Boise River Greenbelt

Stretching from Lucky Peak Dam to Eagle, Idaho is Boise's best amenity: The Boise River Greenbelt. Whether you like to walk, bike or float, this is a great way to clear your mind, have a fun summer adventure, and enjoy the natural beauty of Boise. You are likely to see ducks, geese, and many other birds including Bald Eagles along the 25-mile paved pathway. As you walk or bike along the Greenbelt or float the Boise River, it is very common to see fishermen fishing for Idaho rainbow trout.

The Boise Greenbelt follows the Boise River with several bridges that cross the river along the way. Icons along the trail include BSU, Boise Zoo, Barber Valley Park(which is where many put in to float the river), Ann Morrison Park (where most people finish floating the river) Whitewater Park in Garden City, and Veterans Park.

Whether you are out for an intense workout, light exercise, just a stroll, bird watching, fishing, or floating the river—please respect the environment and other participants! Don't ruin the Boise Greenbelt for others. We in Boise and Idaho as a whole are very proud of our access to the natural beauty around us and want to keep it pristine for everybody to enjoy for generations.

About the Boise Greenbelt

The tree-lined pathway follows the river through the heart of the city and provides scenic views, wildlife habitat, and pedestrian access to many of the city's popular riverside parks. The Greenbelt also serves as an alternative transportation route for commuters.

As you walk along the Boise River Greenbelt with its towering trees, lush riparian areas, and abundant wildlife, you may get a sense that this beautiful setting has always been here for us to enjoy. In 1964, the city hired a consultant to write a comprehensive plan and update Boise's zoning ordinance. The consultant suggested that the city acquire land along the Boise River to create a continuous "green belt" of public lands stretching the entire length of the community. Soon, a local grassroots effort to clean up the waterway and create public access to the river corridor began to take hold. This vision caught on and in 1966 and 1967 three small parcels of land were donated to the city to launch a "green belt" through the city.

In 2001, a new directional and site location system was put in place on the Greenbelt within Boise City limits to help Greenbelt users know exactly where they are in case they need to call for help. The Distance and Orientation Trail System (DOTS) is a series of 20-inch white spots painted onto the Greenbelt pavement every tenth of a mile. Inside the white spots are black numbers and letters that describe the user's location on the Greenbelt.

The numbers represent how far that spot is from the "zero point" at the 8th Street pedestrian bridge at the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial. The letters inside the spot indicate what sector of the Greenbelt it is on, such as the northwest quadrant, or the southeast quadrant. The Greenbelt is maintained by the Boise Parks & Recreation Department working in conjunction with local landowners and public agencies to expand, maintain, and improve the existing pathway.

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