Cañon City's Arkansas Riverwalk: an easy trail right through town

Fremont County is known for its rugged stuff: the Royal Gorge, Phantom Canyon, Shelf Road’s climbing walls. The Arkansas Riverwalk is the gentle counterpoint. It is a roughly seven-mile trail that follows the Arkansas River right through Cañon City, with a hard-packed, crushed-gravel surface that runs along an old railroad bed much of the way. That railroad grade is why it stays so flat and easy, the kind of path you can do in regular shoes.

The heart of it is John Griffin Regional Park, a natural area with wetlands where the trail splits into the River Trail and the Bluff Trail. Birders come for the waterfowl and songbirds along the river; walkers and cyclists come because it avoids street traffic; and the Bluff Trail even allows horseback riding. There are fitness stations, benches, and picnic tables, though the rec district notes there is no drinking water out there, so bring your own.

Once a year the trail gets busy: the runBlossom race each May sends runners and walkers down a flat course along the river to kick off summer. The rest of the year it is just a quiet, all-ages place to stretch your legs close to home.

For current trail access, parking, and the full route, see the Cañon City Area Recreation and Park District’s Arkansas Riverwalk page.