We ride sections of the Boise Greenbelt quite a bit. I’ve done it before, but Cortney wanted to push herself and see if she could do it the whole thing. Both ways.
The Summer Solstice (June 21) proved to be the perfect time. What better way to celebrate the longest day of the year than with a long, slow ride along the river?
The Greenbelt is a 25-mile trail that starts up in Eagle, ID, and cuts all through the heart of Garden City & Downtown Boise and then meanders out to Lucky Peak. It’s pretty special.
Cyclists, hikers, joggers, and roller-bladers (yes, keeping the 90s alive here in Boise) all have awesome river access the whole way. It’s easy and free and there are countless fantastic places to picnic and hammock. (Stay tuned for our yet-to-be-released “Guide to Hammocking on the Boise River.”) Plus, there’s a ton of river wildlife: ospreys, mink, beaver, trout, tubers, you name it.
If getting out for a quick bite or beverage is more your speed, there’s no shortage of great places for you to do that too.
As you head out of Boise and closer to Lucky Peak, you follow Highway 21 for a short bit. The scenery changes from lush riparian forest to more of your classic high desert with impressive volcanics. I love it.
Stargazing is a big deal out at Lucky Peak. You’ll find a bunch of fun facts like this all over the pathways. It’s part of the “Blacktop Observatory” that the parks & rec department puts on.
While it isn’t something I’d want to do every day, it was cool for us to ride the full 50-ish miles in one go together. For us, the key was to pack plenty of snacks and make as many river stops as humanly possible. The fact that the path is pretty much flat the whole way doesn’t hurt.
The ice cream break helped too.
-Erik
His Courtney and Eric,
You two should have your own You Tube channel on T.V. You folks remind us when we were young,doing such things as hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and Havasupai and our 1968 Volkswagon van trip across America on $400.
Stay in touch.