Royal Gorge Route Railroad Dinner Train

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In honor of our birthdays, we took a trip on the Royal Gorge Route Railroad.

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A little narrow gauge steam engine they have on display at the station in Cañon City.

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It is a geared locomotive.

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Creepy mannequin in the cab.

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Train backing into the station after a run up the gorge.


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Neat open air cars.  They just cut the top off of some old passenger cars and took the seats out.


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Train being hooked up to the extra cars used on the dinner run.


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Heading down to our car.

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Auxiliary power unit to run the kitchens.

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Looking downriver as we head up into the Royal Gorge.



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Starting to get into the narrow part of the route.

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Old pipeline made out of wood that used to feed Cañon City with water.


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Tiny champagne bottle.  For some reason, they couldn’t give us glasses with our tiny bottles.


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The Royal Gorge Bridge in sight!


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Moon rising behind the train.


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Pulling past the bridge far above us onto the A-frame railroad bridge through the absolute narrowest part of the canyon.

IMG_5252Our two adorable little bottles.


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This is a very unique railroad bridge.  It suspends the railroad between the two cliff faces and over the river.


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The moon and two extraordinary bridges.

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Heading further up the canyon.

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Out onto the plains above Royal Gorge.


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Dinner in the dome car.

Royal Gorge Jeep Tour


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As part of our birthday weekend celebration, we took a Jeep tour of Royal Gorge and surrounding areas with Colorado Jeep Tours.  The jeep we rode in is on the left in this picture.

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An older guy was our guide and driver.

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Heading through Cañon City.

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Across the Arkansas River.


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Into one of the older cemeteries in town.

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Lots of graves of Civil War veterans from both sides of the conflict.

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The prisoner plots.  People who died in the prisons around Cañon City and didn’t have family collect their bodies ended up here.


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Looking north toward the hogsback where Skyline Drive is located.
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Heading out on a dirt road.  No need for 4×4 on this road.

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Fossil formation at the side of the road.

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An interesting rock formation.

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A little sun from the other side of the mountains.

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Pretty wildflowers along the road.


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Crossing over Plum Creek.

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Heading out over an expanse of grassland and scrub trees.

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Heading into the burn scar near Royal Gorge.

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This is usually the entrance/exit to the Royal Gorge Bridge on the south side of the Arkansas River.  No traffic is on this road because the park is still officially closed.

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A few structures survived the fire.  The huge swing out over the canyon still works.

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First view of the Royal Gorge Bridge.  Only a few wooden planks had to be replaced.


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Heading across the bridge.  The lighter-colored planks were replaced after the fire.

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Each state has a place on the bridge.  I think they probably normally have flags as well but since the park is still mostly shut down, not everything is back to normal yet.


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The Arkansas River and the railroad line deep in the canyon.

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Someone having fun on the big swing.


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At the midpoint on the bridge.


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Almost to the other side.

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Massive cables heading into the rock.

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Some of the burned-out structures and the new visitor center being built.



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Heading up a road that actually needed high clearance.

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A peak at Royal Gorge.


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The bridge in the distance.

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Our 4×4 parked at the top of the little viewing area that the Jeep tour company maintains.

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The river waaaaaay down in the canyon bottom.

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Getting ready to load up in the Jeep again.


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Heading back down the rough road.