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The Depths of the Royal Gorge
“Whoa! Look at this view! It’s incredible!” I shouted as the gates to the wondrous Royal Gorge park opened. As my grandmother, sister, and I walked through the gates, the image of the 1,053 ft. bridge came into view, taking my breath away. With every step I took, my attention was stuck on the bridge. I started to make my way to the bridge when my grandmother snatched my arm and drug me towards the Incline Railway. As I glimpsed the railway, my breathing quickened. Fear started to creep up my back. The Incline Railway starts at the tallest peak of the canyon wall (1000 ft) and goes down to the Arkansas River, creating the steepest Incline Railway in America. The fear of falling overwhelmed me. “OMG! The Incline Railway goes up to 50 mph! Let’s go on”. shrieked a stranger in the line with me. At that point, I just wanted to get out of the line, and walk away from this “glorious” experience. But being with my adventure seeking grandma, I had no choice but to go on the ride. “Next 3 can go to the top! Come on. No time to waste!” the ride attendant growled. We were the next 3. As we climbed up the stairs to the metal cage-like seats, my palms began to sweat. We were seated at the very top, in the smallest one of the entire ride. I grasped the bar in front of me with white knuckles, staring at the deep cliff we were about to go down. “Im gonna die! Im gonna die! Im gonna die!” I kept repeating to myself. As the Incline Railway started to move, my senses were more alert. I noticed every tree, rock, and crack in the valley,1000 ft. away. I could feel the cold air brush against my skin, creating a chill down my back. The creaking and the cracking of the tracks were more noticeable and fear striking. The ride was a total of only 5 minutes, and by the time we reached the bottom, I wanted to go back on it. For 10 minutes, we were able to walk around the river, walk on the “floating bridge”, and look up to see the tallest bridge in America. When the time came to go back up, we took the Incline Railway up the canyon in a faster and more enjoyable ride up to the top. “See, that wasn’t so bad, now was it? Come on, lets walk the bridge!” my grandmother offered. Finally we were going on the bridge! As we began our walk across the ¾ of a mile bridge, I became more and more aware of how truly high we were. With about 70 year old wood planks under our feet, holes and cracks were found all over the bridge. As I tip-toed over the cracks, I caught a glimpse of the Earth underneath me. The river looked like a piece of string, the people underneath were nothing more than ants, and the space between the bridge and the ground started to make me dizzy. After walking up and down the bridge, taking pictures here and there, enjoying the marvelous creation of many years hard work, the day was beginning to turn to night. With 4 scoops of chocolate and mint chocolate ice cream in my hand, we made our way to the car, and slowly pulled out of the drive way. The beauty of the Royal Gorge remained in my head, and reminded me about how lucky I am to live in the state of Colorado.
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