Cañon City is a sunny river town on the Arkansas River where you can drive a roller-coaster ridge road built by prisoners, tour a real cell house and walk through tunnels blasted into granite, all before lunch. It’s also the front door to the Royal Gorge.

Cañon City’s identity has been tied to the state prison since the territorial penitentiary opened here in 1871, and the town embraces that history with good humor. The Museum of Colorado Prisons is housed in the former Women’s Correctional Facility, built in 1935, right next to the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility, known as Old Max. Self-guided audio tours lead through 30 cells of exhibits, historic photos, confiscated weapons, inmate crafts, a gas chamber and the noose from Colorado’s last execution by hanging.

Then take a spin on Skyline Drive, a narrow, one-way paved road that rides the crest of a hogback ridge above town. Sixty inmates from the prison built it in 1905, and the land drops away hundreds of feet on both sides, with pullouts for big views over the city and the Arkansas Valley. Watch for the stone arch at the entrance off U.S. 50, and look for dinosaur tracks: in 2000, paleontologists found about 50 Ankylosaur footprints on one of the hogbacks. For a stroll, the Tunnel Drive Trail follows an old road along the Arkansas River through three tunnels, 2 miles one way.

Downtown, the 1880s brick blocks along Main Street hold restaurants and shops, including the 1887 Historic Eatery inside the restored Hotel St. Cloud. Cañon City’s fossil heritage runs deep too, since nearby Garden Park produced dinosaur bones now displayed in major museums. Insider tip: ride the Royal Gorge Route Railroad from its depot on Royal Gorge Boulevard, or drive 12 miles west to cross the Royal Gorge Bridge, and save Bishop Castle for a scenic detour south.

The Museum of Colorado Prisons is on fall/winter hours, Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (adults $15). The Gateway Depot & Plaza Visitors Center, in the restored 1909 Denver & Rio Grande depot at 816 Royal Gorge Blvd., is open weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. through December. Find events at royalgorgeregion.com.