New Horse Creek River Access on Colorado River Ranch opens Sept. 13

Eagle County will celebrate the opening of the Horse Creek River Access on the Colorado River Ranch at 3 p.m., Friday, Sept. 13. Newly completed improvements include a concrete boat launch, a driveway to the river, restrooms and a parking lot. All river enthusiasts and interested community members are invited to attend.

Horse Creek River Access is located 12 miles upstream from Dotsero and is part of a larger 1,017-acre conservation easement on the Colorado River Ranch, which remains in private ownership.

According to Open Space Director Toby Sprunk, it will effectively break up the long float between the Pinball access point and the popular Cottonwood site. “Given its fantastic location, we expect heavy use at Horse Creek from boaters, anglers and outfitters putting on the river and taking out,” said Sprunk.

The Colorado River Ranch project is the result of a partnership between Great Outdoors Colorado, The Conservation Fund, Colorado Open Lands, the Colorado River Ranch owners and Eagle County Open Space.

Roughly half of the $5.5 million purchase price for the Colorado River Ranch conservation easement was funded by Great Outdoors Colorado, with the other half coming from Eagle County's dedicated Open Space Fund.

The site is the fourth in a series of access points on the Colorado River to be obtained and developed by the county’s Open Space Program over the last two years, including State Bridge River Access, Two Bridges River Access and Dotsero Landing. A fifth parcel at Red Dirt Creek is slated to open for primitive camping, fishing and hiking in 2014.

Horse Creek River Access will be open to the public daily from sunrise to sunset; camping is not permitted. There is no fee to access the site. Users are asked to note the driveway under the railroad trestle is one lane, so vehicles should exercise caution and obey the posted signs.

For more information on Horse Creek River Access or the county’s Open Space Program, contact Sprunk at 970-328-8698.