July 7, 2025

July 7, 2025

After learning about Zebulon Pike and his exploration of the Arkansas River headwaters, we decided to follow his footsteps. From Pueblo, CO we paralleled the river upstream to Royal Gorge (or Grand Canyon of the Arkansas). This very narrow canyon stymied Pike’s advance forcing him to climb out of the gorge. Today it is easier to appreciate. In 1929 a tourist bridge was built across it. It was the highest suspension bridge (955 feet) in the world for many years until the Chinese built similar bridges recently.

I thought this was going to be merely an expensive step across a tall bridge, but it turned out to be a nice experience. There were a ton of storyboards about the history and even a movie. Two railroads competed to build a rail line inside the gorge to service a new silver mine in Leadville. A shooting war erupted that included the gunslingers Bat Masterson and Doc Holliday. Today that rail line is strictly for tourists while rafters ply the river rapids.

The bridge company has added lots of extra adrenaline-rushing activities for the adventure seeker, including rock climbing, canyon swinging and zip-lining. At our age, we took the gondola ride back across the gorge to the other side. Humorously our cabin mates were a couple of immigrants living in the Houston area. She was from Dublin and he a chemist from South Africa.

From Royal Gorge we drove back to nearby Canon City, but took the detour along Skyline Drive. It turns out to be a scenic but very narrow one-way road atop the adjoining Hogback Ridge. It is only three miles long. The Colorado front range is full of these tilted rock layers. Along the way we stop to see a set of dinosaur tracks along the cliff wall.

Besides the gorge and all the outdoor activities, Canon City is famous for being the home of eleven prisons. That has to be some kind of record. Not surprisingly Skyline Drive was built by inmate labor. We stopped at a Thai restaurant in the Historic downtown area for a tasty red curry lunch.

From Canon City we drive along the Colorado front range of the Rockies to Colorado Springs. It is a beautiful drive. The dramatic mountains with their red soil and green pine trees are stunning. After checking in we relax for an hour. We drove to the Colorado Springs airport to have dinner at the Airplane Restaurant. It sits inside an old Boeing KC-97 tanker. It is very cute. The waitresses are dressed as pilots and stay in character. The meal was pretty good for airplane food, although I had to remind Aimee to put her phone in airplane mode.