Boise River float saw summer spike in traffic, rescue calls. A final busy weekend awaits
What was likely the busiest Boise River floating season in history is almost over, and with a heat wave hovering and Boise State students back on campus, the long Labor Day weekend will draw thousands more to the river.
That led city officials to talk about water safety and season numbers Wednesday morning during a press conference at Barber Park, where Idaho families and visitors start their summer floats each year, heading 6 miles to Ann Morrison Park.
Robbie Sosin, Ada County Parks and Waterways program and education specialist, said there was at least a 22% increase in visitation along the river this summer — based on data involving Barber Park parking, shuttle usage and raft rentals.
“We can only count the people that park and our shuttle riders, but there’s a whole chunk of people that we can’t count,” Sosin said. “Those are people that just come in, drop off and go.”
Sosin estimated that on average about 530 cars parked at Barber Park each day to float the river. Wednesdays were the slowest days, he said, and on the busiest days, parking at Barber Park reached 1,000 cars.
On one hot and busy Saturday this summer, Sosin said he took the day to count people launching their rafts at Barber Park. The result? About 1,000 floaters per hour.
“We estimate that we’ve had over 150,000 floaters this summer,” Sosin said.
Boise Parks and Recreation officials said they noticed crowding at the Ann Morrison and Barber Park parking lots as crowds swelled this summer. To help mitigate that, Doug Holloway, Boise Parks and Rec director, said officials encourage floaters to park at Ann Morrison Park and take the shuttle service to Barber for their launch.
This weekend, the shuttle will run about every 15 minutes in anticipation of heavy river recreation, he said. It costs $3 per person to ride, and people can bring uninflated rafts and air pumps on the bus.
Holloway said the shuttle service is meant to help discourage parking in neighborhoods in and around Barber Park, something that has been a problem in recent years.
“We do have Boise police patrolling a lot of the neighborhoods and issuing citations for folks parking in the neighborhoods,” Holloway said.
On Friday, parking at Ann Morrison Park will be closed to the public for the Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic, but raft shuttles still will run so that floaters can get back to Barber Park.
Water safety concerns and tips on Boise River
With the increase in river traffic, the Boise Fire Department saw a spike in calls for rescues and assistance, receiving 115 of them as of this week, Chief of Special Operations Paul Roberts said.
“That’s up significantly from years past,” he said at the press conference. “I attribute that to the volume of people that are floating the river, as well as the higher water flows that we’ve seen for a longer or sustained period of time to the float season.”
There have been no drownings along the river, but there were three deaths at Lucky Peak Lake this summer. Roberts and the department’s swiftwater rescue team have spent a lot of time urging water safety as a result.
Roberts said floaters should wear proper gear, including life jackets and water shoes, and must stay aware of the hazards of floating a strong river.
“The Boise River is a natural river and it has all the hazards and dangers associated with a river,” Roberts said. “Its super-cold water can incapacitate even good swimmers.”
There are no lifeguards along the river, and the rescue teams are dependent on staffing, he said. Floaters should not tie rafts together, because bridge abutments and other obstacles can cause separation and danger; and it’s important to be cautious when you decide to make a river trip with children, Roberts said.
“Our advice to the public is to leave your toddlers at home until they reach an age to float the river where it’s safer for them,” he said.
The other safety issue that plagued the river this summer was the tradition of bridge jumping. Two people were hospitalized after a jumper landed on their raft.
“It’s legal to jump off the bridges, but you’ve got to be aware of the people floating down the river and aware that they’re not able to move out of your way,” Roberts said. “You have to give them the right of way.”
That right of way is 50 feet, by code, meaning jumpers are not supposed to land any closer than that to a floater.
For more information and tips on floating the river, visit Ada County Parks and Waterways.
This story was originally published August 31, 2022 at 3:48 PM.
