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- Aug 9, 2007
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Something happened to me in early July this year that made me really want to spend more time on rivers. Reading The Emerald Mile definitely helped. Also a lot to do with the fact that my knee is still jacked and significant backpacking feels forever out of reach. So shortly after my paddle trip into Green River Lakes, I set out with some friends to float the Colorado River through Horsethief and Ruby Canyons.
We planned this with little notice, but that was okay. Out of the four of us we had tremendously flexible scheduling. A nurse, a school teacher on summer leave, an architect/photographer and I don't even know what to call myself lately. A Mon-Wed trip worked out great and permits were wide open. After a 4 hour drive from Salt Lake, @slc_dan, Jodi and I arrived in Fruita, Colorado where we met up with @gnwatts at Rimrock Adventures. The normal launch for Ruby Horsethief is about 5-6 miles downstream at Loma, CO, but we had hired Rimrock to move our vehicles and with that we had the option for a longer first day float. The weather was nice so it seemed like a no brainer.
The water flows had just dropped down to around 4,000 CFS, perfect for a leisurely float. We were on the river Aug 3-5.
Departing pic from the launch in Fruita.
The next 6 miles to Loma weren't the most scenic if you're expecting big canyon walls, but it was still very nice and worthwhile since we had some extra time. Here's Dan and Jodi and their pup Mya.
And Greg and his canoe (with a lot of our stuff in it). Luxuries!
After a couple hours we finally passed by the usual Loma launch site and entered Ruby Horsethief.
Oh, hi Sage. It seems like all I post are pictures of her ass in my boat, so I figured I'd post one of her actually looking at the camera.
Dan returns to the mothership for a beer resupply.
Jodi drifts along a cottonwood-lined river bank.
Bliss.
We had Cottonwood #3 booked the first night, but it turned out it was a stones throw from Cottonwood #2 which had a better beach, so we camped there. If it had been a weekend, that wouldn't have been an option. While our site was fine, I'll probably avoid the Cottonwood sites in the future. They are very close together.
We had a nice sunset that night followed by a couple hours of watching lightning on the horizon. At one point Dan started whistling and we got a little chorus going with the local coyotes. That was cool. Eventually the lightning made its way to us and everyone ran to bed. I hadn't pitched a tent yet so I had the pleasure of doing that in high winds. Good times.
The next morning we took our time before loading up the boats and heading back out on the river. Either an otter or a beaver swam past making a bit of a ruckus out on the river. My vote is on otter.
I was the first through the biggest 'rapids' of the trip (so far). After getting through, I eddied out and got onto the shore to take pics of the others.
Jodi was next, bobbing up and down between the waves in Llewellyn.
Then Dan and Mya in Great Bend, the only boat really built for whitewater on the trip.
And then Greg came along in his canoe. He took on a lot of water. We were all pretty scared what might happen if the canoe capsized.
After the rapids, you can still see the water dumping into the canoe. It took a lot of pumping to get that thing mostly dried out.
Continuing on down the river, Sage decided the dry bags on the bow would not stop her from her favorite place on the boat.
She's a great boat dog.
Jodi and Dan.
As we passed Mee Canyon, the scenery became a little more typical of the Colorado Plateau.
Approaching Doggone Island, Black Rocks and the monocline.
Dan snoozing in Great Bend.
At Doggone Island, the river split and a nice 'rapid' formed on the right. I put rapid in quotes because I know it was only class 2 and not really a rapid, but for a canoe, that is a big ass rapid! I hit it first and rolled through big 3-4 foot waves. Jodi was right behind me. I spun around in time to watch Greg hit it, hoping that he could keep the bow straight into the waves and make it through. To my dismay, he hit it at a hard angle, maybe 45 degrees. Again, not big waves for a whitewater raft but for a canoe, these were BIG BIG waves!! The water was still too turbulent for me to take photos, I just sat and watched thinking that our dinner was about to go for a swim. But amazingly, Greg pulled it off and made it through the long, deep wave train at Doggone.
Soon we entered Black Rocks. There was a bit of swift water at the top, but then we were able to look around and take in the amazing scenery. The rock here is the same (or at least very similar) as the Vishnu schist in the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Geologists call this a great unconformity because the Vishnu schist is something like 1.9 billion years old but it is right up against sandstone that is only 400 million years old. In other places there are many other layers between the two, but not here. Wild! (Disclaimer: my stats are just from stuff I read in maps and online. I may not be 100% accurate with age of rocks).
Dan heading downstream while I hide out in a little eddy in upper Black Rocks.
Approaching our campsite in lower Black Rocks, #9. All of the sites in this area look spectacular, but I really did appreciate the one we had (also the last one).
Life on the river. Beach boats, unload boats. Swim. Sit in shade. Drink. Swim. Snack. Repeat.
