Canon City, Colorado Mountain Activities & Recreation

An area as unique as a fingerprint, you’ll find a cascade of activities here to be found nowhere else in the world.

The Royal Route Gorge. World’s steepest incline railway. Runs beneath the world’s highest suspension bridge, towering above the train and the Arkansas River at 1,053 feet and stretching ¼ mile from one side to the other.  Built in 1879 and still running Dome Cars from the 1950’s, it is the only train that runs through the Gorge. It’s absolutely an experience you won’t soon forget.
 
Neither will you soon forget leaping off this bridge in what’s been recently coined as the Royal Rush Skycoaster, named the “Scariest Skycoaster in the World.” Harnessed riders are released from a 100 foot tower and swings out over the Royal Gorge, hanging you over the 1,200 drop to the Gorge floor for a heart-stopping moment. This is not your grandmother’s thrill ride.

The Mountain Man encampment will hurl you back in time to experience how the first mountain men and women lived in Colorado, how they survived brutal ravaging winters and dry summers in authentic costume and living quarters. Battles daily May through September will enchant you and leave you with images of the Wild West that will follow you home.

Hungry for more? Visit Buckskin Joe, a frontier town located outside of Canon City, whose inhabitants still practice shoot-outs at high noon, enjoy their favorite drinks in the local saloon and food at their favorite grub-stop. An original mining town previously located 2 miles outside of Alma, Buckskin Joe boasts the H.A.W Tabor Store, moved from its home, into the heart of Royal Gorge Country to bring with it the title of last standing building from Buckskin Joe. History breathes here.

Whitewater rafting is, of course, a staple here as well, as is camping and horseback riding. If you truly want a thrill, take a helicopter tour of the Gorge, or revel in the heart-stopping adventure of skydiving.

If you’re looking for something a little more tame, Canon City accommodates. Home to the Winery at Holy Cross Abbey, a vineyard started in 1926, you can kick back summer or winter to relax with a glass of wine and views of snowdrifts or lush gardens.

Canon City also features hiking over 700 miles of trails in the 1,109,782 acres of San Isabel National Forest, biking, superior pool and fly fishing in a stretch of river rich with Brown Trout before the river drops off into less abundant fishing grounds. Visit the Dinosaur Depot and the Garden Park Fossil Area, where archaeologists still search for fossils, or the 10 acre Wapiti Western Wildlife Park to see elk, bighorn sheep and a white buffalo among other indigenous Colorado wildlife.