Cañon City sits at the eastern foot of the Arkansas River canyon — where the river finally escapes the mountains and turns onto the Great Plains. It's about 75 minutes east of Salida and home to the Royal Gorge Bridge (956 feet above the river), the most dramatic single piece of geography in the entire Arkansas drainage.
The Royal Gorge
The Gorge itself is a 1,000-foot-deep, ten-mile-long chasm cut by the Arkansas. You can experience it from above (the bridge, the gondola, the via ferrata) or from below (a full-day Class IV raft trip from the Cotopaxi area down). Most travelers do one or the other; a few ambitious days do both.
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Local insider tips
- →The Royal Gorge Bridge experience is touristy but the view is genuinely staggering.
- →Full-day Royal Gorge rafting is high-water only (May–June typically).
Last reviewed: May 2026