# Ruby Horsethief in winter in a day...



## B4otter (Apr 20, 2009)

24 and change miles to WW boat ramp, you only have two challenges (if no ice): short days and the paddleboard...


----------



## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

Yes, ice dams most certainly form on R-HT this time of year. 

Once some friends ran it in January and when they rounded a bend and were stopped by an ice dam, they wound up having to cache all their gear and portage with the smallest raft they had to float out. They came back in mid-Feb and got their boats and stuff. The photos of them trudging through the snow dragging the frames to their cache spot and portaging looked kind of like Napoleon's retreat from Moscow...

There are usually discussions this time of year about this, try a search and you'll find out more.

One guideline I've heard is that if there's ice in Debeque Canyon, there's ice in R-HT and Westwater. Remember that at this time of year some of the places in the canyon won't get any sunlight until spring. Another place to check would be Redtail Aviation in Moab (I think).

Be safe,

-AH


----------



## MNichols (Nov 20, 2015)

Andy H. said:


> Yes, ice dams most certainly form on R-HT this time of year.
> 
> One guideline I've heard is that if there's ice in Debeque Canyon, there's ice in R-HT and Westwater. Remember that at this time of year some of the places in the canyon won't get any sunlight until spring. Another place to check would be Redtail Aviation in Moab (I think).
> 
> ...



This is a good guideline, at these low flows, I'm betting there will be some ice, whether it's dammed up or not, well only one way to find out. The old RHT ranger Wayne used to do a patrol trip in his canoe in a day no problem, high or low water. 



FWIW, a LOT of private flights out of Walker Field in GJ, someone there at the airport might have first hand intel on what the river looks like.


----------



## smhoeher (Jun 14, 2015)

There's ice floating down the river right now 1/2 mile from my house. Some build up in the eddies and along the shore. You'll be paddling hard to get through R-HT in the daylight. Come boat on the Gunnison or through the Grand Valley.


----------



## Sparks1000 (Jul 5, 2018)

*Canoe*

I have most certainly canoed it in a single day, very low water. I think it took around 6 hours, paddling continuously. I would not risk it right now. I was in GJ yesterday and there were certainly ice chunks floating down. Unsure of a dam but the risk is pretty severe. I'd wait. The valley warms up pretty quickly. End of February/beginning of March, I'd almost guarantee that you'd be able to get down no problem.


----------



## zbaird (Oct 11, 2003)

Ice damns typically present themselves with growing ice on the banks. If you do go, pay attention to that. If ice starts growing on the bank, get out and take a walk to see whats happening. When they don't present themselves that way the water is typically so slow that you have plenty of time to see it coming. It wouldn't be that bad to portage a mostly empty canoe with two dudes on the bank ice, assuming you caught it before it was 3' tall. Give er hell!!


----------



## Amoon (Jun 5, 2018)

I can share a harrowing tale of a cast and blast trip years ago in Idaho that started from a boat ramp that had cake ice floating past it (and slow/dead eddies where iced over). We were very familiar with the stretch. No deep canyons (ie full sun). The very first slow water/almost no current section on a bend in the river had an ice jam that plugged up the entire bend for several hundred yards. We knew then that we were in for a very long day. We portaged and drug the boat at nearly every slow bend there after until some spring water helped warm the river a bit.

If you see cake ice floating in the river (as others have mentioned), you might find slow bends were a lot of that ice has bound up together.


----------



## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Reminds me of this TR from a few years back:
https://www.mountainbuzz.com/forums/f11/winter-mf-salmon-tr-with-photos-46117.html


----------



## noahfecks (Jun 14, 2008)

Drove down to GJ today, tough to see the river in the commuter car but heres what I saw. 



There were several ice dams in DeBeque canyon and I saw at least two spots where the river had frozen over completely. It looked like it would be trying to row your boat in a slushee even if there were no ice dams


----------



## zbaird (Oct 11, 2003)

That doesn't bode well for RHT being clean of dams.


----------



## Eagle Mapper (Mar 24, 2008)

I just flew over that section yesterday. There are ice dams in the river.


----------



## raymo (Aug 10, 2008)

*Cottonwood campsites.*



Eagle Mapper said:


> I just flew over that section yesterday. There are ice dams in the river.


Is there a plane fuselage about 1,500 feet up river from the Cottonwood campsites, south side of river? I could be thinking of another spot.


----------



## MNichols (Nov 20, 2015)

raymo said:


> Is there a plane fuselage about 1,500 feet up river from the Cottonwood campsites, south side of river? I could be thinking of another spot.



Is that still there? I would have thought they would have removed it by now.


----------



## raymo (Aug 10, 2008)

*3 to 4 years ago.*



MNichols said:


> Is that still there? I would have thought they would have removed it by now.


Up to about 3 to 4 years ago it was, a friend with a Piper J3 Cub flew me up that canyon and we spotted it. Never knew the story behind it or how it ended up there.


----------



## MNichols (Nov 20, 2015)

raymo said:


> Up to about 3 to 4 years ago it was, a friend with a Piper J3 Cub flew me up that canyon and we spotted it. Never knew the story behind it or how it ended up there.



In a nutshell, plane crashed, RHT boaters saw it, rescued the pilot and took him to safety. I would have thought that the Colorado BLM would have made them recover the wreckage, however given the location (no, I've not seen it myself, just heard the stories) it might be a very expensive proposition involving heavy lift helicopters, not to mention the deference to the nesting Bald Eagles in the area...


----------



## raymo (Aug 10, 2008)

Thanks MNichols, for that information, I remember reading about that aircraft incident, lucky those rafters were there to assist that pilot, nice work on their part. Back to river business, though.


----------



## westernCOboater (Aug 20, 2018)

Did a mtb ride today on Rustlers overlooking the entrance to Horsethief Canyon. And I stopped at the Loma boat ramp and took a video—see attached. Eddy was frozen over and a good but of ice flowing. Look carefully in the sky toward the end of the video—see it?


----------



## canoedog87c (May 19, 2017)

Thank you for all the info. It's looking like mid Feb might be the time to start really looking at the river conditions. Hopefully sun will be hitting all parts of the river by then. I'm wondering when the water will start to really come up. I don't want it to be over about 5000cfs for canoeing. Right now it seems like it's going down. I imagine mid February will still be pretty low.


----------



## Sparks1000 (Jul 5, 2018)

I floated it in early April last year (big snow year) and I think it was only at 8,000 or so. It stays low pretty late.


----------



## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

Here's a tool that you get for your tax dollars. This is a table of the average flows on R-HT. On average it doesn't hit 5K until mid April. If you boat a lot this is a nice thing to be able to use. There are lots of ways you can get the data - graphs, tables, annual stats or just the flow for the past week.

USGS 09163500 COLORADO RIVER NEAR COLORADO-UTAH STATE LINE

Here's another nice little tool you get as well:

COLORADO - CO-UT STATE LINE Forecast

Enjoy!

-AH


----------



## canoedog87c (May 19, 2017)

Very helpful. Thank you.


----------

