Quite a few out-of-towners spend time in Canon City, but not for the right reasons.
While this smallish city in south-central Colorado is within driving distance of fast-growing Colorado Springs and the former steel city of Pueblo, it is hardly a bedroom community for commuters.
Instead, many of those living here are behind bars in the 11 prisons spread across Fremont County, which takes its name from the legendary 19th century soldier, explorer and politician John C. Fremont. One of the most infamous inmates, Joaquin Guzman, better known as the Mexican drug lord El Chapo, was sentenced to the federal supermax prison.
Those coming to Canon City for something other than a spell in the penitentiaries often do so for the Royal Gorge Route Railroad.
The heritage line operates as many as four daily sightseeing trains along tracks first laid in the 1870s through the breathtakingly beautiful Royal Gorge, where granite cliffs soar a thousand feet above the Arkansas River. On weekends, a three-course dinner train runs with first-class seats in vintage cars.
A few miles west of town, roughly parallel with U.S. Highway 50, is the gorge. While the county bears the name of Fremont, the first white man to see what some today call the Grand Canyon of Colorado was Zebulon Pike in 1806.
Of course, Pike and Fremont wouldn’t have seen the pedestrian bridge — somewhat uncreatively named Royal Gorge Bridge — that has spanned the cliffs since 1929 and was for several decades in the record books as the world’s highest bridge.
Back downtown, Canon City feels like one of Colorado’s best-kept secrets.
Revitalization is underway, starting with the landmark Hotel St. Cloud. The Second Empire-inspired building, rebuilt at its present location around 1887 after being dismantled and transported brick-by-brick from a silver mining town some 50 miles away, is slowly undergoing redevelopment into a four-star hotel. Around the corner is the stately former post office with the kind of architecture that nobody designs anymore.
And then there’s the wine, which complements the apple orchards and cideries found in the Arkansas River Valley to the east of town.
The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey was established years ago on the grounds of a now-closed Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery. Between the Gothic revival chapel, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the long history of monks making wine, the setting feels medieval.
If you go
The Winery at Holy Cross Abbey is daily.
The Museum of Colorado Prisons occupies a former women’s prison next to the castle-looking Territorial Correctional Facility, Colorado’s first prison. Offseason visitor hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
Tickets are required to visit the Royal Gorge Bridge and its associated attractions.
The Royal Gorge Route Railroad runs daily with a special holiday train through early January. Tickets are also still available for a New Year’s Eve dinner train service.
The best hotel in town is the Holiday Inn Express & Suites.
Getting to Canon City requires a car. The closest major airports are in Colorado Springs and Denver.
Dennis Lennox writes a travel column for The Christian Post.
Dennis Lennox writes about travel, politics and religious affairs. He has been published in the Financial Times, Independent, The Detroit News, Toronto Sun and other publications. Follow @dennislennox on Twitter.
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