Two years in the making, Boise’s new bike skills park, nearby dog park are now open
A year after breaking ground at the site, the Boise Department of Parks and Recreation officially opened its new bike skills park and neighboring dog park in the Military Reserve on Tuesday morning.
The bike park, officially named the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Family Foundation Bike Park, is an 8-acre skills park featuring multiple trails, jumps and two paved pump tracks, meant to simulate mountain biking on a dirt trail. It’s located at 750 Mountain Cove Road. Parks and Rec director Doug Holloway said it includes features for skill levels ranging from beginners to experts.
“Because it is an advanced park, it features things you wouldn’t see on the trail,” Holloway said in an interview at the soft opening on Tuesday. “Intermediate and advanced users can get their thrills here.”
By the 10 a.m. opening, several mountain bikers were already hitting the trails, which are marked by difficulty using a system similar to ski runs: green circles for beginner, blue squares for intermediate, black diamond for advanced and double black diamond for expert.
“A lot of the stuff here terrifies me, but I’m super excited to have it here,” joked Carlos Matutes, executive director for the Southwest Idaho Mountain Biking Association.
Matutes said SWIMBA was a major advocate for the creation of the bike park, which was controversial when the city first proposed its plan in March 2018.
“It’s been a long road but I couldn’t be happier,” Matutes said. “We fought long and hard to advocate for a bike park here. ... This fills such a gap in our trail system.”
Moving Military Reserve’s dog park, archery range to make room
Holloway told the Statesman last year that the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation approached the city in 2017 to create a bike park.
The foundation funded the bike skills park, though Holloway said Tuesday that foundation officials hadn’t disclosed to the city how much they spent. The initial budget for the park was about $2 million, he said.
Construction of both parks required shuffling several assets in the Military Reserve. What’s now the bike park was formerly an unfenced dog park — and a hotbed for prickly goathead thorns. The dog park has been relocated just north of that spot. It’s now a fully fenced 3.5-acre park with separate small- and large-dog areas.
“Dogs need exercise, so to get (my dog) out here and let her run without me having to run is a major advantage,” said Mike Larson, who was one of the first Boiseans to visit the new dog park on Tuesday, along with his golden retriever, Sophie.
Previously, the new dog park site was home to an archery range. That was relocated to the Military Reserve Police Shooting Range a few miles up Mountain Cove Road earlier this year. Holloway said the city is already getting positive feedback from archers.
The city paid for the dog park. Boise City Council last year approved $250,000 for the project.
Using Boise’s bike skills park
Holloway said the bike park is a great spot for new riders to improve their skills and learn the ropes of mountain biking before hitting the trails.
“We not only can use the park to train young riders ... but they can learn etiquette, too,” he said.
Though a grand opening is set for sometime in the spring, Holloway said the bike park is officially open from sunrise to sunset each day, weather permitting.
Because much of the park is built on dirt, the city is asking riders to avoid using it when the soil is wet. Riding in the mud can create ruts and damage the trails. Holloway said the city will close the park accordingly.
Matutes said SWIMBA will share part of the maintenance responsibility for the park and try to advise riders to stay off muddy routes.
“It’s just trying to share the responsibilities of letting people know the consequences of riding (in poor weather),” he said. “The thing we want to express to everybody is we have trails and a dog park right here. We want to make sure everybody’s respectful to the other trail users.”
For more information on the bike park, including safety precautions, visit cityofboise.org.
This story was originally published December 10, 2019 at 2:03 PM.