Did I say swim? This campsite had an awesome eddy with a gradual beach to hang out in without getting swept away by the river.
And lets not forget those incredible spires behind camp.
Later in the evening I put my camera into my new Outex waterproof case and Dan and I took a walk upstream.
The plan was to float down the river taking photos of the amazing Vishnu schist from river level. Here we go!
But there was one problem. Sage followed us up canyon but didn't understand when I told her to stay on shore and follow us back to camp. After getting out into the current, she jumped in (sans PFD) and came out to us. She swims fine but it isn't really her favorite thing. Letting me get out of her sight on the other hand is just not okay.
My hands were full with my big camera so Dan took on the responsibility of hanging on to Sage while we floated downstream.
This was one of the shots I wanted. I saw it from the kayak with the point and shoot, but getting out the SLR wasn't convenient at the time. It's so cool to see the Vishnu schist with the sandstone shooting up into classic form in the background.
I got caught in a good current and eventually had to just drop my camera into the water and swim my ass off for the shore. The Outex case performed well in this scenario. Once I got to shore, I was able to get some unusual angles.
Back on the shore I put the camera on a tripod and put on a 10 stop ND filter to get a glassed out look of the river.
I didn't have to cook or bring dinner either night on this trip! Night 1 was halibut, rice and veggies from Dan and Jodi and night 2 was carne asada from Greg. Score!
These must have a name, right?
I didn't bother setting up a tent that night. The bugs weren't bad (way better than the first night), and no storms seemed to be threatening. Some trains rolled through earlier in the night which were pretty crazy. Lots of light and noise, but nothing after bed time. It was nice to sleep on nothing but a pad in that deep, soft sand. When the sun smacked me in the face in the morning, all I had to do was move my pad to a shadier spot and go back to sleep.
Slowly everyone else crawled out of bed. We ate breakfast and watched several other groups float down the river past camp. Sage loved the shade of Greg's tarp.
We had about 8 miles of river left to the float the next day. Most of it was very calm, especially compared to the few 'rapids' we'd seen the previous day.
Sage testing out life on the canoe.
Crazy array of lines along the railroad tracks. I think these must be old telegraph lines. Anyone know?
After exiting the canyon, but before arriving at Westwater, the scenery is wide open. A long line of Cottonwoods line the banks.
Soon we found ourselves at the Westwater ranger station, the site of our takeout. Just as planned, our vehicles were there waiting for us, thanks to Rimrock. We deflated and unloaded and were on the road in no time. It's hard to imagine a much better float. Maybe someday soon I'll have the gear and experience to keep floating down into Westwater.
Featured image for home page:
We planned this with little notice, but that was okay. Out of the four of us we had tremendously flexible scheduling. A nurse, a school teacher on summer leave, an architect/photographer and I don't even know what to call myself lately. A Mon-Wed trip worked out great and permits were wide open. After a 4 hour drive from Salt Lake, @slc_dan, Jodi and I arrived in Fruita, Colorado where we met up with @gnwatts at Rimrock Adventures. The normal launch for Ruby Horsethief is about 5-6 miles downstream at Loma, CO, but we had hired Rimrock to move our vehicles and with that we had the option for a longer first day float. The weather was nice so it seemed like a no brainer.
The water flows had just dropped down to around 4,000 CFS, perfect for a leisurely float. We were on the river Aug 3-5.
Departing pic from the launch in Fruita.
The next 6 miles to Loma weren't the most scenic if you're expecting big canyon walls, but it was still very nice and worthwhile since we had some extra time. Here's Dan and Jodi and their pup Mya.
And Greg and his canoe (with a lot of our stuff in it). Luxuries!
After a couple hours we finally passed by the usual Loma launch site and entered Ruby Horsethief.
Oh, hi Sage. It seems like all I post are pictures of her ass in my boat, so I figured I'd post one of her actually looking at the camera.
Dan returns to the mothership for a beer resupply.
Jodi drifts along a cottonwood-lined river bank.
Bliss.
We had Cottonwood #3 booked the first night, but it turned out it was a stones throw from Cottonwood #2 which had a better beach, so we camped there. If it had been a weekend, that wouldn't have been an option. While our site was fine, I'll probably avoid the Cottonwood sites in the future. They are very close together.
We had a nice sunset that night followed by a couple hours of watching lightning on the horizon. At one point Dan started whistling and we got a little chorus going with the local coyotes. That was cool. Eventually the lightning made its way to us and everyone ran to bed. I hadn't pitched a tent yet so I had the pleasure of doing that in high winds. Good times.
The next morning we took our time before loading up the boats and heading back out on the river. Either an otter or a beaver swam past making a bit of a ruckus out on the river. My vote is on otter.
I was the first through the biggest 'rapids' of the trip (so far). After getting through, I eddied out and got onto the shore to take pics of the others.
