We stayed in Royal View Campground, about 15 minutes outside of Cañon City. It was super clean and quiet, especially since it only allowed people older than 45 years old. One evening, we enjoyed playing pickle ball, shuffle board, and putt putt at the campground. Randy also enjoyed their swimming pool one day.
Cañon City had lots to do, so we stayed seven nights and kept pretty busy…
We did a white water rafting trip with River Runners through the Royal Gorge that had several fun rapids. We were in a raft with a father and college aged son, along with the guide, and did not have any issues. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any photos on that trip, but being on the river while going through the gorge was beautiful.
We walked across the impressive Royal Gorge Bridge, with its breath-taking views. It felt a bit random, but they had a live bird show in their theater. Not a show where the birds fly around, but more of a show-and-tell about birds. We learned interesting facts about falcons, owls and vultures. One of the vultures was raised by humans, so it didn’t learn to fly. It was funny, walking and hopping around, following the lady wherever she went. After that, we hiked up a long, steep hill to ride the gondola back to the entrance. The views were amazing from there, too! Lesson learned — get on the gondola near the entrance, then walk DOWN the steep hill and cross the bridge!
We rode our bikes along the Arkansas Riverwalk Trail, which is my favorite trail so far. It was a crushed gravel trail with lots of shade along the river. We stopped at a bench and ate our sandwiches beside the river, enjoying the sound of the rushing water. There was one area of the trail that went through dense trees and felt other-worldly. Instead of stopping when we got back to the truck, we kept riding and went to the Tunnel Drive. The battery in my electric bike was getting low, so it had a hard time making it up the steep hill to get to the tunnels, but thankfully it waited until coming down to totally die. I had to ride the bike a few miles back to the truck without battery power — only using leg power — craziness! (but seriously, the bike weighs over 60 pounds, so it’s harder to pedal than a normal bike)
We went tubing / floating in Centennial Park‘s Whitewater Park. There are several rapids in the park area, so we walked up river a ways, put in, floated down about 1/2 mile, then took out and walked back to do it again. We also floated down a couple of times in just our life vests, without the tubes, which I felt was easier, being able to swim in the water instead of trying to maneuver the tube.
We rode 4-wheelers with Play Dirty ATV Tours. The first half of the trip was pretty slow, given the restricted 5-10 mph speed limit the company is supposed to obey on the BLM land. The trail was steep, curvy and rocky, so it was still fun enough to maneuver along the path. Coming back down the trail, the guide eventually sped up above the 10 mph limit, which was a LOT more fun!
We drove along the Skyline Drive which had spectacular views overlooking the city.
We went to the Museum of Colorado Prisons.
We attended Grandview Christian Church on Sunday morning.
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