Little Canyon Inn

About Little Canyon Inn

Adam and Kara Arnold bought this roadside property in 2021 and spent the following year rebuilding it into the Little Canyon Inn, a small collection of rooms and a cottage set on twenty three acres of open prairie along US Highway 50 west of Canon City. The idea was to take the intimacy of an indoor room and move it outside: every unit opens to a private patio with a fire pit and an unbroken view toward the Sangre de Cristo foothills. It sits in the Royal Gorge Region, minutes from the Arkansas River and the Royal Gorge Bridge, yet the property feels like private acreage rather than a highway stop. Local touches run through everything, from artwork on the walls to a custom goat milk soap made in the colors and scents of the gorge country.

What Little Canyon Inn Is Known For

Most roadside stays treat the outdoors as a parking lot. Little Canyon Inn inverts that entirely. By giving every room its own private patio and fire pit and setting the whole thing on twenty three acres of open prairie, it turns the outdoor sitting space into the heart of the stay. The walking trail, the disc golf, the greenhouse, and the uninterrupted foothill views make it a destination in its own right rather than a bed near the Royal Gorge. Few small inns anywhere commit this fully to the land they sit on.

Amenities

• Pets Welcome
• WiFi
• Private patio and fire pit at every room
• Overhead patio heaters
• Three quarter mile private prairie walking trail
• Four hole disc golf course
• Greenhouse community space with dart board
• Custom Canyoneer goat milk soap
• Local coffee from Cafe Belay and Copper Cow

The Room

Each room is individually done, mixing vintage and modern pieces so no two feel the same. Beds are deep and comfortable, showers are tiled, and the coffee is local: beans from Cafe Belay and latte packets from Copper Cow set out for the morning. A custom bar of goat milk soap called The Canyoneer waits in the bathroom, made specifically for guests in the colors and smells of the Royal Gorge Region. The rooms read quiet and considered, the kind of space you would want to linger in on a cold morning, but the real design move is the door itself, which opens straight onto a private patio and the land beyond.

The Grounds

The property spreads across twenty three acres of high prairie, so pulling in feels less like arriving at a motel and more like reaching a piece of private land. A three quarter mile walking trail loops out across the grass, and a short four hole disc golf course gives guests something to do between the trail and the fire pit. A greenhouse serves as a shared community space, with bistro tables and a dart board for gathering. Parking is free and right at your door. Everywhere you look the foothills rise on the horizon, and at night the open sky above the prairie is the main event.

The Experience

What people remember is the fire pit. Every room has its own, with an overhead heater that makes the patio usable on cold mornings, and guests describe sitting out with coffee watching light move across the foothills. The pace is slow and unhurried. You walk the prairie trail, throw a few discs, retreat to the greenhouse when the wind picks up, and end the day back at your own fire under a wide dark sky. It is the rare small property where the outdoor space is the point, not an afterthought, and the twenty three acres give you room to feel genuinely away from everything while the Royal Gorge sits just up the road.

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Things to Do Near the Royal Gorge Region