Arkansas River

Royal Gorge

The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. The Arkansas generally flows to the east and southeast, and traverses the states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.  At 1450 miles  it is the fourth longest river in the United States. Its origin is in the Colorado Rockies in Lake County near Leadville, and its outlet is at the historic site of Napoleon, Arkansas. It is the 2nd longest tributary in the Mississippi-Missouri system, with a drainage basin of nearly 195,000 sq. mi. In terms of volume it is smaller than both the Missouri and Ohio, with a mean discharge of 8,460 cfs. It is navigable by barges and large river craft thanks to a series of dams that turn it into reservoirs, from its mouth to Tulsa, Oklahoma. From Tulsa to near its headwaters, it is navigable by small craft such as rafts, canoes, and kayaks.

The Royal Gorge is more than 1,000 feet deep and eight miles long and was formed over three million years ago by the Arkansas River. In 1929, the world's highest suspension bridge was built over the gorge and the views from the bridge are sensational.  There also are two hair-raising rides; an aerial tram that travels 1,200 feet above the river and the steepest incline railway in the world that traverses the solid granite canyon walls to the bottom of the gorge.