All those insecurities quickly went down the drain (or slid down the dam) once my family got the chance to try Stand Up Paddle Boards thanks to Evergreen Mountain Sports. Evergreen Mountain sports in Marshdale both sells and rents DSP Inflatable Paddle Boards at their store and on their website.
Some advantages of renting your SUP from Evergreen Mountain Sports, is getting to use them for more than just one hour (like most on-sight rentals), and you can take them to any lake you want. You can pick them up in the morning for a lake closer to Evergreen or consider grabbing them the day before to take an overnight trip. Inflatable Stand Up Paddle Boards are easy to pack and transport too. When you stop by the store to pick up your reserved equipment for the day, you will be greeted by the friendly and knowledgeable staff and given a quick lesson on how to inflate and assemble the boards. Pack them neatly and compactly in your car and you will be ready to go in no time.
When my family got to the lake, we set to inflating the boards using an electric pump attached to the car's battery. The electric pump made it a breeze and took us only a little over a half hour to inflate all four paddle boards. Everyone took a turn at inflating, just to prove how easy it could be done. I am now confident that I can handle this task all by myself, either for an afternoon with the kids or on my own for a nice morning excursion. (How great would that be?)
Happy that the set up took hardly any time at all, we picked up our boards and got ourselves ready to float. This was the amazing part for me ~ we set them on the water and watched as the kids climbed on and started paddling away! They began on their knees, and once they felt more comfortable they carefully made their way up to standing. Getting the hang of paddling on the correct side to assist in turning was probably the most difficult for my daughter to master, but she picked that up rather quickly as well.
I have heard stories that the water in Evergreen lake is really cold and thankfully I can't tell you from experience, as I didn't fall in once! The kids wouldn't have either, but they were shown pictures of the staff at Evergreen Mountain Sports doing hand stands, and were determined to master that trick. As you can see from the picture, although my son couldn't hold it for very long, he did get his legs up in the air. My daughter had a few spills while practicing her yoga on board. There were having way too much fun to complain of the cold water!
We toured all over the lake. Headed over to as close to the dam as we could, paddled from one side of the lake and back again and we rested on the shore to enjoy a picnic lunch with the pretty view as a back drop. The wildlife were quite active on the lake too. We sat on our boards on the middle of the lake to watch the elk take a dip to cool off. We took full advantage of the Evergreen Mountain Sports Stand Up Paddle board rental, enjoying the entire day out on the lake.
Once back on shore, we carried the boards to the car, hooked up the pump once again and set to deflating the boards. This was another quick and easy task that only took about 15 minutes at most. Many people walking by were fascinated to see how these boards worked. We were amazed that an inflatable Stand Up Paddle Board could be so sturdy, easy to use, inflate, transport and store. Our family is hooked! We now have hopes to add a few DSP Inflatable Boards from Evergreen Mountain Sports to our collection of sporting equipment before next summer!
For more information on renting or purchasing DSP Stand Up Paddle boards visit:
Evergreen Mountain Sports
6949 Highway 73, Ste ME-3
(Tucked between Evergreen & Conifer in Marshdale just north of North Turkey Creek traffic circle, behind the Den Restaurant. You can often see a SUP propped up by the side of Hwy 73)
Phone: 303-674-5100
HOURS:
M-F: 10 - 6
Friday: 10 - 5
Saturday: 9 - 6
Sunday: 9 - 5
Rentals: Offered 1/2 day, Full Day, Multi-Day and weekly
My family was offered four DSP Paddle Board rentals from Evergreen Mountain Sports in exchange for writing this article. All opinions are my own.
