Break out the champagne. It’s not often paddlers get a new section of river to float and camp on, especially in an increasingly crowded location like the Colorado River in Colorado. But as reported by the Colorado Sun, that’s what Kathy Haas has created with her new “Kampa Lampa” campground, creating a new flatwater float-and-camp alternative for those tired of playing the permit game to run the nearby Ruby-Horsethief section of the Colorado and other crowded waterways.
The section Hass has pioneered by creating a new campground sits along a gentle 10-mile section of the Colorado between the Parachute boat ramp and the DeBeque takeout. All told, the trip takes two and a half hours in high water, and up to four when the water is low, she tells Tracy Ross of the Sun.
Boaters will be able to put in at the Parachute boat ramp off Interstate 70, paddle 10 miles on the Colorado River and, for $40-$50 per campsite or $10 per person, pull into a primitive campground to spend the night before taking out in the town of De Beque, another mile downriver. As on a real river trip, right now guests will have to bring their own sleeping gear, food, fire pan, groover (portable toilet) and more. By next summer, groovers, fire pans, picnic tables and designated tent sites will be provided.
Haas, a real estate agent, said she found the site while searching Zillow in 2021. When she saw this property she knew it was it. The 7.5-acre parcel sits on the Colorado River, a quarter-mile off I-70. Since buying the property, her family has cleared it of such invasive trees as Russian olives and Japanese elms to make it suitable for camping.
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