Destination Showcase: Boise, Idaho

Being a Colorado native and being used to world-class cycling at every intersection, I was absolutely stunned as I hopped on the saddle in Boise. As it turns out, there is much more to Idaho than plains and potatoes. The accessibility to not just good but great riding is unparalleled.

There truly aren’t many places out there like Boise.



This is a city that doesn’t just acknowledge a large cycling community but owns it. They’re proud of what they've cultivated between access to the outdoors, and the tourism that it brings to the growing city.

From technical, rocky trails and fast singletrack to public bike parks and the 25-mile Boise Greenbelt, the city is heavily invested in cycling, influencing everything from lifestyles to infrastructure.

Thankfully we were able to experience Boise with someone who knows the ins-and-outs of the city like few others, Braydon Bringhurst.





Our first stop on our trip visiting Idaho with Braydon and local photographer Anthony Smith was right outside Braydon’s backdoor, Eagle Bike Park.

A short 20-minute drive from Boise (or five minute bike ride from Braydon’s place) lands you at the trail bike playground that is Eagle Bike Park. Its vast spiderweb of trails, jumps, skills park, and skatepark should be enough to blow you away.


You can get 13 miles of riding in without having to repeat a trail. It’s e-bike friendly and has features that will keep you progressing no matter your skill level. Eagle Bike Park is maintained by the City of Eagle and Ada County along with a strong contingent of volunteers who continue to keep it great.

Eagle Bike Park had some of the flowiest public trails I have ever laid eyes on; I swear it wasn’t just Braydon’s riding making them look good.



Something I noticed about how they create trails here that’s unlike anywhere I’ve personally been: there's as much consideration about being on the ground as there is to being in the air. It might seem like an odd thing to note, but there is much more to a trail than building some rad jumps.


Big berms and rollers, and maintaining flow was clearly priority number one during the park design process, with jumps filling in the proverbial gaps after that. Sure, there are big lines such as Sage Fright, but a lot of the trails focus on keeping the tires on the dirt, like Weekend at Bermy’s. From the top of the park, which is an easy pedal up a dirt road (or trail; your choice), you can hit miles of singletrack filled with features like rock gardens and wooden drops. This is must-see when you’re in the Boise area.

Eagle Bike Park mountain biking trails






Following Eagle Bike Park, we checked out the Table Rock trail area in the evening.

Table Rock doesn't have just one feature that's worth talking about; the entire area is full of goodies. It’s (mostly) shuttle-able and also pedal-able (there’s one killer climb Braydon claims to this day is impossible on the Quarry trail, which means a lot coming from a climber of his renown).


It's mere minutes from downtown Boise and features stunning views of the city. Towering 900 feet over Boise, the area offers amazing views and technical descents through old quarries and fast, wide-open singletrack. I’d love to have this minutes from my place.





One of the things that made this such a unique experience was the way in which the character of the trail changed throughout the descent. It went from extremely technical, to extremely fast, and extremely playful all in one run.


One of the reasons Braydon loves Table Rock is how accessible it is. The trailhead for the base of Table Rock links up directly with the Boise River Greenbelt, a 25-mile bike path that runs the length of the city and then some, so you won’t even have to turn on your car or touch a road to get to amazing mountain biking.

Table Rock mountain biking trails






The following morning, we got an insider look at what the nonprofit local ski/bike resort was up to at Bogus Basin. I can tell you it’s anything but what the name insinuates. Just 40 minutes from downtown Boise lands you at a phenomenal little resort with a genuine and welcoming vibe. We were able to connect with enduro racer Kyle Warner and motocross athlete April Zastrow from the YouTube channel and podcast “Ride MTB,” who helped show us around a bit.



Bogus has 12 downhill-only trails including a large jump trail as well as some hand-built singletrack.



You can get ample amounts of trail riding here too, with 60+ miles of loops and nearly 3,000 feet of descending available, it's easy to forget that Boise is right next to you. On top of all of this, they have reasonably priced day passes for lift access and things like the alpine coaster to keep your entire family entertained if they’re not out grabbing laps with you. The crew up there is amazing too, with passionate mountain bikers being behind everything they’re up to for building. There’s a lot of good coming out of this area over the next couple of years.

On the way back down from Bogus, there’s an area called Stack Rock that we checked out next.