Jodi was next, bobbing up and down between the waves in Llewellyn.
Then Dan and Mya in Great Bend, the only boat really built for whitewater on the trip.
And then Greg came along in his canoe. He took on a lot of water. We were all pretty scared what might happen if the canoe capsized.
After the rapids, you can still see the water dumping into the canoe. It took a lot of pumping to get that thing mostly dried out.
Continuing on down the river, Sage decided the dry bags on the bow would not stop her from her favorite place on the boat.
She's a great boat dog.
Jodi and Dan.
As we passed Mee Canyon, the scenery became a little more typical of the Colorado Plateau.
Approaching Doggone Island, Black Rocks and the monocline.
Dan snoozing in Great Bend.
At Doggone Island, the river split and a nice 'rapid' formed on the right. I put rapid in quotes because I know it was only class 2 and not really a rapid, but for a canoe, that is a big ass rapid! I hit it first and rolled through big 3-4 foot waves. Jodi was right behind me. I spun around in time to watch Greg hit it, hoping that he could keep the bow straight into the waves and make it through. To my dismay, he hit it at a hard angle, maybe 45 degrees. Again, not big waves for a whitewater raft but for a canoe, these were BIG BIG waves!! The water was still too turbulent for me to take photos, I just sat and watched thinking that our dinner was about to go for a swim. But amazingly, Greg pulled it off and made it through the long, deep wave train at Doggone.
Soon we entered Black Rocks. There was a bit of swift water at the top, but then we were able to look around and take in the amazing scenery. The rock here is the same (or at least very similar) as the Vishnu schist in the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Geologists call this a great unconformity because the Vishnu schist is something like 1.9 billion years old but it is right up against sandstone that is only 400 million years old. In other places there are many other layers between the two, but not here. Wild! (Disclaimer: my stats are just from stuff I read in maps and online. I may not be 100% accurate with age of rocks).
Dan heading downstream while I hide out in a little eddy in upper Black Rocks.
Approaching our campsite in lower Black Rocks, #9. All of the sites in this area look spectacular, but I really did appreciate the one we had (also the last one).
Life on the river. Beach boats, unload boats. Swim. Sit in shade. Drink. Swim. Snack. Repeat.
Did I say swim? This campsite had an awesome eddy with a gradual beach to hang out in without getting swept away by the river.
And lets not forget those incredible spires behind camp.
Later in the evening I put my camera into my new Outex waterproof case and Dan and I took a walk upstream.
The plan was to float down the river taking photos of the amazing Vishnu schist from river level. Here we go!
But there was one problem. Sage followed us up canyon but didn't understand when I told her to stay on shore and follow us back to camp. After getting out into the current, she jumped in (sans PFD) and came out to us. She swims fine but it isn't really her favorite thing. Letting me get out of her sight on the other hand is just not okay.
My hands were full with my big camera so Dan took on the responsibility of hanging on to Sage while we floated downstream.
This was one of the shots I wanted. I saw it from the kayak with the point and shoot, but getting out the SLR wasn't convenient at the time. It's so cool to see the Vishnu schist with the sandstone shooting up into classic form in the background.
I got caught in a good current and eventually had to just drop my camera into the water and swim my ass off for the shore. The Outex case performed well in this scenario. Once I got to shore, I was able to get some unusual angles.
Back on the shore I put the camera on a tripod and put on a 10 stop ND filter to get a glassed out look of the river.
I didn't have to cook or bring dinner either night on this trip! Night 1 was halibut, rice and veggies from Dan and Jodi and night 2 was carne asada from Greg. Score!
These must have a name, right?
I didn't bother setting up a tent that night. The bugs weren't bad (way better than the first night), and no storms seemed to be threatening. Some trains rolled through earlier in the night which were pretty crazy. Lots of light and noise, but nothing after bed time. It was nice to sleep on nothing but a pad in that deep, soft sand. When the sun smacked me in the face in the morning, all I had to do was move my pad to a shadier spot and go back to sleep.
Slowly everyone else crawled out of bed. We ate breakfast and watched several other groups float down the river past camp. Sage loved the shade of Greg's tarp.
We had about 8 miles of river left to the float the next day. Most of it was very calm, especially compared to the few 'rapids' we'd seen the previous day.
Sage testing out life on the canoe.
Crazy array of lines along the railroad tracks. I think these must be old telegraph lines. Anyone know?
After exiting the canyon, but before arriving at Westwater, the scenery is wide open. A long line of Cottonwoods line the banks.
Soon we found ourselves at the Westwater ranger station, the site of our takeout. Just as planned, our vehicles were there waiting for us, thanks to Rimrock. We deflated and unloaded and were on the road in no time. It's hard to imagine a much better float. Maybe someday soon I'll have the gear and experience to keep floating down into Westwater.
Featured image for home page:
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