July 2019 - Rachel What If

How paddle boarding is helping me disconnect from stress and reconnect to the people and places I love.

Dang it! The fin on my board is broken and flat water paddling season is just getting started!

I would be more upset about this, but I’m too excited about all the people I am slowly persuading to try out the sport by lending out my board. I am secretly building a paddle board gang that I hope will start wearing matching swim shorts and using slang paddle board language.

Yes, my fin will have to be replaced, but my husband finally got out on my board, and probably even enjoyed it. Not only will I have swayed him into connecting with the flat water promised land (can land be water?), I have also gotten my children, my friend’s children, and most recently my sister-in-law’s children into the sport.

Surf’s up

Paddle boarding is really modified surfing. Us mountain people are trying to pretend that we have an ocean, or that we are cool enough to be surfers. I often wish I lived near an ocean because I long for that meditative ebb and flow of the waves to connect and align my breath. I want to stare out over the water and see endless horizons, where sky meets water and contemplate life’s mysteries.

Still, there’s something terrifying about getting too far away from shore. I am more of a cautious adventurer. I used to think I was kind of a mermaid, until my husband had to pull me from a tangling mess of baby waves in Newport Beach surf during our honeymoon. Also, there are sharks in the ocean.

Still, paddling a lake or placid river makes me feel like I belong somehow. Putting your ore in and pushing away is proof that you are willfully disconnecting from safety and stability. Most importantly, you are opening yourself up to the stillness, building your relationship with the water. I think this is what hanging ten is like, a little.

So, in an effort to build my gang, as I mentioned earlier, here are my top three places to catch some waves, I mean float peacefully, in my #hometown.

My 3 favorite Places to Paddle in Durango, Colorado

Animas River

My all time favorite place to flat water paddle is hands down the Animas River. Yes, I said flat water. I recently saw some crazy guys doing some actual surfing in wet suits on the huge waves of the Animas. This is not what I am talking about. The river is high, I am waiting for the stillness.

Just behind North City Market, you will find the drop off point for the rafting companies. There is rarely ever parking here, but get there on a weekday, early, and it should be available.

The first time I put my board in here, I knew lots of people visited this area to play. What I didn’t know, was that you could paddle up river for about an hour on flat water to reach a sandy beach. What I love about this is not only is it an excellent workout, but it has a destination! Paddling around a lake has its own rewards, but this is almost like going on a trail run! Round trips are my favorite, but I’ll take a there and back any day. Plus, the way back is so easy!

Even more surprising is that I had been to this location several times and had no idea. I’m not sure if I am disappointed, or elated. Loving your community means seeing old things with new eyes, in new ways, or even discovering them for the first time. I recently wrote about this in my post about staycations.

Lake Nighthorse

Ya know those turquoise waters in all the Pinterest posts showing beautiful exotic tropical locations? Lake Nighthorse is almost like that. The water is at least 20 degrees cooler than tropical waters, but man is it blue. We don’t get as much of that in the Animas.

Nighthorse is a mere 5 minutes from downtown Durango! With an $8 day pass, you can get your board out onto those crystal clear waters. It is even wakeless on Mondays and Wednesdays. Don’t get me wrong, we enjoy our wakeboarding and boating days, but as a paddler, its cool to have the whole lake to yourself. They also have great bathrooms!

Just don’t expect to get a great beachy area to have lunch or park your board. I usually park by the boat ramp so I don’t have to carry my board too far. This lake is also a bit windy at times, but there is a water break and fun wakeless area here. Nighthorse has been my go to paddle haven since it stopped snowing in late May.

Pastorius Reservoir

Definitely one of the most secret places to bring your board within 10 minutes of Durango is Pastorius. This site has a technical description and directions. It is literally nestled inside of ranches and homesteads on a little known county road. Its a farely shallow lake which makes for smooth waters almost all the time. In a drought year, this lake is very low and probably not as pleasant.

A local favorite for fishing, it has only recently been discovered by paddle boarders, or maybe just me. I had been here several times for fishing, but hadn’t seen any paddlers until this summer. It costs nothing as of this writing to play here, but there are very little amenities and no bathrooms.

Want to join my gang?

Hit me up on my Instagram account @rachelwhatif, or email me at hello@rachelwhatif.com to find out about the matching shorts.

