This man has just paddled the length of Okanagan Lake

For most people, a couple of days off from work means relaxing, doing chores, or running errands.

But not for ultra-endurance athlete Nick Pelletier. His last set of days off involved spending a weekend on Okanagan Lake in a pack raft, for 34 hours straight, covering 113 km from Vernon to Penticton.

The trip was done completely in the boat, solo, and unsupported. It comes on the heels of a 51-day trip in Mexico on a bike in February, the last time Kelowna10 spoke with him.

“For the past couple years, I’ve been trying to swim the trek actually, I’ve made it close to the bridge,” Pelletier told Kelowna10. “I wanted to at least get this trek done mentally, like physically do it, but mentally finish the whole thing so I could be more prepared for the actual swim when I redo it.”

The lake-long paddle is part of his training for an eventual lake-long swim.

The first time he attempted to swim the length of Okanagan Lake he was hindered by wetsuit chafing, which tore skin off his back. During the second attempt last year, he injured his shoulder and popped his wrist out.

Pelletier said he keeps himself in shape so he can take on some of these more impromptu quests. He has been swimming lots during the summer and said paddling uses similar muscles.

“What you take from one experience you can implement into the other,” he explained. “The mindset is more often than not the same, it’s just the actual physical act is a bit different.”

During the paddle, Pelletier experienced strong headwinds and choppy water when he was in the middle of the lake near Bear Creek, so he had to loop back near the shore and paddle through the pitch-black night.

“You can only see your feet basically in front of you or maybe a light here or there,” he said. “Not being able to see around you but knowing that the process doesn’t change, one stroke at a time, and just keep moving forward.”

During his adventures he doesn’t listen to music or podcasts as he likes to be alone with his thoughts and get the full experience of getting through the tough moments to achieve the highs of success.

“Every challenge that arises, everything that you figure out to combat what you’re dealing with, it all comes from you which is rewarding,” he said. “It also keeps you active and thinking about what you’re having to do, focusing on what’s right in front of you because that’s all you can control.”

At the end of the two-day trip, Pelletier arrived in Penticton where his friends were waiting to pick him up. His legs were shaky getting out of the raft, as he’d been sitting for 34 hours and 39 minutes straight.

He said he ate an entire pack of tacos when he got home and then went right back to work the next day.

The entire paddling adventure can be seen on his YouTube channel.