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Cañon CityJun 21, 2009
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Riverwalk Hiker
Floaters
Skyline Drive
Cañon City and the entire Fremont County area of Colorado is home to a number of state and federal prisons including a supermax facility. One of the state prisons is located in the city. Despite it's major business, we've had a nice stay in the Cañon City area this week including some running and hiking.
On Thursday Sue, Arnie and I hiked along the Arkansas Riverwalk that passes through Cañon City and heads eastward for a couple of miles. The riverwalk is a wide and mostly flat path that makes for easy waling in running shoes. As we walked along the river a couple of boys floated by in small rafts. On Saturday I used the same riverwalk to get in a long run.
After our riverwalk we drove the Skyline Drive. It is a couple of mile paved one-way road that was built by prisoners and runs along a ridge west of town. Along with great views the road includes a site where dinosaur tracks were unearthed a number of years ago.
Today was a bit warm with temperatures rising into the mid 80s with bright sunshine by the afternoon. So we opted for an easy hike in the morning. We chose to walk the tunnel trail that starts just west of Cañon City and heads toward the mouth (or is it the foot?) of the Royal Gorge. It draws its name from the three tunnels through which the path passes. As we started on the trail the Denver and Rio Grande passenger train exited town and headed up the gorge. There was considerable foliage along the trail including some flowering cacti. Another highlight of the walk was a view of three rafters who fell or jumped out of their raft and had to fight to get back to it. They made it!
We are heading for Buena Vista tomorrow with its greater altitude and lower temperatures.
