Outdoors & River

Trails, river conditions, parks, foothills, weather-adjacent recreation, and getting outside.

Outdoors & River/May 23, 2026

Table Rock Was a Quarry, a Compass Point, and a Cross Before It Was a Hike

The sandstone mesa above Boise’s east side has functioned as a navigation landmark, a building-stone source, and a site of religious significance long before it became the city’s favorite Sunday-morning scramble.

Outdoors & River/May 18, 2026

The Park Named for Someone Who Never Got to See It

Julia Davis Park traces back to a single family donation made in memory of a woman whose name now anchors Boise’s riverfront.

Outdoors & River/May 15, 2026

Before the Trail Maps, Hulls Gulch Was Just the Edge of Town

The foothills north of Boise weren’t always a destination—they were a boundary, a watershed, and a working margin before they became anyone’s morning run.

Outdoors & River/May 12, 2026

The Boise River Did a Lot of Work Before Anyone Thought to Float It

Long before inner tubes and the Greenbelt, the Boise River was the city’s original heavy lifter—moving water, generating power, and occasionally flooding everything in sight.

Outdoors & River/May 11, 2026

The Trails Behind Table Rock Were Once a Lifeline for Oregon Trail Pioneers

Boise's Military Reserve trail system sits on land that sheltered exhausted pioneers long before it became a favorite lunchtime hike.