Christine Loomis
| Special to USA TODAY 10Best
Luxury lodging and adrenaline-ignited outdoor adventure aren’t mutually exclusive. Like fried chicken elevated by the effervescent elegance of Champagne, outdoor adventure finds a sublime pairing in upscale lodging.
Royal Gorge Cabins, located in Cañon City, Colorado, are proof you can challenge Mother Nature and devilishly conceived man-made thrills by day, then tuck into an elegant, amenity-filled cabin by night. It’s a best-of-both-worlds thing.
The one- and two-bedroom cabins sit across the road from Echo Canyon River Expeditions, a partner property with glamping tents and a campground. Echo Canyon has been running whitewater trips on the Arkansas River since 1978.
We can thank the Arkansas for the spectacular gorge 13 miles from Cañon City, the result of a persistent river forcing its way through granite over millions of years, creating a narrow passage framed by shear walls rising over 1,000 feet. From the top, the Arkansas snaking far below hardly seems big or wild enough to have carved such a humbling landscape. But experienced from a raft bucking over rapids, the frequently roiling river makes its power known.
Happily, the Arkansas has multiple personalities. Some…
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