Royal Gorge Bridge

The Royal Gorge Bridge is the highest bridge in the world (i.e., in distance to the ground, not elevation). It soars 1,053 feet high and spans a quarter mile. It was constructed as a result of a bet. It functions mostly as a tourist attraction. You can cross it in a car but there is little traffic. So little, in fact, that pedestrians and cars mix without much problem (the pedestrians, of course, have the run of the bridge). I'm not sure if this is because it's not useful, or because they charge a high toll. (I don't know what they charge cars to enter, but they charge pedestrians around $20, though you can get a rebate if you are in and out inside of an hour.)

Plaque on the bridge.	Royal Gorge bridge. Note the Skycoaster on the upper left.	Royal Gorge canyon.
View of the canyon on the mountain side.	The view of the mountains from the bridge.	Closeup of the Arkansas River.
View from the edge of the canyon toward the mountains.	Deeper view of the canyon from the other side of the bridge.	Looking down. That caterpillar-looking thing is a train — the Royal Gorge Route, to be exact. And those tiny colored dots are people on an observation car. The photos in the Royal Gorge Train roll were taken from that observation car. Wow!
Another view of the caterpillar. Can you make out the people?	The cables holding the suspension bridge in place.	Bridgeward view of suspension cables. Note how they all converge into one massive cable, and how each "strand" is about as thick as the handrails. Also note the 10 mph speed limit sign for cars, and how pedestrians stand in the middle of the road. :-)
Me in front of most of the bridge.	Since you cannot actually see me very well in that photo, here I am with less of the bridge and more of my studly glory.	This guy was having a blast on the Skycoaster, which goes out over the gorge.
This gives you an idea of how high from the ground it is &mdash though obviously it is 1,000 feet higher at the other end.	The tram that spans the land.	Panorama of the Gorge.