Ruby-Horsethief river rafting mellow, scenic

COLORADO RIVER -

With a can of Fat Tire nestled in my lap, I stretch my legs, kick back and get comfy inside our 12-foot inflatable kayak.

Erin Hull, photographer for the Coloradoan, sits in front of me, catching up on her suntan. Clouds dance across the sun, which blazes overhead the picturesque red canyon as we lazily meander the river, paddling every few minutes only to avoid floating backwards.

“Don’t work too hard now you two,” says Shana Wilson, manning one of two Adventure Bound River Expeditions rafts during our overnight trip.

It’s 11 a.m. Saturday, two days and two beers into our two-day float on the Ruby-Horsethief section of the Colorado River west of Grand Junction. Work is the last thing on my mind.

I leave behind computer screens and the digital beeps of Tweets and emails for the tranquility amid the beauty of red sandstone cliffs and the mellow rocking of the gentle water.

Our eXplore Colorado road trip brought us to this 25-mile stretch of the Colorado River between Loma and the Westwater Ranger Station in Utah. The section is one of the most popular in the state for private boaters, offering a scenic, low-key float, even the most novice river runners can enjoy. This isn’t a hold-onto-your-seat-and-pray adrenaline rush through whitewater rapids, but rather a leisurely summer float through stunning red rock canyons where you can hop off the shore to do day hikes through the surrounding McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area.

After watching our two Adventure Bound guides - Wilson and Clarcie Kurtzman - easily manage the rafts through Class I and Class II water, Erin is convinced she, too can be a rafting guide. Then she hears Wilson and Kurtzman talk about rafting Class IV and Class V Cataract Canyon.

I think she should stick to Class I water.

Ruby-Horsethief immensely popular 

According to the Bureau of Land Management, as many as 22,000 boaters a year made the float trip down Ruby and Horsethief canyons prior to 2012. It became so popular that user conflicts became more prevalent, including campsites packed with dozens more campers than legally allowed, campers not properly handling human waste, and among the most frustrating, stolen campsites.

For years, the BLM tried to mitigate the stolen campsite issue by asking campers to sign their names on a log-in sheet for one of the campsites. Many boaters - private and commercial - had their campsites hijacked.

“Everyone raced to the sign-up board at the Loma boat ramp and signed up for a camp … just hoping it would actually be there,” said Tom Kleinschnitz, owner of Adventure Bound River Expeditions.

The BLM began a permitting system for campsites in 2012,, moving to a paid permit in 2013. A camping permit reserved through the BLM is required 60 days before your camp date during the peak summer months, from May 1 through Sept. 30, with a cost that starts at $20 per night for five or fewer campers per campsite and increases to a group of 15-25 (the max allowed) costing $100 a night. No more than two dogs per camping group are allowed.

Kleinschnitz, who has owned Adventure Bound for 30 years and has been in the rafting business since 1971, said the permitting system has had “a few bumps” along the road in its first four years, but, for the most part, has added quality to the experience. The BLM reports the number of Ruby-Horsethief campers dipped to 10,000 in 2013, a more manageable number.

“Just a few years ago, it was very uncertain what camp you might end up with,” Kleinschnitz said. “Although the experience is not really a wilderness one, at least it can be counted on for quality now.”

Saturday night, our group of nine makes camp at Black Rocks No. 9, a scenic, sandy - but buggy - beach just past the fascinating Black Rocks section of Horsethief Canyon. It features 1.7-billion-year-old black rock called Vishnu schist that’s also seen in the Grand Canyon.

Before dinner, we get a tour of the bathroom.

Groovin' in camp 

The “groover” - rafting slang for portable toilet - gets its name from the red grooves embossed into a person’s heinie after squatting on the original versions of the portable toilet, often an ammunition lock box with no seat.

Our gray, rectangular ammunition box groover has a black seat and a great view of the Colorado River.

Tony Rueck, an Adventure Bound guide tagging along for the float on his days off, leads our groover discussion, demonstrating to the group - Erin, me and Dave and Katie Gresham and their 3-year-old son David - how to properly use the poop box.

Little David hears the word poop and does what any 3-year-old would do.

He takes off his pants. In the middle of the trail.

Laughter ensues.

“I think you all get the point,” Rueck says, breaking up the laughter and leaving little David and his family some privacy.

This is David’s first river trip, but it certainly won’t be his last. We find out that he’s Kleinschnitz’s grandson. His mom, Katie, grew up on the river with dad, Tom. They all live in Grand Junction.

Lindsay Chavez, the other rafting guide hanging out with us for the weekend, tells Erin and I there’s an old photo of Katie, as a little girl, sitting in the lap of her father as he holds two oars, guiding a raft.

The Colorado River runs in this family’s veins.

Little David provides laughs throughout dinner, which includes a delicious offering of steak, mashed potatoes, salad and chicken noodle soup.

The beer provides the laughs after dark.

All of us huddle around mosquito coils under a blue shelter as the rain falls, I realize, in between laughs, exploring Colorado isn’t just about seeing all the beauty the state has to offer.

It’s about the experience and the company with whom you experience it. It's about the new inside jokes, new friends and new memories that I’ll carry with me.

If you float

Ruby-Horsethief

Put in location:  12 miles west of Grand Junction on Interstate 70, Loma exit 15

Length of trip:   25 miles, Loma to Westwater, Utah

Class: I & II  (Check streamflow information before you go- link below)

Float time:  8 - 15 hours, depending on water levels and winds

Season: mid-March through October

Camping permits: To camp along this section, a campground permit is required, May 1 through Sept. 30. Permits may be obtained from the Grand Junction Colorado BLM office in person or over the phone. Call 970-244-3050 for permit desk. There is no day-use permit required for this section, only a camping permit if you want to camp. Cost is $20 a night for small groups (five and fewer); $50 for six-14; $100 for 15-25.

Commercial trip: Book a Ruby-Horsethief trip with Adventure Bound USA River Expeditions  www.adventureboundusa.com.