Last year my friend and I went to see Leslie Gulch, at the end of the road is the Owyhee Reservoir. We decided then that we’d come back next summer and paddleboard there. We actually wanted to go camping there but our schedules never aligned. So we decided to just do a day of paddleboarding.

Jaelee and I really like paddleboarding so I asked if she wanted to go. She did! It’s a 2.5 hour drive to get there. The last hour of that is on a dirt road for 25 miles. The last 5 miles of that is gorgeous with beautiful rock formations but it’s a long way to get there.

We hadn’t been able to use the kayak we got her for her birthday yet so we decided to bring hers. We loaded it onto the car by ourselves. Jayse had to help guide us with the straps. We passed by a water craft inspection zone we had to stop at. They passed us and we were on our way.

We got there and straight away got our boards and kayak ready. We brought lunch with us so we put it in dry bags and divided them so we each had something to eat and drink. It was a beautiful day. I started out on the kayak. I wanted to test it out. I really liked it. The seat was a nice bonus – made my back feel nice.

We paddled out a ways and then started to get hungry so Jaelee and I busted out some snacks. It worked out really well. We were able to pass food around pretty easy. Then we started to get pretty hot. I wanted to take a dip in the water. The area we were around however did not have a great bank. So we decided to paddle to the other side of the lake. We were going against the wind and current. Let me tell you things got significantly harder. I felt like I was paddling so much and going no where. Jaelee and my friend Jamie didn’t seem to have much of a problem. The paddleboard were higher in the water and glided better. I was on the struggle bus but I finally made it. I was so hot I literally bailed off the kayak into the water. Making the kayak roll. Luckily we had everything strapped on there pretty good so we didn’t lose anything.

The water was a nice temperature. We swam around for a bit cooling off. Jamie had to be back at a certain time so we decided we better start heading back. Jaelee wanted to try the kayak so she hoped on that and I took the paddleboard. We were going against the wind and current on the way back and Jaelee found out what a struggle it was in the kayak. When we got about 50 feet from the shore she bailed out and swam back pulling the kayak with her.

We loaded all of our gear back up. Jamie got out of there and Jaelee and I took our time. We wanted to stop and take pictures of all the rock formations. We stopped in an area and at our lunch in the car.

As we headed out Jaelee sat on the car door taking pictures as we went. Once we got out of the Gulch it was an open grassy valley. We saw what we believed were some wild horses so we stopped and took a few pictures of them. Then it was a long road home. It was worth it though because we had a great time.

Some of Jaelee’s pictures