VAIL, Colo. -- Rafting is a popular summertime sport in Colorado. Many rafters love it as a way to stay cool when the weather is hot.

But some rafters are floating after dark.

Lakota River Guides in the Vail area offers night vision rafting trips. The company's Web site said, "You watch the sunset cast its alpenglow on the rugged summits, and watch the stars appear in the night sky using night vision monoculars."

7NEWS photographer Major King went with his family. They donned the typical rafting gear, including personal floatation devices. Major's daughter Kayla said, "I feel like an Oompa Loompa and I look like a Smurf!”

Lakota Guides has been offering the night vision trips for about a decade now.

"This is a unique trip that no one else does. We want people to come away with a sense of ... that they're accomplishing something. They've done something that their neighbors are probably never going to do in their lives," said Owner Leslie Mashburn.

The night trip starts like a float trip. You relax, you enjoy the scenery and you look at the stars. On this night, the King family spotted a heron not once, but twice.

Then the trip turned a bit wild with a section of Class II rapids.

Major's wife, Nancy said, "For all the places we have been, this is cool.”

Even Major said it was relaxing, and he found himself mellowing out. In the dark, the group heard bats, beaver tails slapping the water and with the help of the night vision monoculars, they spotted the space station up above.

"There’s a lot in the sky, like stars, satellites and the Space Station we got to see, that was cool. That was the first time I've seen that," said one passenger.

Leslie Mashburn's wife, also named Leslie Mashburn, said, "I think there has to be a certain leap of faith to come out here at night. We know it's a safe stretch of the river, but it still is moving water at night, in the dark."

Paul, their guide, said he guides by instinct, by what he hears, and what he knows the river is doing.

For many, the experience is simply being out there.

Major and his family did the night vision rafting trip with Lakota River Guides in the Vail area. Visit their Web site or call 970-845-RAFT. The night trips generally leave an hour before sunset and return at 11:30 p.m. Adult tickets are $105, and children's tickets are $95.