in America and was the highest bridge in the world until 2001, and the highest suspension bridge until 2003. In both cases, the Chinese built something higher.
For the 300th week of my weekly 1-minute Moving Postcard video series, fashion designer and quilter Miriam Blaich (visiting from Berlin), husband Scott Solary, dog Whiskey, and I went on a little road trip to Cañon City in Fremont County, Colorado, to explore the Royal Gorge and surrounding attractions.
I ended up shooting material for 5 videos, which I will share in the coming weeks. But for now, let’s take a walk across the Royal Gorge Bridge… And if you dare, we’ll even take the gondola…
The Royal Gorge is about 10 miles long, with granite walls rising 1,000 feet above the winding Arkansas River. The river, then just a trickle, started carving this gorge about 3 million years ago and continues to “dig out” another foot every 2,500 years.
The Royal Gorge Bridge was built in 1929 as a tourist attraction. The bridge deck crosses the Arkansas River at 955 feet (291 m), its span is 880 feet (270 m), and its total length is 1,260 feet (384 m).
To walk or drive (in the mornings and evenings only) across the bridge, you have to enter the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park. The price of admission ($20) includes not only access to the bridge, but also viewing of a documentary and riding the gondola. The 360-acres park offers other rides and attractions, like zip-lining across the gorge.
A few tips: Before or after you explore the park and the bridge, turn off the main road to the park and stop to enjoy majestic vistas at the Elkhorn Picnic area. Get your ticket online to save $2. Last but not least, walking across the bridge first and then taking the gondola back requires a bit of a hike to the gondola station. If you want to avoid the trek up the hill, take the gondola across first, then leisurely walk down to the bridge.
In the video, you can see the Royal Gorge Railroad train snaking its way along the bottom of the gorge. Our original plan for week 300 was to take that train and make a video about that – because I LOVE train travel. However, even weeks in advance, tickets were sold out. But don’t you worry, I already have a plan to take the train another time and share that video with you.
Oh, and the difference between a gorge and a canyon? A gorge is much wider at the top than at the bottom.
The featured song is called “Paper Wings” by Jason Shaw of Audinautix.com. He has made this and many other instrumental songs available via a CC BY 3.0 license, which is totally awesome! Thank you so much for all your creativity and generosity, Jason!
Keep an eye out for more photos from the Royal Gorge that I’ll be posting on my personal blog soon and for more videos shot during week 300, which I’ll publish right here within the next month or so…
