Floating Ruby-Horsethief

 In October, Shane and I drove to Colorado for his cousin's wedding outside of Boulder, and we were able to squeeze in two flatwater float trips on the way there and back. The second trip was floating the Ruby-Horsethief section of the Colorado River. Old friends Janyne and Andrew had applied for a last minute permit so they could get their cataraft out on a river before the warm season came to a close.

We met up at a huge BLM campground north of Fruita well after sunset. Janyne and Andrew were joined by two friends from their hometown of Susanville, one of whom had a 4 lb toy poodle in tow because they were in the middle of moving to southern Colorado. So we had a "dog" along for the float. We all caught up or made introductions over a couple beers then crashed in our tents for the night.

The next morning we drove to the Loma Boat Launch, the put-in for our 35-mile, 5-day float. From the put in, the river meanders through sandstone canyons, with the Black Ridge Canyon to the south and I-80 cutting a broad arc a mile or so north of the river on the plateau. 

Map of the Ruby-Horsethief section of the Colorado River.

This section of the Colorado is a very accessible float in terms of technical difficulty and remoteness, and thus very popular as far as these types of trips go. I think every other group that was launching the same day as us was already at the boat ramp when we got there, and with our rigs and gear there too, the ramp was pretty much full. We rigged our array of watercrafts - the cataraft, two inflatable kayaks, and a canoe - and shuttled the vehicle to the takeout, then we launched in the mid-afternoon sun.

The scene at the Loma Boat Launch.

This was my first trip where we had reserved, designated campsites where we would be stopping each night. Each site had limits on the number of people (including dogs) that could stay there, and every site we stayed at was nice, often including some large cottonwoods or at least large native shrubs as visual screens between each of our tents and our neighbors.

Our tent spot on day two in the Mee Canyon campsite section.

On our third day, our next campsite was less than a quarter mile downstream on the same large floodplain bar that we had stayed on the previous night, so all we had to do was lug our gear down a well-used trail and float our boats for less than five minutes. This gave us lots of time for an exploratory hike up Mee Canyon. High cirrus clouds signaled a change in weather, and that evening brought blustery winds and heavy rain, but we weathered the storm in the good spirits under Andrew's Walmart tarp shelter.

The classic hoodoo-forming Wingate sandstone of Mee Canyon.

The fourth day brought us to the only class 2 rapid of the trip, as we entered the Black Rock section where the Precambrian metamorphic basement rocks outcropped in the river and created slightly more exciting channel features for us to navigate around. But it was a small wave train a few miles before that section where our situation got interesting. The canoe starting rocking, and then swamping, in the waves and Amy, Vickie, and the tiny poodle ended up going for a swim. We managed to get them and all the gear in the canoe to shore with no injuries or losses, and fortunately the weather was sunny and breezy with temperatures in the low 70s.

Unloading gear among the Precambrian gneiss at our Black Rock campsite.

The last day canyon walls dropped lower and receded back from the river channel, lowering the drama and preparing us to return to civilization. Shane and I scurried off once we made in to the takeout at Westgate, making tracks back to Wallowa County so I could show up for work in the shop in Joseph on Sunday.

Canyon walls aglow at sunset.