Awe, just look at those pictures on Insta of your friends smiling in the pool, in Italy, with drinks, and tans. Yay them.

Ok, in all honesty, I do have an awesome trip planned, but its not happening until the end of November. That’s like Christmas. It might as well be an eternity away. But, I am not going to let this summer go by without at least pretending to be on vacation.

In the following, I have listed three reasons a staycation can be a more rewarding experience than traveling, or it is validation you can use to explain to your friends why you never go anywhere. Either way, no matter where you spend most of your time, you can be reminded of how and why you landed in your hometown in the first place.

You are an expert

No more FOMO for you! There is so much pressure on vacation to find the places only the locals know. Or to see as much as possible considering the price you paid to get there. When I took my family on our first ever tropical vacation last year, I had so much anxiety about trying to squeeze in everything, I actually cried when all they wanted to do was nap in the rental one of the days. Don’t even ask me about the hour and a half drive to see the amazing monkey preserve to pull up to a run down shack, in a shady part of the middle of nowhere.

Sure, trying new foods and changing up the view reminds us how awesome and diverse the world is, but there is nothing like the satisfaction of already knowing where to get those delish organic green smoothies, what time the absolute best breakfast burritos are sold out, and not having to open google maps every time you leave the hotel.

It’s more than a little ego boost to know the smoothest waters to take your paddle board, where to see the most inspiring sunsets, and the back roads to take to avoid the summertime traffic.

Learn about the tourists

My default mode seems to be set on the ‘I prefer to be alone’ setting. I love to be alone, until I don’t. When people travel, they simply cannot isolate themselves because of then unfamiliar environment. There is no choice but to ask for help. It may be directions, help with a menu, currency questions, and many other basic tasks. Asking for help opens us up and humbles us to be teachable. People naturally like to help each other.

When we are comfortable, know where we are going and what we need, we rarely interact with others that we don’t know. You probably can’t relate, but some people even pretend not to see people they know when they’re running errands, simply because they don’t have the time to chat. The nerve! (insert winky face emoji here)

Because you are now planning your hometown staycation, schedule in some opportunities to talk to people you don’t know. Ask where they are from, and maybe what has brought them to your part of the world. Remember, this is a vacation, so your are not busy running errands. Be friendly. How cool would it be to know you were that nice girl who told them about the awesome mine tour they experienced, and the local handcrafted soda brewing tour.

Look for “Invisible” stuff

I have this weird fascination with Bigfoot, but not for the reasons you might think. I love the mystery of it. There is no solid, scientific evidence that Bigfoot exists, but here’s the cool part: There is no solid, scientific evidence that Bigfoot doesn’t exist. Uh huh. See what I did there? That’s the magic. It’s not that I think he’s out there, trying to eat campers, it’s that he might be.

The point is, ever since I started sharing my fascination, people starting popping out of the woodwork, telling me that they are “believers”. I’ve been gifted several Bigfoot collectors items, that I totally love, even though I consider myself an anti-collector. There is even a Bigfoot believers conference somewhere up north I’ve been invited to. I’m in the tribe ya’ll! Who wouldn’t want to be an exclusive member of a tribe like this? I even have the t-shirt.

There are tribes of people doing the coolest stuff in every corner of the world. You can find them on social media, a google search, or just going for a walk with your eyes open. I even found the cutest little tribe of fairy house builders right down 3rd Avenue, in my town, that several locals don’t even know is there! What the ….? A whole fairy community. Invisible! Awesome.

Cheapest, Endless, Instagram Worthy

My heading was not just a bunch of keywords thrown together to get your attention. Ok, yes it was.

Traveling is a dream of mine so I won’t sit here and try to make it sound incredibly dull and not worth the money. What I hope to do though is inspire you to be excited about where you spend most of your time. From now on, I will use the hashtag #hometown, #durangocolorado or #staycation to post on Instagram for ideas. Will you do that too?

I am so grateful to live almost all my days in this gorgeous place, interact with interesting and unique people, and feel like I am an expert on local favorites.

If you have been following my story, you know I am transitioning from teaching to writing. I would love to hear your ideas about staycations, travel, education, and writing in the comments below!

Reach out to me at hello@rachelwhatif.com with your story or ideas for a stay-cation.

Month: July 2019

Flat Water Paddling in Durango, Colorado