Royal Gorge and bridge A
The Royal Gorge is a canyon carved by the Arkansas River near Canyon City, Colorado. It is very deep (1,250-feet) and narrow (only 300-feet at the top). With a ...
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The Royal Gorge is a canyon carved by the Arkansas River near Canyon City, Colorado. It is very deep (1,250-feet) and narrow (only 300-feet at the top). With a 27-mm lens equivalent, I was unable to get both the depth of the Gorge and the length of the bridge.
The Gorge was carved in the same mechanism as the Grand Canyon: the stream already existed before the land started being lifted by geologic forces, so the stream slowly cut down as the land was lifted. But the rock here is hard granite, rather than soft sedimentary rocks, so the Gorge is much narrower than the Canyon.
The bridge was built as the only access for visitors to see the Gorge, other than from the railroad that runs through the gorge. It is one of the world’s highest suspension bridges.
Unfortunately, in 2013 a wildfire burned the forests around the top of the Gorge, so the area is currently pretty bare and in recovery.
There are white-water rafting trips down the Arkansas through the Gorge; but one is too busy paddling to appreciate the bridge from below.
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The Gorge was carved in the same mechanism as the Grand Canyon: the stream already existed before the land started being lifted by geologic forces, so the stream slowly cut down as the land was lifted. But the rock here is hard granite, rather than soft sedimentary rocks, so the Gorge is much narrower than the Canyon.
The bridge was built as the only access for visitors to see the Gorge, other than from the railroad that runs through the gorge. It is one of the world’s highest suspension bridges.
Unfortunately, in 2013 a wildfire burned the forests around the top of the Gorge, so the area is currently pretty bare and in recovery.
There are white-water rafting trips down the Arkansas through the Gorge; but one is too busy paddling to appreciate the bridge from below.
Read less
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