Get your rafts ready. Boise River float season begins this weekend

The Boise River will open for the traditional floating season on Saturday, June 20, officials announced Thursday.

The official float season will last until Labor Day on Sept. 7, making an 80-day stretch during which the river is available for floating one of the longest on record.

“Get it while the getting is good,” Ada County Parks & Waterways Director Scott Koberg said at a Barber Park press conference Thursday afternoon. “Eighty days to get out here and make your float dreams come true, and get out here and float the river.”

The official float season is when concessions like raft rentals and shuttle buses are available at the Barber Park launch. Buses also are available at the Ann Morrison Park takeout on the downstream end. Information on services is available at floattheboise.org.

This is the floating season’s second year in a row starting on June 20 — around a week earlier than usual, the Idaho Statesman previously reported.

Though Ada County officials had previously cited fast-flowing currents on the Boise River, driven by water released from the Boise River reservoir system to support the migration of fish, as a reason why the floating season has yet to begin, Koberg added that a decrease in the river’s speed over the last several days allowed officials to begin the floating season.

The Boise River on Thursday flowed at roughly 1,150 cubic feet per second, Koberg said at the press conference — enough for a steady, albeit rapid, float down the river. Though flows are expected to stay strong throughout the weekend, he added in a later interview that, from Monday, Ada County officials project the river to slow to nearly 650 cubic feet per second, or almost half its current speed. 

Floating down the Boise River has long been among the city’s most popular summer attractions, and this season will likely prove no different. Though exact numbers vary by year, Koberg said he expects that the number of people who float down the river this summer to land “certainly in that 150,000-plus range.” 

The start of the Boise River’s floating season may also give local residents a respite from the heat coming this weekend: The National Weather service reports impending temperatures that are slated to reach up to 97 degrees on Friday and 92 degrees on Monday.

Temperatures on Saturday, the first day of floating season, are expected to peak at 87 degrees, but with a chance of thunderstorms.

Ahead of the official start of floating season this weekend, Boise firefighters have been working to clear the river of branches and other debris. Still, officials urged people floating down the river this summer to exercise caution while doing so.

“The river is a natural, wild waterway, and is never entirely risk free,” Brad Bolen, assistant fire chief for emergency services with Boise Fire, said at the press conference, adding that floaters should wear life vests, navigate with a paddle, and “most importantly, make good decisions while you’re on the water.” 

Koberg added that, even with all the preparation put in already, efforts to manage the floating season will be ongoing.

 “There is an 80-day persistent party about to start here,” he said at the press conference, “and there are factors we need to make sure we’re on top of, and are responsible for.”