These wood and cable pipes (30" diameter) used to carry water to Canyon City
Royal Gorge Bridge - one of the highest in the US (beats out the New River Bridge)
Several sets of these steel beams suspend the rails above the river. The gorge is too narrow here to actually lay tracks, so they had to hang the rails. (The narrow width of the gorge also caused problems between competing lines who wanted this area.)
So, we hung out in Canyon City, took the excursion train through the Royal Gorge (quite majestic - dessert-like with steep sides). The river looked kick-ass, but the State Park people close the water to commercial groups over 3200cfs, so we ended up doing the Big Horn Sheep Canyon (upstream and less intense). The water was still pretty awesome for the rafting trip, with massive wave trains, hydrolics that reminded me of the upper Ocoee, and a good guide. We had a pretty pitiful group in the raft, so we ended up sneaking some of the tougher (aka more fun) lines. I did get to ride in the back, though, which made the waves all the more fun. There was a ton of gear in the back, so I was tucked in pretty funny (my knee supported most of my weight while resting on drybag in front of me). Anyhoo. We saw some big horns on the river banks, and got home pleasantly tired.
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