This area is fully shuttleable with multiple contact points to North Bogus Basin Road, but it’s also super fun as an out and back, which is what we did.



Most of the trails at Stack Rock are blue trails, but there are certain zones and features that I’d rate a good bit higher. Stack Rock definitely brought the tech.



I was blown away by the natural elements here–beautiful large rocks and tall bushes that made riding in the fall time like something out of a movie. The trails here all felt very fast and flowy with just enough difficulty to keep you on your toes.



This vast network of trails stretches all over the Boise area. Seriously, check out the map on Trailforks. You could ride all the way to Bogus Basin and then back to multiple other trailheads and areas all from one location. I can’t even fathom how many miles of unique trails you could ride in this area. No matter what you’re in for, whether it’s an epic distance ride, an evening stroll, or some shuttling, Stack Rock and the trails alongside North Bogus Basin Road will have you covered.

Bogus Basin mountain biking trails





Back on the topic of public bike parks comes Boise Bike Park, a city-maintained park that is the ultimate place to progress your skills on two wheels.

The park has two paved pump tracks (one larger and one for the tots) and four jump lines with multiple features in each. We’re talking everything from small table tops to slopestyle-esque wall rides and whale-tails. It makes me really happy to see public parks like this popping up all across the country, but it made me sad that I left my dirt jump bike back in Colorado. This is the perfect gathering spot for friends and family.

The park maintenance is run by Dustin Zeis, who used to be the head digger at Valmont Bike Park in Boulder, CO (aka, the Valmont Wizard), so you know this park is going to look as good as it rides. I always envy the kids I see riding at these parks at such a young age because of how catered these areas are to quick progression.

If I could travel back in time, I would go back and build more public parks sooner.


The paved pump tracks here are a seriously cool feature for a public park to have installed right next to jump lines.


When there’s no snow (which isn’t uncommon for downtown Boise), it means these lines are more or less rideable year-round. The bike park is maintained throughout the year as well, so bike park laps are available no matter the time of year. It’s also located right on the edge of Boise, so it’s no more than a few minutes from you at all times and directly next to the start of yet another network of trails in the Boise Foothills, the Ridge to Rivers trail system.

You thought that surely this article had to be wrapping up soon, right? Wrong. I can’t even address all of the amazing riding because we didn’t have enough time to ride it all. But there are a couple more I want to mention.

The Boise River Greenbelt is an amazing feature built into the heart of Boise–a 25-mile bike path right alongside the Boise River that has access to everything. I’m talking downtown Boise, multiple trailheads, a whitewater kayak and surf park, and so much more. The Greenbelt is perfect to take a tour of what Boise has to offer or to utilize as a route to work, shopping, as well as mountain biking all over town.






Last but not least is the mecca that is the Boise Foothills. The Boise Foothills may be the easiest and most accessible set of trails in Boise, stemming from the bike park with multiple other trailheads depending on what you want to ride. This area is Anthony Smith’s “45-minute ride of choice,” as he quoted it. There are 60+ miles of trail here with more than 3,000 feet of vertical relief, which is a lot coming from Boise, which has an elevation of 2,730 feet. Can you ride from here to Bogus Basin, you ask? Yes, you can. It truly is amazing how far you can go from just one common location.


There are countless trailheads to this area, but we chose one a bit higher up into the hills so we could get up to a local favorite–8th Street MX. 8th Street was super fun, being one of the few black-rated trails in the area. It’s loose, steep, rocky, and full of water bars. What else could you ask for, truly? The other trails that we rode in this area were also a blast, but it is one of the more popular areas to ride close to the city, so it can get busy from time to time. Getting up higher in the hills maximizes your potential to be riding alone (we didn’t see a soul), so in my opinion, it was very worth the trek.


Boise Foothills mountain biking trails


I genuinely cannot express how satisfied I was with the amazing riding, community, and culture that is Boise. It completely shattered my (very) naive outsider’s opinion on the city, let alone the state. It’s amazing how far they’ve come in the riding scene in even just the last few years, and everybody here can attest to the fact that in a few more years, it’s only going to be exponentially better. Boise is a place that cares about recreation, cares about its community, and is putting riding at the forefront of its culture. Thankfully for this trip, Boise wasn’t our only stopping point. Check back in again soon to take a look at our first impressions of “Boise’s backyard," McCall, Idaho.






Boise mountain biking trails