For those who’ve deserted the dream of rafting the Colorado River as a result of it’s too laborious to get a allow or multiday boating sounds intimidating, linger a little bit longer in your REM stage as a result of a brand new boat-in campground is coming to the Colorado this August.
By early fall, boaters will be capable of put in on the Parachute boat ramp off Interstate 70, paddle 10 miles on the Colorado River and, for $40-$50 per campsite or $10 per particular person, pull right into a primitive campground the place guests can spend the night time earlier than taking out within the city of De Beque, one other mile or so down river.
Be warned, although: At “Kampa Lampa,” visitors must carry their very own sleeping gear, meals, fireplace pan, groover (a conveyable bathroom) and different accouterments of rafting. By subsequent summer time, groovers, fireplace pans, picnic tables and designated tent websites will likely be accessible — “plus swag with the Kampa Lampa emblem and the phrases ‘ding-dong’ on the again,” stated Kathy Haas, including the identify has no relation to the tune “Shama Lama Ding Dong” from the film “Animal Home.”
Campground designation was a 12 months within the making. Haas, an actual property agent, stated she discovered the location whereas looking Zillow in 2021. When she noticed this property she thought, “You’ve gotta be kidding me. Once I took my husband to see it, he had this look on his face that made my daughter ask if he was mad. However I stated, ‘I don’t care. I’m shopping for it.’”
The 7.5-acre parcel sits on the Colorado River, a quarter-mile off I-70. It’s primitive tenting “as a result of getting Mesa County’s signoff for a totally operational campground accessible by automobiles and campers would have been robust as a result of them doubtlessly working up and down our street, which is flanked principally by ranchers,” Haas stated.
With the deal sealed, Bobbie Daniel, a Mesa County Commissioner for District 2, stated the commissioners are “excited to see the artistic methods Kampa Lampa is utilizing their property to spur the exploration of the nice outside and the native financial system.”
Since shopping for the property, Haas stated her household has been working to clear “actually 2,000” invasive timber, primarily Russian olives and Japanese elms. She acquired a private grant by the Pure Assets Conservation Service to do the work, together with eradicating different invasive flora to get replaced by native species.
Haas hopes Kampa Lampa will present an alternate for individuals who don’t wish to, or can’t, run the Ruby-Horsethief part of the Colorado, which begins at Loma, 50 miles west of De Beque. Boating Ruby-Horsethief requires a allow and the Bureau of Land Administration says it may be difficult, regardless of its simply maneuverable Class I and II rapids, as a result of it has “spotty to nonexistent cell service” and a historical past of “lengthy and cumbersome rescues.”
The stretch of river Kampa Lampa sits alongside is a delicate 10-mile float between the Parachute boat ramp and the DeBeque takeout. All informed, the journey takes two and a half hours in excessive water, and as much as 4 when the water is low, Haas stated.
Curtis Englehart, government director of the Grand Junction Financial Partnership, stated De Beque may use extra outside recreation choices like Kampa Lampa. He calls De Beque a “hidden gem” that gives quick access to the Colorado River. “When you go,” he stated, “you’ll be able to’t not go once more.”
However he cautions that guests to Mesa County’s most lovely recreation spots needs to be cautious of over-loving them.
Nathan Perry, an affiliate professor of economics at Colorado Mesa College in Grand Junction, reported that in 2022, water-based sports activities accounted for almost 20% of Mesa County’s core enterprise exercise. On the Ruby-Horsethief phase of the Colorado, visitation has steadily elevated because the BLM began issuing boating permits there in 2013. And identical to on any river with permits regulated by the federal government’s centralized reservation system recreation.gov, it’s getting tougher and tougher to get a allow for Ruby-Horsethief, Haas stated.
The outside journey web site Mountain Buzz additionally alludes to allow holders abusing the system on Ruby-Horsethief. In a thread labeled “Allow Honesty on Ruby/Horsethief,” a discussion board member final Could referred to as out individuals who booked “late-week camps” — that’s Thursday by Sunday — for the only function of locking in a campsite on Saturday. By reserving the three nights of campsites and solely exhibiting up on the final night time, the member stated, they have been robbing others of getting a spot to camp on Thursday or Friday night time.
For years, Ruby-Horsethief was stricken by individuals who booked journeys however didn’t present up on their launch dates. In response, BLM has instituted a coverage this 12 months that penalizes boaters who don’t examine in, stopping them from reserving a visit till the top of the next 12 months.
To the boaters studying the Mountain Buzz thread about abusing the system, the member wrote, “I implore you to not take part on that sport.” However as curiosity in rafting continues to develop, one can think about the crowding and allow points will persist.
With Ruby-Horsethief 50 miles west of Kampa Lampa, previous Grand Junction, the brand new campground won’t ever resolve the crowding points on that part of the river. But it surely does stand to supply an alternate, albeit restricted, with its 10 campsites simply off the banks of the Colorado.
Joe Keys, who owns Jet Boat Colorado in De Beque, applauds Haas’ imaginative and prescient. “My firm received’t use Kampa Lampa as a result of we don’t do in a single day journeys,” he stated. “However I welcome something that exhibits individuals we’re greater than only a fuel station off of I-70.”
Originally posted 2023-05-11 10:00:00.