The foothills are the reference point.
Access Boise Editorial Team 
Boise’s foothills trails close for three overlapping reasons: mud, wildlife winter range, and wildfire risk. The city’s Ridge to Rivers trail system posts closures trail-by-trail and updates them through the wet season and fire season, and the only reliable way to know what is open on a given day is to check that status page … Read more
The Boise foothills hold mule deer, coyotes, ground squirrels, magpies, a resident population of raptors, and, less often, mountain lions, black bears and rattlesnakes. Idaho Fish and Game documents all of these species in the area; none require special caution beyond ordinary trail sense — keeping distance, keeping dogs leashed where required, and watching the … Read more
Veterans Memorial State Park is a day-use Idaho state park on the Boise River in northwest Boise, built around a spring-fed pond, an off-leash dog area, picnic grounds and a stretch of the Boise River Greenbelt. It is managed by the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation (IDPR) and, unlike most Idaho state parks, sits … Read more
Barber Park is a county-run park at the southeast edge of Boise where the Boise River Greenbelt begins its formal route and where the seasonal river float launches. It has a boat ramp, a large dog park, disc golf, and picnic ground, but its real function is as the put-in point that everyone floating the … Read more
Yes. Every summer, weather and river flow permitting, people float a roughly six-mile stretch of the Boise River on inner tubes, rafts, or kayaks, starting at Barber Park and ending at Ann Morrison Park. The city of Boise runs a shuttle bus between the two points during the season, and the whole operation depends on … Read more
Quinn’s Pond is a former gravel pit turned fishing and swimming pond on the Boise River, west of downtown. Esther Simplot Park is the city park built around it, opened in 2015, which added a second linked pond and formal park infrastructure. Together they form one of the newer additions to Boise’s chain of river … Read more
The Boise Whitewater Park is an engineered stretch of the Boise River, west of downtown, where the city has installed adjustable underwater features that create standing waves and surf holes. It is built and owned by the city of Boise, it is free to use, and it functions less like a facility with a gate … Read more
The Table Rock trail is a foothills route that climbs roughly 700 to 800 feet from Boise’s East End up onto the flat sandstone mesa known as Table Rock. It is short but steep, almost entirely exposed to sun, and rated moderate to strenuous by the city’s own Ridge to Rivers trail programme because of … Read more
What Is Military Reserve Park? Military Reserve Park is a city-owned park in the foothills directly east of downtown Boise, built across land that was once part of the U.S. Army’s Fort Boise military reserve. Boise Parks and Recreation manages it today as one of the busiest trailhead hubs feeding the city’s foothills trail network, … Read more
Hulls Gulch is a canyon that cuts into the Boise Foothills directly above the North End neighborhood, carrying a seasonal creek down toward the city. The Hulls Gulch Reserve is the protected open-space land around that drainage, owned and managed by the city of Boise, and it contains a well-known self-guided nature trail plus connections … Read more
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