Trip through the Royal Gorge

September 24 – We were up early and had some bacon, fruit and half each of the huge rolls

Boarding the train

Royal Gorge Engine

Darlene brought for us!  We were ready to go when they picked us up at 8:15.  We arrived at the train depot for our Royal Gorge Train trip in plenty of time to park, pick up our tickets, check out the gift shop and people watch!  The train left at 9:30 and we bought tickets for one of the Dome cars.  We had a table for 4 so we could easily converse while travelling the 11 miles to Parkdale, population “3”.  There was some concern before boarding that there would be too much fog and cloud cover for a good experience but that was no problem.  There were rafters and many lost paddles scattered along the river.  Clouds were hanging low over the gorge walls.  All along the river is a wooden pipeline built

Clouds in the Gorge

Rafters

from 1908-1910 by convicts from the Territorial Prison in Canon City.  This brought water into the city until 1972.

The train route was built in 1879 and this section closed in 1967 as a passenger line and reopened in 1999 as a tourist route.  It grew from humble beginnings with 5 passenger cars and a cooler for drinks to vista Dome cars, open cars and regular cars and serving first class meals.  Many special events are hosted annually as well as weddings, etc.

Foot bridge over the gorge

Seeing the Royal Gorge Bridge above was exciting in itself, both on the way up and back. 

Wooden pipeline through the mountain
along the gorge

We also saw the housing for the “gatekeeper” who managed the water flow in the water pipe.  At the end of the ride in Parkdale is where we stopped and headed south again.  That is also where the rafters put in.  Today was too cold for me to be rafting but I’m sure they enjoyed the numerous rapids along the river.  The train stops on the way back for viewing rock formations and

Hanging bridge train tracks

explanation of the “hanging bridge” which is a section of the tracks that are not on land.  A hanging bridge was built suspended out wide enough for the train tracks.  It was pretty amazing!  On part of the ride back we went out to the open car to get better photos, especially of the bridge overhead.

When we arrived back at the station the 12:30 crowd was at the gate awaiting our exit. It was a bit expensive but most likely a “once in a lifetime” thing for us. 

Lunchtime!  Knowing we would be eating out for dinner tonight, we chose something more reasonable for lunch, Wendy’s. We arrived just before the rush, but it’s the way we arrived that kept us laughing!  Mike has been doing the driving since our car is packed with

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

holey boards, water and other paraphernalia in the back seat.  He was making the left turn onto the side street of Wendy’s and stopped as there was a car approaching,  suddenly he made the turn to our amazement, then as he turned into the lot at Wendy’s he ran over the curb (he said he didn’t see it!) and we were still clamoring about his turn onto the street and then he just about shot back out onto the main road and we were all alarming him to stop and he whipped into a parking spot and then proceeded to jump out of the car and not turn it off!  It all happened so fast, and Darlene and I busted out laughing uncontrollably!  Phew!  Once we got our meals and “calmly” had our meal, I got tickled about it all over again and could barely contain myself!  I warned Mike it was going in the blog, but maybe you had to be there to really experience it!

Dinosaur tracks

View of Canon City from Skyline Drive

After Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride we were hesitant to have Mike drive us all on Skyline Drive.  The drive is a 3 mile one-way narrow road up and across a crest 800 feet up with “hogbacks”.  The vote was to give him another chance!  The view was spectacular and there are dinosaur tracks in the rocks to view.  We stopped several times along the way for the view and photos.  It was really a nice drive with great views of Canon City. 

Mike took us back to the RV park where we all took a siesta until time to head out for dinner.  They picked us up at 5:30 and we headed to El Capitan, a Mexican Restaurant.  Timing is everything and once we were seated the crowd was backing up in the lobby.  The service was very good and we all enjoyed our meals.  However, we all had just enough space left for junior Frostys from Wendy’s.  We picked them up at the drive-thru and brought them back to the RV and enjoyed our dessert.

Unfortunately the fun (and exciting) day had to end and we said our good-byes tonight since Mike and Darlene are leaving early in the morning!  We certainly enjoyed our time with them and look forward to the next time. It has been 2 years since we last saw them for a quick breakfast while we were on the road.

Bill and I watched some TV and settled down to read for a bit!