Royal Gorge and Travel Plans

Location: Pueblo KOA (el 5,050 ft); Pueblo, Colorado

(Click pictures to enlarge)
(all pictures taken with Nokia Lumia 929 cell phone)

I went to see the bridge that held the record as the highest bridge in the world for 72 years between 1929 and 2001. It is a suspension bridge across the Royal Gorge with the Arkansas River about 1,000 feet below. It is a Civil Engineering landmark for its time and surprisingly was constructed in only 7 months. There is a park surrounding it now-a-days with a cafe, gift shop, zip lines, gondola rides, etc. I don't like commercialization of attractions like this, but they have incorporated it into the surrounding very nicely, so I approve. :) 

It was very windy yesterday. I would guess it was blowing somewhere in the 30+ mph range with gusts even higher. There were times when I was facing into the wind that I thought it would blow my cell phone out of my hands. But overall, the weather was good, not too hot, not too cold, just right. I enjoyed walking over the bridge and just finding a placed to sit for a while. It was a good day.

It was a pretty day for this drive

Nice view of the bridge

It's not a bench, but it was still comfortable
with a great view

Showing the main cables coming back
to their anchorages.

Wooden deck

They have flags from all the states
I found Louisiana

Looking downstream in the valley. That is the Arkansas
River way down there.

A panoramic view. Notice the man on the far left as he holds his young daughter so she can look over the edge of the balcony.

Another panoramic view of the valley

This was the view while leaving the gorge area. I liked it.

Tomorrow is moving day. I'll be heading about 150 miles north to a state park in Loveland, Colorado. I couldn't make reservations because for some reason, you can't reserve a campsite less than 3 days in the future. Most of the time I don't know where I'll be in 3 days. But I called them and they said they shoujld have plenty of room, so I'll head there. It should be a good place to explore Rocky Mountain National Park and to just kick back and wait for nice weather in Yellowstone and Grand Teton. It also looks like Glacier National Park won't thaw out until the first of July so I need to "slow walk" it north for a couple of weeks. Boyd Lake State Park looks like a 5 or 6 day stay. We will see. 

Ya'll take care of each other. I'll Cya down the road.