Our summer trip so far

[I-RV]

Boo - I don't suppose that you drove your MH across the bridge. I drove across the Royal Gorge bridge many years ago. - Hank

[boowho]

Originally Posted by I-RV

Boo - I don't suppose that you drove your MH across the bridge. I drove across the Royal Gorge bridge many years ago. - Hank

Hank, I did not. I'd be pretty certain that the weight limit on the bridge is lower than the coach weight. I too drove across it in a VW micro-bus back in the early 1970's. More fun to walk though; when a car passes you, the bridge shakes a bit and the wooden planks rattle loudly. Thrilling enough for me!!!

Every spring there is a "rash" of suicides off the bridge. Then it seems to quit until the next spring. Base jumpers have sneaked on to the bridge and jumped; then get arrested at the bottom.

Also has been some sanctioned bungee jumping within the last few years.

I guess the biggest thrill of all, would be the new zip-line they've installed where you actually travel all the way across the gorge.

After the major brush fire of 2013, everything was pretty much restored except the 45 degree (felt like it was completely vertical!!) incline rail tram to the bottom of the gorge.

boowho??

[boowho]

Here's a couple of pics. I didn't take these, but show a few neat things.

For example, the "hanging bridge" a the bottom. The gorge was so narrow at that point they had to hang one side of it on trusses to the opposite canyon wall. Then heavy cable from the trusses to the bridge itself; you can see them in the pic.

The bridge was built in the 1870's and is still in use.

Also, the now-destroyed incline railway to the bottom.

The pics with the small sign is directly in the middle of the span when you walk across. Just past that "chicken wire", 1000 feet of thin air!!!

You can see the bridge 1000 feet above the train passing thru. The last actual scheduled passenger service thru the gorge was in the late 60's I believe. Freight trains continued to around 1990 or so, IIRC.

Today, there are "excursion" trains twice a day thru the gorge. Some open cars, some covered. I think the fare is like $70 a person and the round trip takes about an hour and a half to 2 hours.

All the dates and $$ amounts, etc are SWA guesses on my part. So if you're a real train aficionado and see incorrect info, I apologize.

boowho??

[I-RV]

Boo - any pictures perchance of you on the zip line ??? Hank

[boowho]

Originally Posted by I-RV

Boo - any pictures perchance of you on the zip line ??? Hank

Hank, I would LOVE to.... But I think I might literally die of fright. At the very least the bottom of the canyon would be full of "stuff".

25 years ago I'd have been first in line, though.

Boowho??

[boowho]

Left Buena Vista, CO Sept 28th. Arrived Moab, UT on Oct 1st.

Nice trip over from Colorado. Two pictures of going through Glenwood Canyon on I70 in CO. The canyon is so narrow in some places that they had to build the opposing lanes on bridges. In some places the E bound and W bound lanes are separated by 50-100 feet vertically.

Also a couple of the Moab area. One is of Castle Tower where quite a few TV commercials have been shot over the years.

Lot's of movies shot in this area as well. We found and stood on the spot where the bad guys hacienda was built in the Commancheros. Imagine, I've walked in John Waynes footsteps.

Here's the link to once such ad (Joe Isuzu from the 90's) shot on top of Castle Tower.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_56s80s3Ds

Also one shot at Fisher (no relation) Tower which is about 10 miles from our current CG. You can see the Colorado River far below the top of the tower. A small part of the tower collapsed a year or so ago. Geologists estimate it had been standing there for 245 million years!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsSDGwIf8Z0

The girl doing the climb rates this as a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10

Have been pretty much out of cell/data coverage for the last week. But that changes tomorrow (moving to town) so more pics coming.

Boowho??

[Phil57]

Beautiful and very interesting. Thanks for sharing Bill.

[5456Mich]

Some nice shots there Boo. Is it a little nerve racking looking down over the edge of roadway ?

[Campin Cajun]

Great pics Bill, keep em coming.


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[I-RV]

Boo - you bring back great memories of last year when we were at Arches Nat'l. Park and Bryce Canyon. Just beautiful. Did you attempt to scale your namesake? - Hank

[ependydad]

I just drove from Colorado Springs to Moab. I think I recognize some of those roads. We go exploring Arches, Canyonland, and other stuff this coming weekend.

[boowho]

Originally Posted by I-RV

Boo - you bring back great memories of last year when we were at Arches Nat'l. Park and Bryce Canyon. Just beautiful. Did you attempt to scale your namesake? - Hank

Nah, it's too milquetoast for my tastes.

