Canon, Colorado
Royal Gorge and Bridge Park is America’s highest suspension bridge. At 956 feet above the Arkansas River, it is quite a feat of engineering having been built in 1929. Eighty men completed the bridge in just seven months.
A Texan, by the name of Lon Piper, was a businessman and bridge builder who had the dream to build the highest suspension bridge in the world. Along with engineer George E. Cole, they came up with a plan.
Steel towers 150 feet high were built first on opposite sides of the gorge. Then two steel cables were lowered into the gorge, joined and pulled back up.
Two primary suspension cables consist of 2,100 strands of No. 9 galvanized wire in each cable. They are attached securely on each side as shown below.
The Royal Gorge Bridge spans 1,260 feet from rim to rim. The bridge floor is made of wooden planks. About 1/5th of them are replaced every year.
Since the bridge and park are privately owned, there is an entrance fee. We started our tour by walking across the bridge. It is about a quarter of a mile in length. We looked over the sides and saw the rapids of the Arkansas River below.
There is also a railroad track and a train that takes visitors through the gorge for a price. We crossed the bridge and while we were looking around, we heard the train whistle echoing in the canyon below.
On the other side of the gorge is a plaza with places to eat, and a theater. The theater is also a museum. We caught the first showing of a movie that tells the history of the bridge and its construction.
I took some photos of the bridge looking back at the Visitors’ Center before walking back across.
The flags of all 50 states are displayed along the sides of the bridge. We found our home state flag of Texas. I was very surprised to see that I caught a bird or something in the background of the photo. My best guess is it was a scissor-tailed flycatcher.
The canyon is stunningly beautiful, with red rocks, and distant mountains.
Our ticket included a gondola ride across the abyss. We didn’t know that we could ride it back after we walked across. So we got in line on the Visitors’ Center side. We were crammed in with six other people. It was hot and stuffy and the windows were dirty, so the photos weren’t very clear.
The gondola is suspended above the canyon. It’s a long way down.
The entire bridge can be seen from the gondola ride. After we rode across, we didn’t want to walk back across the bridge again, so we rode the gondola back. That time we were the only ones in our car.
The views of the gorge from the bridge are really beautiful. It’s a testament to the wonderful variety and splendor of the creation of God.
Royal Gorge Suspension Bridge held the title of highest suspension bridge in the world until 2012. Today, it is highest suspension bridge in the United States.
As recently as 2012, a wildfire burned all the park’s buildings and some wooden planks of the bridge. The bridge was unharmed otherwise, and the buildings were rebuilt in seven months.
I visited here when I was a child, but I didn’t remember much about it. I was glad to see it again from an adult perspective. I appreciate the men back in 1929 who dreamed big enough to build a bridge that is a place for people to enjoy today.
The Royal Gorge reminds me of the huge chasm between man and God, and how Jesus bridged the gap that we could never cross.
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” I Timothy 2:5
Isn’t it wonderful to know that God is the Great Engineer who built a bridge across to us so that we could have a relationship with a holy God through Jesus, His Son.
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We drove back to our campground in Canon, Colorado. There was a storm that blew through in the evening making the distant mountains take on a purple hue.
We’d had enough excitement for the day. It was good to be back home.
