Envious of the tourists flocking to Colorado Springs after boosters there built the road up Pikes Pike, Denver citizens followed suit building a road to the top of slightly-taller Mount Evans. Disadvantaged in this scenic arms race, with no 14,000 foot mountain to ascend, Canon City denizens instead looked down in to the Royal Gorge. Acquiring the adjacent land from the federal government, they built a suspension bridge over the gorge, and immediately added a incline plane to the canyon floor. Today the park still exists with additional attractions including an aerial tram crossing just down stream from the suspension bridge.
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Though the entrance fee is steep ($22 with coupon), I, ever the sucker for superlatives, paid it to walk across the world's tallest suspension bridge. Surprised by the additional attractions I spent a little more than two hours at the park, finishing with a slow drive across the marquee span.
An incline plane takes passengers down to the bottom of the canyon...
...and an aerial tram whisks passengers across the chasm...
...but the parks raison de etre is a suspension bridge spanning to gorge, reportedly the tallest in the world 1,053 ft to the river below.
Looking down from the aerial tram.
The incline plane....
... to the bottom of the canyon.
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