Hank, quit harassing me!

Boowho??

[boowho]

Originally Posted by ependydad

I just drove from Colorado Springs to Moab. I think I recognize some of those roads. We go exploring Arches, Canyonland, and other stuff this coming weekend.

My son arrives from Florida tomorrow afternoon. I think Arches will be on our schedule on Sunday or Monday.

I highly recommend UT 128 along the Colorado River for at least the first 20 miles or so. That will take you to Fisher Tower Road (marked by sign). Also check out the "loop" road that forks off of 128 about 17 miles from town.

The loop will take you up around 4000 feet above Fisher Tower, Castle Tower and offers fantastic views of both of the towers.

The weather here is ideal right now but you may find a bit of snow if you take the loop road. There is quite a bit showing on top of the La Sal mountains.

Boowho??

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by boowho

My son arrives from Florida tomorrow afternoon. I think Arches will be on our schedule on Sunday or Monday.



I highly recommend UT 128 along the Colorado River for at least the first 20 miles or so. That will take you to Fisher Tower Road (marked by sign). Also check out the "loop" road that forks off of 128 about 17 miles from town.



The loop will take you up around 4000 feet above Fisher Tower, Castle Tower and offers fantastic views of both of the towers.



The weather here is ideal right now but you may find a bit of snow if you take the loop road. There is quite a bit showing on top of the La Sal mountains.



Boowho??

Funny that you mention driving 128 for the first 20 miles or so. I literally drove that today taking my daughter to a trail ride. The ranch was the same road as Fisher Towers- just the other way towards the river. We drove up to Fisher Towers afterwards, but she was really thirsty and I was wearing flip flops. We walked up a little, but not far.

The weather has been pretty stunning this week. It sounds like we'll leave for Vegas on Monday afternoon. Hoping to do our sight-seeing this weekend.

What do you think of the dinosaur trails? We have a 3 year old boy.

[boowho]

Originally Posted by ependydad

Funny that you mention driving 128 for the first 20 miles or so. I literally drove that today taking my daughter to a trail ride. The ranch was the same road as Fisher Towers- just the other way towards the river. We drove up to Fisher Towers afterwards, but she was really thirsty and I was wearing flip flops. We walked up a little, but not far.

The weather has been pretty stunning this week. It sounds like we'll leave for Vegas on Monday afternoon. Hoping to do our sight-seeing this weekend.

What do you think of the dinosaur trails? We have a 3 year old boy.

Sorry to not respond sooner. I was pretty much out of cell/internet coverage for around 10 days and missed your post.

No nothing of Dinosaur Trails, sorry. Yes, I have never gone TOWARD the river on Fisher Towers road. We were at the towers on Sunday mid-day. May have actually saw you WAY off in the distance when I was at the tower. You can see that camp ground along the river from the towers.

Or were you at Red Cliffs Ranch or Sorrell River Ranch? Both of those offer horse back riding, I believe.

We left the Moab area early on 10/13 and spent one night at Monument Valley on the UT/AZ border.

In Prescott, AZ for tonight and then Benson, AZ tomorrow. That will pretty much be the end of our summer trip. 3500 miles and 6 months on the road.

I'll post a final few pics tomorrow night. Here's one of Monument Valley.

Boowho??

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by boowho

Sorry to not respond sooner. I was pretty much out of cell/internet coverage for around 10 days and missed your post.



No nothing of Dinosaur Trails, sorry. Yes, I have never gone TOWARD the river on Fisher Towers road. We were at the towers on Sunday mid-day. May have actually saw you WAY off in the distance when I was at the tower. You can see that camp ground along the river from the towers.



Or were you at Red Cliffs Ranch or Sorrell River Ranch? Both of those offer horse back riding, I believe.



We left the Moab area early on 10/13 and spent one night at Monument Valley on the UT/AZ border.



In Prescott, AZ for tonight and then Benson, AZ tomorrow. That will pretty much be the end of our summer trip. 3500 miles and 6 months on the road.



I'll post a final few pics tomorrow night. Here's one of Monument Valley.



Boowho??

No worries about not responding. We drove back one of the dinosaur trails and walked around checking out fossils in the rocks. After that, we went to the Moab Giants place with the fake dinos out by the road. My son enjoyed both.

We went into Arches and checked out a few of them. It wasn't until our last day there did we finally realize (and could name) which actual arches we could see from our campsite.

I can't wait to go back! This week is a whole different bailiwick with being in Vegas....