Royal Gorge, CO

Last Saturday, we did the Royal Gorge Train ride which starts in Canon City, CO.  It's a short ride distance-wise but the train goes dead slow, about brisk walking speed, so it takes a couple hours.  We had a nice breakfast along the way.

Waiting to board the train.  L to R: Trish, Lisa, Terry.

The Gorge was carved out by the Arkansas River, which the train track parallels.  

Hundreds of rafters floated by as we journeyed down the track.

The train had 2 open cars, great for taking pix.

Above and below, the Royal Gorge Bridge, highest suspension bridge

in the world, 1000'+ high.  Below, you can see people standing on the Bridge.

The Gorge is extremely narrow in some areas.  Don't stick your arms out.

Looking back at the Bridge, more rafters in the River.

A couple of young women in each passenger car did waitress duty and provided sporadic historical comments.  I should say they commented on the history; it's highly unlikely that the comments themselves will go down in the history books.  

I'm always curious about the names of things, who named them, and who or what inspired the name.  Sure enough, one of the sweet young things said, 'You may wonder how the Royal Gorge got its name.' She then proceeded with an incoherent spiel about some dude who was panning for gold, no connection to anything royal whatsoever - at least not that I heard.  When she finished, we looked at each other in puzzlement: huh? 

Maybe the prospector's name was Royal.  Yeah, that must be it.  Royal was his last name, first name was probably Ralph: Rotten Ralphie Royal, the infamous Arkansas River gold prospector.

If you happen to know the real story about the Royal Gorge name origin, please share it with me.