Paddle Fest 2018

This weekend Journey Off Life decided to do something special. We were invited by Daring adventure, a local NGO, to participate in the 9th annual Lake Pleasant Paddle Fest. If you don’t know what Paddle fest is, it’s a local event that is organized by Lake Pleasant Regional Park. You can come here to tour, get on some Hobie pedal kayaks, outriggers, rafts, canoes, and stand up paddle boards. To say there was something for someone was an underestimate.

We decided to stay over by Lake Pleasant for two days. We got there early afternoon on Friday. As we settled in and set up our tents for the weekend, it had seemed as if timed had passed us so we headed out to the dock and meet some locals. We enjoyed everyone’s company along with having some good food and drinks. We got to talking to some friends and ended up on joining them on their four person paddle boat and went to check out Fireman’s Cove (which ended up on being the designated area for Paddle Fest). The following morning, we joined our friends from Daring Adventure for a great breakfast. We left to the cove straight afterwards. It was pretty empty as we arrived so we jumped on trying new things before more people arrived. We tried three different water crafts before the Cove started filling up with people. It seemed as if 500 people were joining us with almost a dozen water sport vendors. We thought it’d be the end of us getting our hands on some new toys. Fortunately, everyone had more than enough time to try out all the paddle crafts they had provided. We also got to enjoy some live music and some more yummy food from food trucks. We had the pleasure of meeting everyone who put this event together. We couldn’t have had a better time with our new friends.

Lake Pleasant Location: Off Hwy 74 (Carefree Hwy) at MP 19, follow signs from the main entrance off Castle Hot Springs Road to the north entrance of Lake Pleasant to Fireman’s Cove