Royal Gorge - A Vacation Highlight

.Royal Gorge - A Vacation Highlight.

To be completely honest, we didn't even realize that the Royal Gorge Bridge & Park existed before leaving for our vacation to Colorado. We just happened to look at brochures about the area & fell in love with the photos. We decided it was something we really wanted to see on our vacation, so we changed plans a bit and made it happen!

The Royal Gorge is a little less than 1 1/2 hours south of Colorado Springs. We drove there early Monday morning of our vacation. I was expecting a really neat bridge & cool view, but what we actually saw was way more than I ever expected.  Our tickets for the bridge included unlimited gondola rides, access to the playground, walking across the bridge & the grounds.  We decided to ride the gondola over to the other side, enjoy the other side & then walk back across the bridge. 

This was a panoramic view from the viewing deck.  

I have seen a lot of amazing places in my life, but never anything quite like this. With the bridge, mountains, ravine & river below, my mouth was probably hanging wide open most of the day! 

A little history about the bridge...

One of the deepest gorges in Colorado, the Royal Gorge is approximately 10 miles long with the Arkansas River running through it with granite walls towering over 1,000 feet. The gorge was created some three million years ago when a trickle of water first began to slowly carve a canyon out of the solid granite bedrock. That trickle is now the raging Arkansas, one of America’s longest rivers. The Arkansas river continues to carve its' depth at a rate of about a foot every 2,500 years.

The Royal Gorge is considered a world wonder with its rare red granite formations and has been referred to as the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas by the first American Explorers. The width at the bottom of the gorge is no more than 40 to 50 feet.

Fire - June 2013  ... The Royal Gorge Bridge & Park stood unscathed in the mist of its beautiful surroundings until Tuesday, June 11, 2013 when a wildfire raged into the park. One of Colorado’s premier attractions since 1929, along with the pinion and cedar tree landscape was devastated by the Royal Gorge Fire. Just about everything in the 360-acre park except our historic Bridge was destroyed.

(History & Fire information via the Royal Gorge website) 

The playground was a huge highlight for the kids! I even enjoyed climbing through it. It reminded me of a rope park I played at near Minneapolis as a kid. It had rope climbing areas, slides, & look outs! 

Near the playground was a small carousel. We took a little ride before walking across the bridge.  

Let's go! It was a very windy day & the bridge was moving back & forth. But we walked across anyways! 

WOW! That is long ways down! 

What a view! 

If you are ever near Colorado Springs, I suggest you take a drive down to the Royal Gorge Bridge & Park, you will NOT be disappointed! It is a view you will never forget! The Royal Gorge ended up being a trip highlight of our vacation to Colorado. 

Check out my 1st Colorado vacation post - Colorado Springs in a weekend!