Stuck at the bottom of the Royal Gouge

     When I was growing up, my parents (Sissy & Sonny) liked to took vacations (driving) every year, which may have been unusual for middle class families at that time but they always found a way. One year when I was a young boy about 6 or 7, we drove to Colorado.  My cousin (Kath) went with us on this trip as she did with many.  She was my age and we could entertain each other.  My sister (Rose) had not yet entered the picture (8 year difference).

     I can't say I remember a lot about the trip except our day at the Royal Gouge near Canon city, Colorado.  There is bridge that spans the gouge, it's a wide (50 ft) walking bridge, no cars allowed. It's not a bridge that goes anywhere just to the other side, but it has a great view of the Arkansas River below.  The river has cut a huge canyon in the rocks and the river is 1200 ft below the bridge.  It was an amazing view to look over the bridge at this huge canyon and river below even for a kid.

     Now I never thought of my parents as adventurous even though my Dad was a WW II Veteran but I guess kids never look at their parents that way.   There was a cable car that you could ride to the bottom of the gouge and be next the the raging river and it was a powerful river as I remember.  This was before there were zip lines and bungee jumping, so taking a cable car to the bottom of the gouge was probably considered adventurous.  There were also railroad tracks at the bottom that paralleled the river.

     After spending time on the bridge, we got in line to take the cable car to the bottom.  This was an exciting experience for a kid and my cousin and I were thrilled to get a chance to ride a cable car.  We  got out of the car and were allowed to roam around the scenic river bank (not too close).  Looking up at the bridge we had just stood on earlier was pretty cool as well.  We were allowed to stay at the bottom as long as we wanted but at some point we got back in line to ride to the top.

     It seemed like we waited a long time with little or no movement in the line.  At one point we were told the cable car was broken and they had to fix it.  This went on for about 2 hours and the word came down that if they couldn't get it fixed they would have to take us out of the canyon by train to wherever the nearest town was.  Kath and I were thinking, cool a cable car ride and train ride in the same day.  I'm sure those were not the thoughts of my parents since the car was parked in the lot above us and we would need to be transported back to the gouge to get our car.  It would have been a very long day but none of that worried Kath or I because we knew my parents would take care of us.

     Finally the word came down that the cable car was fixed, which to us kids was disappointing since there would be no train ride.  I could tell that my parents and others adults around me were a little concerned about the ride back up, not knowing if the cable car would break on our way up.  Stuck at the bottom was minor compared to being stuck half way up.  It was an exciting day that ended well.  Kath and I slept well on the way back to the hotel.