Colorado Rail Trip

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    Our next stop was Salida and then on to Canyon City. We kept finding beautiful sections of track to ride along the Arkansas River, and we stopped often. While fishing had been the most popular activity along the Eagle River, rafting was now the people's choice. They came down the river in steady streams. I have never seen so many rafters! When they saw our mountain bikes on rails cruising along beside them in their roadless canyon, they were surprised to say the least! Remember, railbikers, there are over 200 miles of  rusty steel waiting  for you to ride between Texas Creek and Dotsero, Colorado.

    We drove across the Royal Gorge on a toll bridge and then walked across it a couple more times. I took a picture of the orange and silver tourist train snaking along the floor of the canyon 1000 feet below. Late that afternoon we visited the territorial prison in Canon City and waited for the last tourist train to make its back out of the canyon. I suppose the supreme highlight of our entire trip was

that evening riding our Railcycles through the Royal Gorge and looking up at the suspension bridge from the river bottom. Ken wanted to be sure that I took his picture crossing the Denver & Rio Grande's famous hanging bridge. There was one big wildlife surprise. Just as we reached the narrowest and uninhabitable part of the canyon, we came upon a water logged beaver waddling down the track in front of us. What was he doing here?

    The next morning we drove our' 85 Ford Railcycle transporter from Canon City up an abandoned narrow gauge railroad through cuts,over bridges, and through tunnels to Victor and Cripple Creek.

    The scariest part of our trip occurred on a short ride that we took on the Great Western Railroad north of Denver. We were out in the middle of some agricultural land when we got caught in a horrific thunder and lightning storm. We were worried about our safety, and it did not help our moods when a farmer on a tractor told us to get the heck out of this open area because people had been killed near his place by lightning. Other hazards along this little railroad were prickly pear cacti growing over the rail and a multitude of ant hills that totally covered portions of the rail. )

    Our last Railcycle trip was between Helena and Great Falls, Montana. This old G.N. line has been abandoned for at

least three years. We put on in the countryside about four miles north of Helena and rode 31 miles to the Missouri river where we camped out for a couple of nights. Like in Nevada, we each pulled Bob trailers. Michael Conley and Bear Kamoroff rode part of this line last year. I

especially enjoyed the portion of the line between Silver City and Wolf Creek. We saw a lot of wildlife including goats, bighorn sheep, deer, elk, white pelicans, and large fish swimming near the riverbank.

    I hope that our family of railbikers is doing well. Arne and Eloy will relate well to the Nevada narrative. We all camped together at Decoy last September.

Happy Rails,

               Dick

None of Dick's stories would be completer without a couple of his beautiful wildlike photos.

Visit Peter's Tennessee Pass Photo Album (Click D&RG Logo at right)